Trekkin

Day 19 – September 19 2012

The minibus tour left at 8.20am so we were up bright & early & I wrote up yesterday’s blog before breakfast.  We met Rudi, our 77 year old tour guide & opal miner of 37 years & headed off on an informative & interesting morning.  Rudi drove us all over Coober Pedy with the first interesting stop the underground Serbian Orthodox Church, St Elijah.  This church is dug out of sandstone & is totally inside a small hill.  The temperature inside is a very pleasant 24C constantly when outside it can be unbearably hot.  The sandstone walls are beautifully multi coloured & finished with a clear spray that not only enhances the colour, but binds the outer sandstone to stop it crumbling.  There are also some beautiful carvings of the natural sandstone above the altar.  There are also public access mullock heaps in town that anyone can try their hand at noodling for opal that Rudi stopped at for a short while.  Some people are successful with this & can find some overlooked precious stone.

After seeing nearly everything in town we stopped off at an old opal mine that had been converted into a museum, showing both the past & present examples of both working & living underground.  With modern machinery the new underground homes can be very large, spacious & comfortable, as opposed to in the past being dug by hand with a pick axe.  Rudi was an excellent tour guide.

After lunch we were guided out to an old mine site by local historians, Brian & Judy.  Brian is an opal miner & a mine rescue volunteer.  This mine site, around 12 km of driving along a maze of dirt tracks, was where Helen’s mother (our friend travelling with us) was killed in an opal mine cave-in with her mining partner 37 years ago.  This was the first time Helen had visited the mine site where her mother died & it was very emotional.  Rose & I knew Mrs Huber when we were young so it was very touching for us to be there to say good bye to her.  We spent a little time there before Brian guided us out of the maze of mullock heaps & deep mine shafts.

These mine shafts are open & everywhere, as the miners are not allowed to fill them in.  There are thousands & thousands of unmarked holes, most around a metre across & 28 metres deep.  Lots of people have died after accidentally falling into these open holes.  Brian & Judy guided us back to their house where Helen was interviewed & taped to record some more of the unknown history of Coober Pedy.  We had a very nice afternoon tea under the veranda watching lots of zebra finches feeding the young in their nests under the veranda.  Afterwards Brian & Judy showed us through their very nice underground home.  It is unbelievable how cool it is compared to the 36.5C it was outside.  They were very kind lovely people, we all felt like they were old friends. We finished chatting & headed off before dark so that we would find our way back to camp.

We all decided to stroll down the main street in a lovely cool breeze not even realising that it was 31C.  We bought a few groceries, cooked our meal & said good night.  We left the windows & vents open when we left this morning because it was so warm. The inside of our caravan has never got so dusty as it did from the wind today (Coober Pedy is very dusty), even though we have travelled on many atrociously dusty roads.

Day 18 – September 18 2012

We packed & left Arckaringa Station after a relaxing breakfast, taking the Mt Barry Station Road.  The road condition was pretty good for an on-station track & the 45km to the Coober Pedy turnoff was relaxing, though very dusty through shrubby desert country.  The road to Coober Pedy was fairly average to start with, then around 70km out we caught up to where a grader was working so the rest of the drive to Coober Pedy was reasonably smooth.  The landscape changed dramatically, we were now in the Moon Desert.

The Moon Desert is very barren, a flat expanse as far as the eye can see, covered in small rocks with no vegetation at all.  As we drove along we noticed a lot of rocks glistening in the sun, these rocks are actually a mineral called gypsum, very similar looking to glass & just as hard, hence the reason for no vegetation.  It really does look like a moonscape, you feel as though you are in a different world, with the Moon Desert seeming to stretch on forever.

We eventually noticed some mountain ranges in the distance & as we approached them, the Moon Desert ended abruptly, there was a noticeable delineation at the edge of the gypsum field & plants were growing.  As we drove closer to the mountain range we noticed similar colouration to the Painted Desert & the range turned out to be called The Breakaways.

About 15km out from Coober Pedy, just after we passed through the Dog Fence again- the longest man made structure in the world (this is to keep the dingos away from the sheep), we turned off for the scenic drive to The Breakaways.  This was a very corrugated track following the Dog Fence along until veering into The Breakaways.  These are a stunningly coloured range of mountains, very similar to the Painted Desert.  Again, the different colours are remarkable & we stopped a number of times for a walk & photos.  This was a loop drive & we drove through the range & out into scrubby desert country again to join the Stuart Highway about 20km north of Coober Pedy.

