Still at Wilpena 19th and 20th

Wilpena 19th-20th Nov:

Yesterday 19th we spent several hours wandering around the remnants of ‘Old Wilpena Station Precinct’ and reading about its history; this was a working station for 135 years and slipped into retirement in 1985. It is a fascinating place.

Today 20th we hiked across Wilpena Pound itself heading off at the early hour of 9:15am (some people just will not get out of bed). Bridle Gap Hike is 19kls return, by midday I was hearing plenty of complaints about the heat, the walk across the pound is very easy and basically flat, once pastures it is now a thin forest of small pines and gums gradually taking it back to its original self, grazing areas are still apparent and everywhere wild flowers create carpets of blue, yellow and white.
Trudging up the final kilometre was testing, the track weaving through stunted scrub wasn’t easy to walk on, resembling a dry creek bed of loose cobbles ranging from golf ball to rock melon size and climbing all the time it would have been quite easy to turn an ankle. We made the top of what is called the Bridal Gap this was and probably still is the only other way into the pound besides the main access area near where the caravan park is situated. This is also the track that Hans Heysen the famous South Australian artist used to follow. It was on discovery of these two openings in what can be described as steep rising escarpments, that the original pastoralists’ pioneered the pound.
From a vantage point under a shady tree we ate our vegemite sandwiches and awed at the view, resting and hiding from the sun for an hour Nancy was soon snoring while I explored the surrounding rock formations. Looking over the edge of this escarpment I could see Heysen’s track dropping away and winding down the escarpment which drops away quite steeply, almost vertically. It may have been considered as the other access to the pound but I couldn’t imagine anything other than a person on foot and perhaps tough sheep making it up to the pass. On our hike (ordeal) apart from the late variety of wild flowers we encountered the obligatory roos, a couple of broods of emus and a mob of wild goats looking very fearsome with their long horns. A long hot shower was sensational when we got back, we were both a little leg weary but I think the heat didn’t help, today as it turned out was the hottest we’d had since being at Wilpena, and Nancy agrees you need to start early. Regardless we both thoroughly enjoyed it and felt as if we had achieved something.