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.

Mungo National Park

Thurs 15^th May

As planned, we were up early to drive further along the loop track to Vigars Well.  The moon was still up, big and full as the sun started to rise in the east.  The sky behind us came to life in a blaze of red, orange and yellow.  It was a beautiful drive.  We were the only ones out there, our footprints the first to break the smoothness of the sand as we walked across the ridge of the dunes enjoying the changing light of the rising sun.

We spent an hour or so exploring the area.  Eventually we returned to the main track and continued our drive, which took us towards the northern end of the ‘lunette’ (crescent shaped line of sand dunes, 30km in length), over the top and down into the ancient lakebed.  This is now covered in bluebush and occupied by emus and kangaroos, but you still get the feeling of driving across a lakebed. 

We had a good look around the remains of the Zanci homestead.  I liked the old stables, built from pine logs bound together with fencing wire.  The roof had been thatched with wire and dried spinifex.  We went down into the dugout, used as a coolroom for supplies but also a refuge from the summer heat.

Having explored the whole area, the information in the visitor centre was now so much more relevant.  There was a short film too, including an interview with the archaeologist who found the bones of Mungo woman and, a few years later, Mungo man.  Really interesting.

One of the megafauna, known as Ziggy.  Oops, I should clarify that's the one on the right!

Meanwhile, preparations were under way at the Meeting Place in the visitor centre courtyard for an event of some sort … a stage, lighting, sound checks, chairs set up and national park workers gathered.

Later in the afternoon we drove out to the Walls lookout, from where we thought we’d watch the sunset and the full moon rise.  It was great out there; they have a boardwalk to enable people to get quite close to the ‘pinnacles’ of the Walls of China.

We were rewarded with the soft, changing light on the dunes as the sun set behind us.  However, long after the sun went down the moon still hadn’t risen!  We ended up driving to the next lookout from where we were lucky enough to see it full and orange, rising over the top of the dunes.

It was magic being out on that ancient lakebed, lit only by moonlight.  We feel we really experienced Mungo today, morning, day and night.  However, things only got more surreal when we returned to the visitor centre – the courtyard was full of people, the fireplaces were aglow and Archie Roach was on stage performing.  There must have been a couple of hundred people.  What a beautiful atmosphere it was, under the desert moon seemingly out in the middle of nowhere.  We felt very lucky to have such an experience.

Archie Roach (centre) on stage at Mungo

Beautiful Mungo morning

We're on the road!

Wed 14^th May

Aaah, the tranquillity.  At our bush camp in Mungo National Park, under the soft light of a huge full moon, we’re enjoying a quiet port.  We left the Murray Valley Hwy at Tooleybuc, just beyond Swan Hill, this morning and travelled north through Balranald.  It didn’t take long to feel like the ‘outback’ as we travelled through flat saltbush country, with the last 100km to Mungo on red dirt.  Plenty of wild emus to be seen; we stopped to acquaint ourselves with a shingleback lizard too.

I first visited Mungo NP nearly 17 years ago and was really keen to return.  There’s a new visitor centre and day area, a couple of boardwalks where it used to be possible to walk on the sand dunes and the courtyard of the shearers’ quarters is now paved as opposed to dirt.  However, nothing can change the magic of this ancient landscape.  There’s a 70km self-guided drive loop which cuts across the lakebed and snakes around the sand dunes – we did half of it this afternoon, with multiple sightseeing stops, then settled in at the Belah camp.

About to hit the red dirt - beautiful

Under the full Mungo moon

Sand dunes known as the Walls of China

The countdown is nearly over - just two more sleeps!  The extra pump we were waiting on arrived yesterday, it's now fitted, the Troopy's packed and on Monday morning we'll be on our way.  First destination is Mungo NP north of Mildura, somewhere I went about 16 years ago and am looking forward to seeing again.  Meanwhile ... it continues to rain in Eurobin :)