The bitumen of the Stuart Highway was very welcome after the roughness of all of the dirt roads we have been travelling.  The dirt mullock heaps from the opal mining that Coober Pedy is famous for started appearing & became very pronounced, right up to the edge of the road, there are thousands upon thousands of mullock heaps.

Coober Pedy is a different sort of town & we called into the Visitor Centre before heading off to the caravan park to set up. Helen & John got a nice cabin at the caravan park.  After lunch we made calls to the family (amazing how we missed hearing from them) as we finally had mobile phone reception after so long in isolation in the outback.  Then we took a walk down the main street, not very impressive & full of mining tour shops & opal shops with 2 grocery stores, etc. thrown in.  Sadly there are groups of aboriginals walking around with casks of alcohol, being very noisy & a little disconcerting.  We bought a few groceries then back to camp for a relaxed nibblies & drinks with our friends before dinner & a long night of posting blogs to catch up.

Day 17 – September 17 2012

An easy start from Oodnadatta heading towards Coober Pedy & the desert became even more sparse of vegetation with red gibber stones stretching endlessly across the desert plains.  After around 50km we turned off & headed towards the Painted Desert & Mt Arckaringa.  We were hoping for some nice scenery but were totally unprepared for what we saw, as the hills of the Painted Desert came into view they revealed the most spectacular colours, all the colours of the rainbow in various hues etched down the faces of the hills.  As we drove further in & the hills closed around us the sight was very spectacular, I have not seen anything like it anywhere else in Australia.  The shapes of the hills & surrounding slopes etched with the most amazing colours.  We stopped at the lookout to view & take photos & all of us were amazed at the sheer beauty surrounding us, it really has to be seen to be appreciated, even the ground looks special. We then drove the short distance to the carpark for the walk to the top of Mt Arkaringa, this short half hour walk was very special, with every way you turned or looked presenting another amazing view.

By now it was lunch time so we continued on to Arkaringa Station for our camping spot for the night, this is another huge cattle station, 274,500 hectares. At the station we met the owner, friend & his cattle dog.  They were so friendly & they gave us some quandong (native peach – you have to have a bit of an imagination to relate the taste to our peach, but not too bad) also to taste the jam they were just making – very nice.  This place is a proper working cattle station.  They have made a lovely area for camping, hot showers, flushing toilets & a lovely sitting area – where we had our lunch.  Helen & John are staying right here too in a very nice cabin, everything is so clean.  Once again we struck it lucky with a nice camping site. We had our camp set up in no time then a long leisurely lunch with lots of talking.  We had a game of Klops (Danish – something similar to skittles, but totally different) in the afternoon & thoroughly enjoyed it before settling in for cheese, nibblies & a red. Another couple came in to camp & soon we were all chatting together.  A delicious dinner, sitting around the campfire chatting under the clear starry sky with our fellow travellers, then bed.   Only 97km today.

Day 16 – September 16 2012

The mosquitos last night as we were sitting outside chatting under the stars were ferocious.  Poor Tereza has swollen mosquito bites all over her back where they bit through her shirt.  Some of the mosquitos were fairly large.  We got away from the lovely oasis of Coward Springs at around 8am, following the old Ghan Rail Line to our next destination of William Creek.  The track was OK in some places, pretty bad in others.  We passed a few more mound springs along the way (now we know what they are & look like) with the resultant salt marsh surrounding them.  The landscape is now predominately red gibber plains interspersed with sand hills with a little bit of vegetation scattered around.  Some of the colour contrasts are very good, with the deep reds, yellows, whites & greens. It is unbelievable how lovely the desert scenery is, we enjoyed the drive very much – the road was the only pain. We are starting to see a few cattle feeding, though what they are eating, who knows, there does not seem enough to sustain them in this desert.  The sand hills gradually changed from yellow & they are now a deep red colour, rolling along in never ending lines.  It took about an hour & a half to drive the 75km into William Creek, a population of ten people.  We stopped here to catch a plane flight over Lake Eyre. Helen & John kindly booked the plane for 5 of us, Rose isn’t keen on flying.

