Lake Eyre Adventure 2010

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Lake Eyre Adventure 2010 - Day 5

Sunday, 01 August 2010 16:17

Day Five ... Grounded, by choice, on "Comeroo Camel Station"

Comeroo Camel Station is a great fly-in destination that offers family style accommodation for those seeking outback living and experiences at reasonable price. Bruce and Chris are excellent hosts and will take part in your stay. They don't simply take your money and give you a meal and a bed with direction to the nearest activity. Chris takes pride in welcoming her guests and looking after them with good plentiful food cooked country style, and making sure your accommodation is top notch. Bruce greeted us at the airfield and we all felt like good friends straight away - that's his style.

The best information on the accommodation can be found at www.comeroo.com.

This blog aims to describe our experiences from a fly-in perspective, and what appealed to us. It may not appeal to you, but the follwing tale of our one day and two nights there will make it clear if it's your ‘cup-of-tea' of not.

After being welcomed at the strip and taken to the homestead a mile away, straight away we felt glad to be there. Not from the 4 hours of flying and getting weary from travel, but because of the feel of the place. A real outback feel. Not run-down and dusty, but rustic and homely. The landscaped gardens with the palm trees are green in stark contrast to the clay driveway - making it easy to forget this country is so often in drought.

That evening it didn't take much to keep us near the fire pit, and we chatted four hours with good company in peaceful surroundings. Bruce is proud of his outdoor museum of old tractors and farm machinery. It's interesting to photograph and gives a strong sense of what it might have been like to toil the land in years gone by.

The next day we spent the morning photographing and wandering in our own space on this 100,000 acre station. Too big to imagine on foot or by car - only from the air. I was fortunate to be given an aerial tour - more on that in a moment. On our walk we found a nearby billabong and photographed birdlife and the natural landscapes. It's easy to spend too much time here - not a bad thing.

After lunch we went canoeing on the nearby 6km stretch of water. Bruce loaned us the 4x4 and gave directions the outback way - kneeling down drawing a map with fingertip in the dust. Committing this to memory we headed out and were fortunate to see some of the 17 camels on the station. These are available for day, week or month long treks. We didn't have the time, so that will wait until another trip. We found the canoes, after navigating past the grazing sheep that preferred to stay on the track rather than the scrub, and four of us got out on the water for a paddle. It was peaceful and serene, birds flying overhead or perched on branches. We enjoyed the stark landscape that was beautiful in its own Australian way.

When we got back Bruce offered to take me for a fly in his Skyhawk. Now what pilot in their right mind wouldn't accept a flight just for the sake of it?! And besides, I can't remember the last time someone took ME for a fly in a light aircraft. It was a 20 minute low level tour of the property. While we were up there we did some mustering of the feral goats - now THAT was an experience! Low level passes of the goat tribes - climbing away with high power - had them running. It was exhilarating, and I LOVED it.

Later that afternoon we again borrowed the 4x4 and headed out to one of the artesian bores on the property. Here water is forced up from 400 m underground and arrives at 44 degrees Celsius from the bore head. Part of it can be diverted into the specially placed hot tub, for a relaxing outdoor hot soak in the Australian outback. How good was this? No noise from barking dogs or cars or stereos. The area has been well maintained to provide a tranquil setting. We could've stayed for hours, with the natural minerals taking away our muscle aches and worries of the world.

But as we enjoyed the setting sun and golden colour on the surrounding bush, we were mindful that we still wanted to find the lake on the property with its bird breeding areas, and more so we didn't want to be out here in the dark. We dried off and headed to the lake, and were rewarded with birds feeding in the shallows and arriving back for the night. How peaceful can one place be?

There's only so much we could cram into one day and I think we did well. It felt like we were there for longer. That evening dinner was cooked in a camp oven and needless to say we had second helpings. More chatting around the fire pit with good company made for a very enjoyable end to the day. I'm not sure it could get any better.

My wife and I will definitely head back to Comeroo, not just for a stop-over but for a long visit - a week or more. I look forward to taking my sons there too one day. I highly recommend you try to visit there if you haven't already - you won't regret it.

Tomorrow we head back to Canberra - the last day of the trip.

The highlights: