Leaving the Flinders

Thursday 22nd May

Parachilna Gorge - What a wonderful place to wake up in!  I love bush camping, the tranquility and being able to hear the bird sounds in the mornings.  The night sky without lights.  The freedom.

By midday we'd left the Flinders Ranges NP behind as we travelled to the historic township of Beltana - now almost a ghost town.  Many of the buildings had signboards explaining what they were previously.  For those few people who still live there, we were curious as to why.  What do they do for a living?

Church

The old railway station was a nice looking building which is now private property.  The cemetery had graves ranging from the mid-1800s through to 2013.  Cemeteries are an interesting way to get a bit of history of a place; this one seemed to have a lot of unmarked graves too.  We took the 'alternative route' through hills (to avoid the bitumen) to our next stop, Leigh Creek, then followed the road north to Lyndhurst which is the beginning (or end) of the Strzelecki Track to Innamincka.  That's for another trip!

Farina was another interesting diversion on the route north - it was once a township but is now ruins.  However a volunteer conservation group is working slowly to restore some of the buildings.  We were pretty intrigued with the old bakery, which was built underground and which is still used on occasions to bake pastries which are sold from the mobile retail bakery.  They were baking today and it smelled good! 

Today ended at Marree, the beginning (or end) of the Birdsville Track and Oodnadatta Track. This too was once a busy railway town but the demise of the original Ghan railway has impacted heavily and it's not much more than a shanty town now, with a population of about 90. Mind you the population must have been double tonight, as there was a film crew in town. They'd been filming here all day, a new movie starring Michael Caton which involves 2 yellow taxis towed on a semi-trailer :)   We stayed in the caravan park tonight.

The old Ghan railway line at Marree

Aroona Valley and Parachilna Gorge

Tuesday 20^th May

We walked up to the ruins of the old Aroona Homestead first thing this morning and were treated to gorgeous views of the valley and the Heysen Range. Photos simply can’t capture the colours, the light, the atmosphere, the stillness.  It was so nice in this area that we didn’t leave until after lunch.

Blinman is a little settlement in the hills and we stopped for a cold drink at the hotel, getting a little local knowledge before continuing through to Parachllna Gorge.  Wow, this place was amazing!  Again, diverse rock wall formations, dry creek beds lined with large river gums, colour … we’re so lucky to be seeing all this.  We found a beautiful spot to camp, well off the road and by a red rocky escarpment.  There was just enough wood to be found to have a small campfire, where we sat with a glass of red Spanish wine (thanks Shane!) and chatted under the stars.

Flinders Ranges

19th May

The whole morning was spent exploring Brachina Gorge with its amazing geology.  Not that we know anything much about geology but it was still fascinating and I’m sure geologists would love it!  We were intrigued with the colours of the rock, mainly slate in the areas around the campground, and the way it was laid down.  To explore this classic Flinders Ranges gorge you drive along the dry creek bed, which is pretty wide and reasonably rocky.  The troopy’s ground clearance meant we didn’t have to worry, as we meandered through the gorge.  Towards the western end the walls were more sandstone – around 560 million years old according to the signpost down there.

Later in the afternoon we headed east along Brachina Gorge to the Aroona Valley turnoff.  This road ran parallel to some of the cliffs and took us to an old hut, a favourite place of Hans Heysen the painter.  We found a beautiful campsite here in the Aroona Valley, very much a national park bush camp but with the bonus of tap water. 

Flinders Ranges

18th May 2014

I’ve always wanted to visit the Flinders Ranges and so far it’s exceeded both of our expectations.  We arrived at Wilpena Pound late yesterday afternoon and found a lovely quiet campsite.  It’s so much better being “unpowered” as these sites are always in the quieter and usually more attractive areas.  Over the other side of the park was like caravan city!  Fortunately it’s a large area, plenty of trees and a beautiful bush environment.  Wilpena’s a privately run campground within the National Park.

This morning we were on the walking trail early.  Being a little overcast it was perfect walking weather and the colours were enhanced by the subdued light. This was such a pretty walk along the Wilpena Creek. There was the red of the rock walls, the many shades of green and grey of the eucalypts, the soft mauve/pink shale on the ground, the sandy dry creekbeds … and Phil’s observation that in contrast Lake Mungo was “flat as a pancake’s hat”.  We pondered that a little – where does the pancake end and the hat begin, for example?  J J

It was a pretty easy 3.5 kilometre walk to the Hills Homestead, which sits inside Wilpena Pound.  A family once lived here, growing wheat for several years until the lack of rain finally defeated them.  The homestead has been rebuilt and is in a beautiful setting.  Just behind it is a track up to the Wangara Lookout where the views down into the pound and to the ridges of its walls are spectacular.  This was one of the loveliest walks I’ve done, everything about it was enjoyable and the 7.8 kilometres was just a good distance for us. 

Leaving Wilpena, we found the road to the Sacred Canyon and headed down there to a dry creekbed and the walk into the canyon.  It’s only a 500 metre walk but so fascinating that it took us an hour.  It’s rocky, with a few waterholes and aboriginal rock etchings.  We loved it!

Back to the bitumen and a little further north was the turnoff for the Bunyeroo Gorge scenic drive.  Not one to be able to resist a scenic drive on a dirt road I convinced Phil (it wasn’t too hard really) that we should go that way.  Well, that was one of the best drives ever.  We saw some great scenery along creekbeds, above the gorge, across to the ranges … so diverse yet all of it beautiful.  The road was winding, hilly but had recently been graded.  It really was spectacular.  Towards the end we were driving along a creekbed between the gorge walls. 

At Brachina East campground we found there was a 4WD access section so chose to investigate.  The campsites were far more secluded, sitting just above the dry riverbed.  In fact we had to drive along parts of the riverbed to reach this area.  It’s so quiet, pretty, with plenty of room (and nobody else here).  As we sat back admiring our ‘home’ for the night we noticed a rainbow behind the trees against the backdrop of some grey clouds.  It soon became a double rainbow and brightened up the early evening sky.  By the time darkness fell, the sky was full of stars.  Yes, this is what camping’s all about.