On our recent outback camping trip, Nicky and I built an outback stove with an oven, to cook on while we camped at Lake Richardson on Arcoona Station in South Australia.
I guess Lake Richardson would be about 30 kilometres north east of Woomera in South Australia; certainly outback country.
On previous trips to the arid region I'd caught glimpse of Lake Richardson, way off in the distance, as the station road made it's way toward Arcoona Homestead and to Bosworth, way beyond, out toward Lake Torrens.
Nicky and I arrived on our motorbikes, getting on toward sunset. A bit of quick movement and we had our camp set up, scrounged some firewood and got the meal cooking before dark.
In the past I've built a few rock fireplaces but never an oven. It worked well! The billys and skillet (cast iron frying pan) went well, over the gaps in the stove top and the camp oven handled the bread baking in the coals in the oven.
I reckon it should be possible to bake a loaf of bread in the oven without the camp oven. Just put the dough on a flat rock or on some alfoil and place it in the oven with the shovel. Fetch it out when cooked, with a stick or the shovel.
Spending two nights at the usually dry salt lake, Lake Richardson, we had some great camp feeds. Firewood was pretty scarce but there sure were plenty of flat rocks for building an outback oven to cook on.