The small park across the road from the William Creek Hotel has a collection of rocket memorabilia from the launches of rockets from Woomera, with many rocket pieces landing on the properties around William Creek.  The flight over Lake Eyre was a revelation, the vast expanse of lake is mostly white salt, (about 30 cm thick) with a small amount of water (about 15% & the water is about  6 – 7 times saltier than the ocean) remaining in the deepest pocket of Lake Eyre closest to William Creek. They expect the water to evaporate by the end of the year.  In the last hundred years the lake has only filled 2 times, 1974 was the last time.  The flight was interesting & not too bumpy, we descended to 500 feet over the lake for a closer look.  The colours of the lake change to pink as you fly over it, with the colour coming from the algae thriving in the very salty water.  The land from the air looks just as barren & unsupportive of life.  It really is a harsh & hostile country.  Anna Creek, the name of the cattle station we were flying over, is the biggest cattle farm in Australia, the size of Belgium & they have approximately 18,000 cattle on it.

After our flight it was lunch at the William Creek Hotel, a very old & rustic country pub that lives from the tourist trade that flows through town. The steak sandwich with the lot & a ginger beer was very popular & very tasty.

On the Oodnadatta Track again around 1pm & just out of town we found out what we would be in for, the track condition has worsened badly north of William Creek.  It is full of corrugations, ruts & holes, shaking the car, Karavan & us equally as badly.  Poor Ron had to concentrate on the road so much weaving from one side to the other to try & avoid the terrible corrugation.  The 5 hours of driving to Oodnadatta we had no one overtake us but we met with 6 vehicles (mad ones like us) coming from the opposite direction.  The roadside scenery worsened with even less vegetation, it was different – if the road would have been better we could have enjoyed it.  The desert turned mainly into rock fields with sparse vegetation.  Mother Natures rock garden.  We passed the ruins of old railway sidings at regular intervals, with the rail embankment of the old Ghan Line a near constant companion on either side of the track.

The largest rail bridge constructed in South Australia was our next stop, a welcome relief to stretch the legs as well.  The Algebuckina Bridge spans the Neale River & carries 19 steel spans of 30.9 metres each span, to total 587 metres.  It is a very long bridge, now disused, looking spectacular sitting a long way above some remnant water pools.

We finally reached the Pink Roadhouse at Oodnadatta after 306km for the day, including a long 5 hour very bumpy drive from William Creek.  The camping area is a fenced off enclosure behind the roadhouse, for security reasons by the looks of it, very unglamorous, just like the town. We were very pleased to finally stop & have a rest from driving.  Helen & John drove faster & booked into one of the caravan park cabins for the night.  Helen made some pancakes & invited us to share it with them. While Ron was writing the blog I used the laundry & washed our clothes.  A couple of glasses of red, pancakes, then bed, it has been a long tiring day.

Day 15 – September 15 2012

The dozens of birds at Farina campsite woke us as dawn was breaking, it was great listening to them & seeing them flying in & around the trees we were camped next to, watching them fly into hollows to feed the chicks (a surprisingly lovely place being so close to the sad little ruins of Farina).   We were packed & away by 8am, such a shame to leave such a nice spot, for the 55km drive into Marree to meet John & Helen.  The road interspersed between dirt & a couple of lengthy stretches of bitumen that was nice, but mostly flat country with a few cattle wandering across the road, plus the odd emu.

Marree is a small place, the intersection of the Birdsville Track & the Oodnadatta Track, with the old stone pub being the most prominent building in town.  There is a collection of old diesel locomotives that were stranded in Marree when the rail line was closed down after the track to Alice Springs was moved a long way further west to avoid issues when Lake Eyre flooded, as well as the old Blitz truck that Tom Kruse used on the Birdsville mail run for many years.

Not too far north of Marree the road had been freshly graded so it was a very pleasant drive for a while as the landscape changed from rocky red gibber plains & started to be scattered with salt marshes & salt flats.  Unfortunately we caught up with the graders at the Woomera Road turnoff, so the road started to deteriorate again after that.  We then spotted to the north a massive expanse of water, Lake Eyre South.  It is so amazing to see so much water out in the desert, it is an absolutely immense expanse of water, surround on the edges by salt flats.  Lake Eyre is the biggest inland draining river system, it covers 22 percent of Australia.

The Oodnadatta Track continued to follow the old rail line with the old rail bridges still standing crossing over dry creek beds, the odd water tank standing lonely waiting for non-existent steam trains & the old railway siding stone buildings, fallen into ruin.  We crossed the dog-fence, an extremely long wire fence stretching across a vast stretch of Australia, designed to keep the dingoes out of sheep country.  We passed a sculpture park, were the owner does crazy things, such as plant the tails of two planes in the ground & call it art.  The landscape then changed to low sand hills, interspersed with salt plains between them before we came to a lookout for viewing Lake Eyre South.  This lookout is at around the closest point that the lake gets to the road & it is unbelievable that the lake is 15.7 metres below sea level.  We read all the interesting information on the display boards, then kept on going to Wabma Kadarbu Mound Springs.

