It’s seven hours of driving from Warooka on Yorke Peninsula up to Gum Creek Station in the northern Flinders Ranges, past Wilpena Pound and just outside the national park. There is very little on the way but we managed a couple of stops, firstly at Stone Hut, home to a respectable bakery (read: meat pie shop) and later at Hawker where biscuits are available at the mini-market. It is more than peckishness – in theory we are carrying everything we need for a week of camping faraway from everywhere in two cars with a trailer of gear including a mountain of food, 150L of water, but, is it truly everything? In a moment of panic, knowing that occasionally the boys will turn on the appetite and eat us out of house and home, we buy more.

We arrived at Gum Creek Station late in the day. (In Australia, a “station” in this sense is a huge farm property in some remote location, usually farming cattle or sheep as in this case). Gum Creek Station is run by some cricketing friends of my parents and they have kindly given us permission to set up camp on their land. It is not a farm in the traditional sense as the land is mostly in natural bush land condition. Indeed, on the part we visited we didn’t see a single sheep. From the map we can see that the station is maybe 400km² so the sheep must be elsewhere.

From the homestead (where nobody is at home) we followed a series of rough tracks and creek crossings until it becomes too rough for the cars to travel further. It looked close to where we should have been but not exactly – they said that maybe there would be water in the creek but this place was definitely dry. We scout about but with the sun starting to drop we decide to pitch camp here. It’s a nice enough spot. By time the sun is down we have two tents up, beds made, a pile of firewood piled up and a beer in the hand. Perfection.

The next morning, while the boys tended the campfire, Sabrina and I climb climbed the closest hill to get a view of the land. We named it Snake Hill because it was hot and rocky and dotted with small holes, not that we saw any snakes.

From here you could see the long spine of the ABC Range running parallel to the Flinders Range itself.

Behind us was the plain of Gum Creek, covered with stunted pines making it look like a model.

Life at the campsite revolves around walks, collecting firewood and meals. The boys took to various apparently pointless but nevertheless engrossing activities involving sticks and rocks.

Exploring further down the creekbed, we found some small waterholes. The water must follow underground much of the away before emerging here. Although small, they proved to be ideal picnic spots and, with a little bit of dam building, good for a shallow bath. Which we did. What a luxury to have a proper bath after a dusty day instead of a grim wipe with a damp towel.

Dad demonstrated how to catch yabbies (a sort of langoustine or scampi) by luring them out with a piece of bacon tied onto the end of a piece of string or, in this case, a reed. Through some fluke he caught one on his first go and despite a lot more time spent dangling bits of bacon down holes in the water, we only managed to feed them as they were not keen to hang on long enough for us to whip them out.

Further exploring down river, over a fence (or two) and into the next station, the waterholes got bigger culminating in what you might even call a swimming hole, where we could swim a good three or four strokes even.

And so the days passed, we don’t run out of water or food. Someone unwisely decided that a can of chocolate pudding could be cooked directly in the fire, resulting in an explosion of chocolatey goodness all over the car.

We explored the creek further and climbed more hills. Burned more logs and ate and drank. Eventually, with other commitments coming due (what sort of holiday is this?), it is time to pack up.

Farewell and thankyou Gum Creek.