Exploring the Flinders Ranges, I can't believe these ranges were made when Australia broke away from the Antarctic,
First stop Hawker where there is an amazing purpose built gallery by Jeff Morgan with 2 x 360 degree panorama paintings. One of Wilpena Gorge and one of Brachina Gorge plus many extremely
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| This is a painting not a photo. |
This is a must see gallery well worth the $10 charge.
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| Another painting by Jeff Morgan and it's about 3 x 5 metres.. |
First night stopover at the Cradock pub, very interesting characters...
Overnight stop at Cradock pub. Don't ya love the Acubra.
Three nights staying at Willow Springs, a working sheep station on the outskirts of the National Park where our first nights sunset was amazing as it was followed by an awesome electric storm with thunder rolling all around the hills and the lightning, lighting up the skies. I just wish I could photograph lightning!
Next day we took off exploring. A short hike into Sacred Canyon was a great introduction into how amazing this landscape is. We saw aboriginal etchings that are 50,000 plus years old and plenty of wildlife including emus, wallaroos and even red kangaroos.
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| 50,000 year old Aboriginal etchings . |
Then on to Arkaroo Rock where we hiked for 2 hours over very steep terrain, pretty good for our first hike and it was well worth the effort as we saw Aboriginal rock art for the first time ever!
Then off to Wilpena Pound, Brachina Gorge which was fantastic as we got to see a very endangered yellow footed rock wallaby and the gorge itself is spectacular, plus ruins which are everywhere
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| One of many ruins we saw on our way. Mostly Shepherds huts built in the 1800's |
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| SS tasting the natural springs ....again.... |
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| One of my favorite gorges but which one??? |
Our third day was spent doing the Skytrek tour. This is a self drive extreme 4 wheel drive tour. 80 kms takes nearly 7 hours!!! We loved every minute of it but it certainly challenges man and beast.( beast being our trusty Ranger ute) How many times did SS say where's the road as we crested the track and tried to see which way to go...Then one of the final hills we thought the ute would fall over backwards as the terrain was so steep with loose rocks everywhere.
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| Who needs to go to Egypt to see the pyramids |
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| Farmer Smally.... |
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| YES This is a road! |
During this time we saw more Aboriginal engravings, lots of natural springs and the obligatory gorge, the largest mob of emus I have ever seen( about 20), wedgetail eagles with wingspans of about 2 metres, ochre cliffs, fossilized stones of an ancient seabed, a old hut built in the 1800's and spectacular scenery and much, much more.....
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| Fossilized seabed from when this was an inland sea. |
Moxlands hut circ. 1880's
Is this Mr Moxland???
After this awesome tour we drove up to Stokes lookout for the sunset. If I look cold its because it was bloody freezing!!
That night SS cooked a beautiful large T-Bone on a 500,000 year old rock !! Yes it tasted amazing maybe because we were dying for a good steak!
Two nights spent at the beautiful Parachilna gorge for a bit of relax and minor repair work.We had lots of walks and I found another gorge running off the main gorge and it was even more spectacular. We had a few trips into the Parachilna pub which is very upmarket well worth a stop for a cold beer or 2 and has internet reception!
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| This pub is truly in the middle of no-where and was quite up-market |
Appelina Ruins where there is the story of the common man, Mr Willis , who was broken by the mining gentry. Just shows how times haven't changed!
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| YES this really is us! |
On the way to Chambers Gorge we came across this sculpture.Chambers Gorge is the best gorge we've seen, there's a wall of Aboriginal etchings that's like a 50,000 year old graffiti wall! You can really understand why this place is sacred.
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| This place rocks!! |
On the way to Arkaroola
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Who needs to go to China to see the Great Walll? |
We spent 2 nights at Arkaroola once again exploring and hiking this beautiful area. I have taken so many photos and its hard to know which ones to show as I love them all!!
Next part of our adventure starts tomorrow as we head off to Coober Pedy via many country towns and down part of the Oodnadatta track!