The springs are around 4km off the Oodnadatta Track & are an amazing sight.  The flowing springs are in the middle of a mound that has built up over thousands of years & the mound is around 10 meters high.  The boardwalk to the top of the springs is only recent, with the workmen still completing the last section.  The life in the springs is also amazing, some of the water creature species are only known to exist at the one mound spring, having evolved there over countless years.

Our next stop was Coward Springs, another mound spring that had been used as a watering point for a railway siding.  Two of the old stone railway buildings are still in use, one as a residence & the other as a museum of the area.  We decided to set up camp & have a late lunch so we could explore the area a little further.  John & Helen left after lunch to stay in a hotel. The campsite is another great place, tucked away in a grove of trees with birdlife everywhere.  The spring has had a bathing area built on top of it & both Tereza & Mike had a few dips in the bubbling spring.  We had a beautiful warm spring fed shower & sat down to a great pasta dinner with Rose & Mike, again looking up at countless stars in the clear skies.  206km for the day. It is amazing that in the desert we could find such a beautiful little oasis. The flies & mosquitos loved the place too.

Day 14 – September 14 2012

A late start getting away at around 9.30am, as we spent a bit of time looking at the geological exhibits & the seismic information exhibit at & near the Arkaroola Visitor Centre.  Just out of the Arkaroola Township a rare yellow footed rock wallaby waited at the side of the road for us & kindly jumped across in front of us, luckily for it we slowed, a very pretty wallaby with a very long bushy & flexible tail.  The road from Arkaroola to Copley was mainly very good dirt with a few rougher sections through creeks & some washaways.  The mountain ranges were varied, beautiful & interesting, with different shapes, colours, textures (the distant mountains looked dark blue & sometimes purple, closer ones at times beautiful ochre, green or brown dotted with small shrubs) & vegetation as we travelled along.  We passed through two very small aboriginal townships with a strip of bitumen through town to stop the dust before stopping at Copley for lunch at the famous Quandong Café, where people from hundreds of kilometres around flock to eat. (Yes, we travelled about 130km & another 70km & we never came across anywhere else to eat, the only thing they had was an assortment of 5 different kinds of pies, Ron had the road kill – kangaroo, Mike & I had Beef, Rose chicken, Helen & John the shepherd’s, I had a large Quandong milkshake the others had coffee & to make sure that all the pies were tasted Ron had a Quandong pie as well).

On the bitumen again from Copley to Lyndhurst, where we refuelled, before we were back to dirt & our next stop at the abandoned township of Farina (Farina in Latin means Flour).  This town was originally established as a wheat growing area (the land is flat, dry even the rubbishy weeds are struggling to survive) & in the 1880s as a railhead (end of the line) for transporting sheep & cattle to the markets in Adelaide.  The town reached its heydays in the 1930s & gradually declined until the rail line was closed in the 1960s.  There are a scattering of old stone buildings in various states of ruin scattered around the former town & these give a glimpse at the history & hardships that must have been endured, particularly with the large dust storms that were a frequent occurrence.  We spent a few hours wandering around the ruins exploring the history of the town & the railway.

The Farina campgrounds are only 600m from the information centre at Farina & they are absolutely astonishing, closely mown green & flat camp ground scattered amongst some lovely gum trees, with hot showers & flushing toilets, it is a really pretty & unexpected place after walking the bleak stony remnants of Farina.  We set up camp next to Mike & Rose & enjoyed some red wine, cheese & bikkies before exploring the area & reading the other information signs scattered around the campground.  John & Helen didn’t want to set up their tent for one night so they drove to Marree to stay in a hotel for the night.  Dinner under a beautiful clear sky & billions of stars was the perfect finish to another great day.

Day 13 – September 13 2012

After a balmy evening it changed into a very windy night & we even had some rain drops.  I hoped that we wouldn’t have rain because the rough dirt road we came in on would be too slippery to get out of here.  We woke to a dry but a cold windy morning.

We set off at 8am on the 8km Mawson-Spriggina bushwalk, with a starting altitude of 330m rising to 496m on Spriggina Ridge.  The walk starts at Arkaroola Village & follows Wywhyana Creek along the Mawson Valley.  The wildflowers are out in profusion, with the small red flowered hop bush absolutely everywhere & contrasting delightfully with the greens & greys of the surrounding landscape plus the yellows of all the different varieties of wattle in flower & the purple of the native fuschia.  Mt Oliphant dominates the Mawson Valley, but as we walked on, The Pinnacles stood out, these are eroded remnants of plugs of granite that intruded through the overlaying sedimentary rock around 450 million years ago.  This landscape in the Flinders is very old.  We failed to spot any of the yellow footed rock wallabies that inhabit The Pinnacles, I think we may have been too late for them.

