Wilpena Flinders Ranges

Wilpena 15th – 19th Nov 2010

We will end up staying here for a week it is quiet and restful with plenty to see and do, the caravan park is quite large and obviously caters for large numbers of tourists; fortunately it is very quiet at this time so the park only has a few caravans and hire camper vans. The ground is hard packed red shaley gravel, I don’t know how it would be if it rained but we won’t think of that, the gravel is not rocky so people are still able to drive tent pegs into it. Each parking bay although not drive through has plenty of room to reverse in and park with the van still attached if you so choose, set amongst small pine trees and gums it is a lovely atmosphere and the flies are not as troublesome as they were at Arkaroola and other places. There are several grassy gullies throughout the park with huge river red gums standing defiant against any force of nature to wash them away, sunlight filters through the trees, the abundant birdlife sets up a chorus of competing sounds and wallabies graze casually amongst the happy campers. Yesterday 18th while talking to our Canadian neighbours and cooking breakfast outside, a large wallaby or small Kangaroo (I never know the difference) came right up the table and had a look at the food deciding bacon and eggs wasn’t the go, a little later a single Emu wandered past our van casually pecking away at fresh shoots, and it’s so peaceful.

On the 16th, day after we arrived, we established what bush walks were attemptable and undertook a couple of relatively easy ones for a warm up to walking again. These trails involved walking through a forest of massive Gums with a carpet undergrowth of purpley blue Salvation Jane (Patterson’s Curse) wild flowers, it was absolutely beautiful and photos just don’t do it justice (ours don’t anyway). One of the trails involved a fairly steep rocky climb up a hill to a look out where we could see right into the pound one way and out out the other to the surrounding country side. Looking into the pound is similar to looking into an oval volcano crater 5 kls wide and 11 kls long only it is lushly covered in forest and pastures where early settlers actually grew wheat and grazed sheep although the forest has grown back substantially now.
Wilpena is thought to have meant cupped hand in the local dialect, pound was a term early settlers used to describe an animal enclosure.

17th Nov:
Spent the day driving all the scenic roads around the National Park and beyond. Bitumen road now takes you all the way to Blinman approximately 60 kls north from Wilpena, with little diversions off here and there on gravel roads to look outs or some heritage sites. Blinman is an old established village with quaint cottages and about 64 residents, one pub, one store, a post office and a café, but it caters for a few travellers and tourists with historical walks and old mine visits and is the only town between Hawker and Arkaroola 150 odd kls further north. After Devonshire tea we crossed country on a gravel road through beautiful gorges and undulating countryside along river beds splashing through clear running mountain streams, no wonder the roads close quickly when it rains we seemed to spend a lot of time bouncing along creek beds that form part of the road, everywhere the massive River Gums of all shapes and configuration. Reaching the bitumen road Hawker to Lyndhurst on the western side of the Flinders Range we turned south for 20 or 30 kls then back into the gorge systems striking similar views and road conditions, cobbled creeks, plenty of shallow water crossings and very corrugated roads, just glad I don’t have false teeth, thought the Toyo was going to fall apart. We arrived back at Wilpena just before 7:00pm, (sun doesn’t go down until about 8:30pm here). A full day but most enjoyable.

18th Nov: Rest day neither of us felt like doing much, it was one of those warm balmy days a lot of campers moved out, it was peaceful and quiet, Nancy wandered up to the park reception (shop) for some information (shop), I washed the caravan and made it look respectable again, did some maintenance in the car, read my book and even did a little painting. Nancy decided to ‘have a little lay down at 11:45 am before we have lunch’, at 3:30 pm she disputed the time. But it was one of those days nice and relaxing and you need them now and then.

Weather here has been beautiful so far with no rain, quite cool nights and lovely warm days, no draining humidity. It’s the 19th Nov: we are going to do a substantial walk today starting early, but as I sit here typing this blog at 8:50 am, listening to Nancy snore, I wonder. And there’s a cold breeze coming through the vent in the door even though I’m sitting here with a flannelette shirt on, our plans may change.