Deep Creek

Our Trial Week

When we first got back to South Australia from our 2 1/2 months in the US, we intended to spend just two weeks at home before striking out on our seven month adventure. We only had to visit with friends, catch up on work, set work up to do without us, sublet our house, plus get Charlie her first pair of glasses, AND buy a camper!! It may not surprise you to learn that we didn’t fit all of this in that time frame, and ended up staying for two months. A much more realistic time frame but still, I know several people who spent six months or more preparing for their trip! 

The two best things we did in that extra time were take a 4wd course (with Adventure 4WD in Adelaide, would absolutely recommend it - review and further details to come!!) and take a week to go on a trial camp.

The Conservation Park

Deep Creek is a conservation park just an hour south of Aldinga, and is the only place within 100kms of the Adelaide CBD where you can bush camp! What a perfect place to launch our little trial. We had been there a few times before for little hikes, but had never camped there! (Actually, we had only been camping as a family just once before...ever!) Located on the southern coast Deep Creek is known for waterfall hikes, Australian flora and fauna like yucca bushes, kangaroos, and echidnas, and coastal views all the way over to Kangaroo Island.  We stayed at Trig Campsite, a loop with around 20 sites that are big enough for caravans, with no services, but at least it had nice and clean drop loos. The campsites were all arranged around an open space, with low trees providing shade but not inhibiting the view of the rolling hills. It would be a great place for anyone with kids to do a little bush camp, or even for a few families to go together as the open space means there's lots of room for lots of kids to play! It was also super easy to get to, with just a small stretch of a well-kept dirt road into camp.

On our first day there I was able to get a little work done. I simply walked off with a picnic rug and the computer while the kids rode their bikes and Toff set the camper up. (An easy set up was our first priority in selecting a camper!) When I came back I simply pulled out our kitchen drawer and started cooking our spaghetti bolognese - while a small troupe of kangaroos hopped right past me! “There are kangaroos in my kitchen!” I gleefully yelled.

We spent five nights here, and since we didn't run out of electricity or water, we learned that we can plan to camp remotely for even longer! We also learned that Wind Sucks. Because we were only there for five nights we didn’t bother packing up and moving on when the weather turned bad (like the other two campers who were there) - but we did learn that sleeping in the wind in a camper trailer is NOT IDEAL. While we are out and travelling we will plan to keep a better eye on the forecast, and simply get up and move out if it looks like it’s going to turn bad. 

To make sure we put ourselves as far into the deep end as possible - I got both a bad cold AND my period in those five days! Hooray. While they may have made me have less energy and not feel super great, neither impacted our days too much, which was a great lesson to learn and a challenge we then knew we would be able to handle in the future. 

The Hike

The best part of this camp site is that it is at the trial head for the hike down to the Deep Creek Waterfall - 4kms round trip. We had attempted this same hike almost three years ago - which at the time lead us to believe that our family wasn’t ready for hikes yet! That time Charlie was a baby, so she was small enough to stay in a baby carrier, but Trip and Meg at 4.5 and 3, were old enough to happily make it down to the warterfall, but small enough to primarily whine on the way back up the trail. This time we were much more successful, almost everyone was happy walking down (Charlie needed lots of breaks) and only mild whining occurred on the way back. I don’t think I would attempt anything more difficult with them right now, but it was a good benchmark to set for what we are capable of. Expectations can make or break any adventure. 

All in all, we will call our trial camp a big success, and the five of us left even more keen to hit the road in a few weeks time!! Next up: our day in Normanville, and our First Official Stop at Coffin Bay!

Charlie and I, on the same hike 3 years ago!

Three years later.... still carrying my little bubba