Aussie Geolidays: Tcharkuldu Rock

Campground: Tcharkuldu Hill
Facilities: Toilet, Free Gas BBQ.
Good stuff: Big chunk of granite on your camping doorstep!
Not so good stuff: Watch out for the broken glass on the ground, road right next to the campsite and boy do those locals drive quick.
Price: Donations requested.

We were due for another trip lesson and the touring gods decided to lay down two commandments at once. The first, Thou shall checkith budgets and the second, Thou shall not allow Kyle to do any budgeting…

To break up the blurb...Granite boulder on top of Tcharkuldu Rock

We have been keeping an eye on the budget while travelling- a joyous task you might think, but a necessity. The fuel budget had been calculated using a forgiving estimated fuel economy, average fuel price and estimated total trip distance, which would hopefully give us money to spare. To then find out that we had spent MORE money on fuel than predicted when the price per litre was LOWER than the value used in the calculations… KYLE!!! Thankfully we have only spent slightly more than predicted, however the recalculated estimate was a grand or so off… Lets hope that the fuel price stays low for as long as possible.

Sunset, Tcharkuldu Rock

To take advantage of cheaper fuel prices we decided to take a drive to Wudinna, 37km away. Rookie error… Although the fuel price was 14c per litre cheaper here, the distance travelled to this delightful place cost more money in fuel than what we would have saved from topping up at the higher fuel price. Oops (but we know this would be common knowledge to most...)! It wasn’t all bad- the town had a massive granite statue, unfortunately travelling at 80km/hr and the shear weight of the Disco meant that emergency breaking to get a photo was not an option.

Tcharkuldu Rock Campsite

Now teased by peerrrty granite, we were ready to check out the more naturally sculpted beauties. Tcharkuldu Rock and Pildappa Rock are the remnants of granitic plutons found via a slight detour whilst heading towards the Gawler Ranges. Pildappa Rock is the more impressive of the two being a wave-shaped outcrop making it a stunning place to camp. You can camp at both with the luxury of having toilets- if you are desperate for phone signal then Tcharkuldu Rock is your best bet. They are both great places to stay for a stop off before the Gawler Ranges and definitely beats staying at one of the nearby rest areas!

The Wave: Pildappa Rock

We did have a bit of reason for staying at Tcharkuldu Rock… The Pat Callinan 4WD competition was due to be drawn on the 25^th March and we (Kyle) wanted signal just in case the golden phone call came our way. We stretched out our usually quick paced pack-up routine to something more of a stroll but something must have gone wrong because the phone didn’t ring. Maybe next year… there is always bloody next year.