Our two day drive from Broken Hill in NSW to the Flinders Ranges in South Australia was uneventful. We stopped at the plant quarantine checkpoint at Oodia Wirra near Peterborough and offloaded our potatoes and onions to the inspector - we had dealt with all the fruit earlier. South Australia has very strict quarantine rules and pretty much all fruit and vegetables need to be disposed of (we were able to keep our carrots and sweet potatoes). We overnighted at a roadside camp a few kms north of Peterborough. While we were there we saw several vehicles from the 2013 Variety Club Rally. They were all decked out with decorations and flags. Unfortunately they passed too quickly for us to get any photos.
The next day we drove through the towns of Orroroo and Hawker into the Flinders Ranges National Park. It's almost 40 years since we last camped here - with a 3 month old baby and a pup tent! Things have certianly changed since 1973. The facilities at the Wilpena Resort are very good. It's run by the SA Parks and Wildlife Service and has excellent facilities for both campers and "ordinary" tourists with plenty of campsites and other accommodation. There's a well stocked general store, a good restaurant (we had dinner one night in the bistro with another couple also going to the Bushtracker Owner Group Muster in Alice Springs), fuel and a dump point. We have a large bushy campsite with power and water just outside of Wilpena Pound. There are plenty of campers around, but it's not at all crowded. We're constantly entertained by the birdlife - emus, apostlebirds, native mynahs and beautiful green lorikeets. We picked up a booklet "Discover Hawker and the Flinders Ranges" at the Hawker General Store. The $2 we paid is donated to the RFDS. We've used this booklet a lot as it has plenty of useful information.
A little further on are the Hucks Lookout and Stokes Hill Lookout with commanding views. At Stokes Hill there is a bronze relief of Wilpena Pound and surrounding area which puts everything into perspective. Wilpena Pound is an anticline about 40km long and 10km wide and is surrounded by peaks over 1,000m high on its steep walls. St Mary's Peak, at 1,171m is the highest peak in the Flinders Ranges.
After about 25km on the highway we turned back into the mountains along the Brachina Gorge Geological Trail. We travelled along dry river beds through the Brachina Gorge between rock walls 500 - 580 million years old. We saw plenty of bush camping sites along the way - filed away for future use.... We made our way back to our caravan via Bunyeroo Gorge, along more riverbeds. Although the afternoon drive was only about 100km it took us about 3 hours.
Friday we drove to the nearby town of Blinman, about 55km away. The Great Wall of China is about halfway and its rocky outcrops really do resemble a cotinuous wall on top of the hills. When we arrived at Blinman the town was full of campervans and motorhomes - about 60 of them are on a safari to the Birdsville races. We managed to order our coffees before the crowd and bought a couple of home made quandong (wild peach) pies to take away. Blinman is an old mining town and there are several mines in the area as well as some ruins from the 1860s vintage buildings.
Then it was back into gorge country as we drove through the wildflowers to Glass Gorge and on to the Prairie Hotel at Parachilna for lunch. At the pub you can order emu, camel and kangaroo for lunch. We had kangaroo burgers - delicious and very filling. The pub is also a gallery for local art and craft and there are some lovely paintings, rugs and cushion covers for sale.
After lunch we completed our round trip back to Blinman via the Parachilna Gorge and Angorichina Village. A coffee stop at the Wild Lime Cafe and Gallery with its huge peppercorn tree outside and artworks under the plastic tablecloths and then we were on our way back to camp - a day well spent.
The next morning dawned clear and sunny after a night of rain. Everything is clean and shiny as the dust has been washed off the trees. We've had a quick trip into Hawker, 55 km south, because we've picked up a stone which has punctured a tyre and we have a slow leak - probably while we were driving along the river beds in the gorges. It's good to know that the tyre pressure monitoring system on our car is working. While we were getting the tyre repaired we struck up a conversation with the garage owner about the history of the town. Cherryl's grandfather was a Methodist Minister in Hawker in 1931-1933. We picked up a book about Methodism in the Hawker District - "Built With Living Stones" which he features in - more material for the family history collection. It was interesting to find that he was instrumental in building a new church at nearby South Arkaba.
From our campground there's a walk into Wilpena Pound. It's 3km to the Old Wilpena Homestead. There's a shuttle from the Resort so you can ride the first 2km and then walk into the Pound. The shuttle will also bring you back the last 2km. Once inside the Pound it's like a treed parkland.
Today is Father's Day, September 1st, and we're having a rest day before heading north to Arkaroola in the Gammon Ranges tomorrow. The wildflowers are fantastic - golden wattles lining the roads, huge clumps of white and yellow daisies, carpets of yellow, white, pink and purple flowers, bushes with red flowers and some bush tomatoes with their red berries.
We're expecting to see some Sturt Desert Peas as we venture north.
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