The creeks have many interesting shaped trees & are full of birds of all varieties.  We did have a special treat when a red robin displayed himself close to us & an orange bellied blue coloured dragon lizard allowed us to get very close & photograph.  The path was very rocky, with an amazing array of different rocks & minerals all over the place.  This region of the Gammon Ranges is very rich in minerals, with a cluster of old copper mines nearby.  As we climbed the ridge out of the Mawson Valley we were treated to some great views all around us, again the photos do not do it any justice.

We were at the half-way point so broke out the morning snacks to give us the energy for the rest of the walk.  Tereza is coping very well with her dodgy knees walking up & down & around & across on these very uneven rocky paths.  The walk to the top of the astronomy lookout was a bit of a test with a steep climb up to the twin observatories complete with solar panels, batteries & two-way satellite dish.  The view from here was spectacular with a 360 degree view of the Gammon Ranges.  The rest of the walk was mostly downhill from here, a lot easier (for those with good knees) after 6km of up & down, with some more stunning displays of wildflowers along the track.

We finished the walk in around 4 1/2 hours, taking it easy, back at camp we had had our lunch.  The afternoon was fairly quiet with some reading & resting after the morning walk.  Again we had a great shared BBQ dinner with our friends to finish off another great day under clear blue skies.

Day 12 – September 12 2012

Our journey this morning was back to Blinman again on the bitumen before turning off onto the dirt road for our trip to Arkaroola.  The trip was interesting with the Flinders throwing up some more interesting shaped ranges before we got to the flat land of Lake Frome, a very large salt lake to the east of the Flinders.  The countryside was very dry with none of the emus or kangaroos that were so prolific around Wilpena.  We travelled at a steady 50-60km/hr as there were many small dry creeks & dips in the road that can catch you out, so it took us a good 4 hours to reach Arkaroola from Rawnsley Park Station.

At Arkaroola we are camped on a ridge looking straight at the side of a very interesting small peak, with the different geological structures exposed & glowing in the late afternoon sun.  We took things easy this afternoon, resting after the drive & exploring the options for tomorrow’s activities.  A joint BBQ finished the day off nicely, with a bottle of champagne & some wine amongst our friends.

The trip to Arkaroola was quite scenic, the mountain ranges always on the sides & even though the land had insignificant sorts of vegetation it still looked good in the hot sunshine.  We passed some big sheep stations (you very rarely see any buildings or even sheep as one sheep needs about 15-17 hectares to survive out here).  Once again we have only seen grey nomads on the roads. The temperature got up to 32C as we were driving but on arrival at the camp site it was 28C. This camp site is a more outbacky type than Rawnsley Park was, but it has electricity, nice clean toilets, showers, BBQ area, bar, restaurant & even a swimming pool somewhere.

Our meals – it has so far mainly been BBQ but still gourmet – salmon, mango marinated chicken, pepper steak, gourmet sausages, vegetables & nice salads so we are not really roughing it as far as eating is concerned.  I prepare it all & Ron with a red in the hand happily cooks & chats to the other men. It is amazing that not too long after it gets dark we say good night.

Day 11 – September 11 2012

We drove out at around 8.20am to Wilpena Pound for a walk into the Hills Homestead inside the pound itself.  The walk was a very easy stroll along Wilpena Creek amongst some of the most majestic & distinguished river red gums I have seen.  Topping it off was wattle, not only the magnificent yellow flowers, but the sweet perfume permeating our whole walk.  It was one of the most pleasant walks we have been on.  It was a very easy hour walk to the Hills Homestead, a stone building that has been well restored & cared for. They had signs telling the history of the family who lived there – what hardships they endured. We were serenaded by a family of blue wing kookaburras (well, they laughed at us) and again surrounded by an amazing array of birdlife.

