Mt Bundy Station

After patching up the van and agreeing that we would need to skip the dirt road into the Douglas Hot Springs, we headed for our next stop, Mt Bundy Station, which is about 5kms from the town of Adelaide River.

Lou had spent time there when she was 3-4 years old and had visited there briefly a couple of years ago.  She was keen to stay there and look around.

We set up our vans in powered sites, glad to have the luxury of aircon back.  The first thing we noticed about Mt Bundy was the abundance of wildlife.  There were horses, a shetland pony, several Indonesian buffalo, Nigel the bull, loads of wallabies, birds, crocs in the lagoon and river, frogs and dogs.   Ben had a great time feeding Nigel and patting the horses and we were all surprised when the pony decided to take a look into Ross and Barb's van.

A very friendly pony.

The sign says "Only enter the paddock if you can cross it in 9 seconds.  The buffalo can do it in 10."

There is a pool with a gate but no fence, the Adelaide River running along one side of the property, a giant Banyan tree and loads of amazing WW2 history.

Huge banyan tree.

Big red roo out in the paddock.

 The Australian and US Armies were stationed there during the war and we went on a 4WD tour through the property with a very informative guide, Bill and his dog Pickles.  There are remnants of old barracks, offices, sheds and communications buildings (mostly just decaying concrete slabs now), rusty vehicles, ammunition shells, tools, bottles and bits of metal scattered throughout the property.  Bill showed us an old airstrip and the paddock where the airforce planes were parked for maintenance and refuelling.  There is apparently unexploded ordinance scattered around and he has collected many shells, casings, old gunnery equipment and other aircraft parts.

Spent shells.

An interesting way to toilet.  The soldiers would do their business here and once a week they'd just set fire to the lot.  The methane gas would produce an inferno.  The chimney funnel prevented the built up gas from causing the whole thing to explode (which would have been messy!)

The tour ended with a spectacular view of the sunset from atop a hill with cheese, crackers and a drink to accompany it.  

Ben, Jenny and Ross with 2 other guests and Bill the guide on the right.

Nice silhouette.

We all had a great time at Mt Bundy and we will definitely go back next time we pass through here.