Flyover Kelly Basin

Flyover Kelly Basin © jackandjude.com

Across the basin, at West Pillinger was the main town that has been consumed by forest again, except where the locals have a pretty nice shack called Reindeer Lodge, a high flaunting name for a free bed and warm fire.

There's a lovely shady walk from it down what was once the main street, but in the other direction, a ridge trends away from the derelict outer wharf. The track rises about a hundred metres over a kilometre distance and then opens out onto a button grass plains overlooking Farm Cove.

I launched our bird from Reindeer Lodge feeling a bit uneasy and then flew it down the valley towards the end of that ridge, and then around the end of it to where Max had said stood a large lone eucalyptus. From there, the bird came back over the top, above the hundred metre high forested ridgeline. It was scary because halfway through the flight, the hill blocked the signal to my controller, and so it was with great relief to hear the bumblebee buzz of it returning.

With that mission successfully completed we set off in long pants and boots through the bracken to where Max had mentioned the track of sorts he'd cut and marked a couple of years ago. When Jude and I walked that ridge some four or five years back, we found it a bit thick with bracken, but lovely and cool because of the tall forest both sides. Since then Max and his mate Crossy have been at work on it, and the first stretch we found rather easy to follow because it's along a narrow ridge, without a lot of tree fall to make it hard on your shins. After an hour's walk we came to where we'd made the wrong choice, and this time following Max's red tapes, went west instead of east and came out overlooking the neighbouring valley, where a few hundred metres further on stood a lone eucalyptus tree surrounded by low bushes.

Geez, when we got to it, threading our way through those bushes revealed an impressive gravestone in a nice clearing, obviously kept that way thanks to Max and others who cherish local heritage.

Carved into that headstone is: Joseph Brown, died Kelly Basin 1900, aged 15 (we now reckon it's 45 after a close look at the photos). It is strikingly so alone with a grand view of Mount Sorell and covered in decorative, floral patterns of lichen. The drone footage, blended with the video taken by Jude around the lodge and on the track, has been made into a very enjoyable twelve-minute clip. It and the other five clips made these past six weeks can be seen on YouTube or if want to view the ridgy-didge Full HD versions on your laptop or widescreen, get our Memory Stick, which also contains all our films.

This article has been provided by the courtesy of jackandjude.com