Behind the Hills Homestead was the short strenuous climb up to the two Wangarra Lookouts, the lower one only about 300 metres from the homestead & the top one a lot steeper & a lot further up.  We had lots of stops for breathers on the way up.  The view over the pound & the surrounding ranges was very impressive.  The scale & shape of Wilpena Pound was very evident with a very large flat area inside the pound that was originally used to grow sheep, then wheat.  We saw a few different species of lizards sunning themselves on the rocks on the walk which gave us another special treat. The walk down was one heck of a lot easier (for those without knee problems), then from the Hills Homestead it was a very pleasant 3.8km walk back to the Wilpena Visitor Centre.  I walked about half way up the top lookout when I turned around & slowly walk back down because my knees reminded me that I am not a mountain goat any more.  The total walk would have been about 6 – 7 km & I was just so happy that my knees held out.  This was the most civilized outback walk I have ever been on & I would say one of the nicest – a must for all overseas visitors because there are docile kangaroos (used to tourists) just posing for those memorable photographs, emus, birds & beautiful gum trees showing of their colourful trunks in the sunshine & of course the gorgeous gorges.

We then drove up to Blinman, a very old town with a smattering of old stone buildings, which was once an important copper mining town, now surviving on the tourist industry.  We stopped at the North Blinman Hotel for a counter lunch & drink before a short walk around town, spotting an old mine shaft with disused mining equipment laying around.

After lunch we turned south again & stopped to look at the Great Wall of China, a startling rock formation that looks like someone has built a very large stone wall around the top of the range. Next stop was the ruins of the Appealinna Station, a short drive off the road & victim of the many droughts of the 19^th century.  The building is made of flat mudstone picked from the ground where it lies in huge abundance, even the toilet was made from stone.  The next stop was Stokes Hill Lookout with another magnificent view of the surrounding countryside.

The afternoon was getting late so the kangaroos were starting to come out to feed.  The drive home to Rawnsley Park Station was very steady, with a bit of braking for lots of kangaroos that decided they needed to dash across the road in front of us.  A relaxing coffee & bikkies with a chat finished off another really great day with our friends.  186km of driving, a cloudless clear blue sky, a slight cooling breeze & around 23C, even a very pleasant climate to make it a truly great day.  At 8pm we went to the camp kitchen to listen to a talk on the geology & biodiversity of the Flinders Ranges, with around 30 of our fellow travellers.  He was very informative & interesting, though he did talk in a monotone which sent a few off to sleep.

Day 10 – September 10 2012

We planned for a 9am start for a drive around the Flinders.  Our first stop was the Wilpena Pound Visitor Centre for a quick dose of information, then off for a drive through the Bunyeroo Gorge loop road.  The scenery was amazing with each twist & turn down Buyeroo Creek unfolding another beautiful scene.  The colours & shapes of the ranges, trees & landscape is truly spectacular, the photos do not do it justice.  We stopped at lots of places to get out & have a photo session along this road.

We ended at lunchtime at the Aroona Ruins, a former stone farmhouse sited on a small ridge with the most spectacular views of the nearby range.  Hans Heysen used to visit Aroona to paint the landscape & when you see the scenery, you can understand why.  We had lunch under a beautiful shady gum tree, replete with resident red robin, looking down the Aroona Valley.  After lunch we drove through Brachina Gorge, following the Brachina Creek out of the ranges.  Again absolutely stunning scenery following the many twists & turns of the creek, amazed at some of the beautifully shaped flood battered gum trees lining the creek. At some places they had signs to inform about the type of rock formation & approximately how many hundreds of millions of years old they were.  When you see how old these things are, we humans are very insignificant.

Driving out of the ranges was an amazing transformation, one moment we were surrounded by mountains, all of a sudden we were staring at the bleak expanse of a totally flat to the horizon landscape.  The Flinders Ranges seem to just jump out of the ground.  We turned onto the bitumen & drove south towards Hawker, turning off left at the Moralana Scenic Drive, another dirt road dividing Wilpena Pound & the Elder Range.  Again we were treated to some great views before reaching the bitumen & heading back to the Rawnsley Park Station campground.

A brief rest with coffee & listening to one of our fellow campers playing his musical keyboard beautifully, then it was off to the Pugilist Lookout to view the sunset glowing off the Chace Range.  This was only a short 15km drive from camp.  We got there early & watched the colours changing over the range as the sun settled lower.  Again, a very pretty sunset with the afternoon sun glowing orange off the Chace Range.  Back to camp as it got dark then dinner, tired but satisfied after 196km of driving around the Flinders.

The day was absolutely perfect around 24C sunny with a light breeze just right to walk around.  Tonight a big sky full of stars, pleasant weather to sit outside & eat dinner with Rose & Mike.  Helen & John didn’t join us because Helen hasn’t been feeling well with her shoulder & todays rough long drive aggravated it more.