Flinders Ranges & Wilpena Pound

We hopped into the Rangie at 8.30am next day, ready to do one of the 4WD tracks up to Mt Gill, rated as 'hard' by the homestead managers.  It's a 54km round trip, and should take around 5 hours to complete - sounds like a slow and steady day!  Well, Trev started the car and 'bang', she backfired.  Trev said a couple of choice words, then went to check what had happened - the lid of the air filter box had completely blown off and broken in about 4 places.  Not a good start. 

So it was out with the toolbox, the super glue, the epoxy glue and other assorted bits and pieces.  None of the above seemed to work at fitting the jigsaw back together, so then he tried his little butane soldering iron (thanks, Pete!) and tried 'spot-welding' and melting the plastic pieces together, and it seemed to work.  He put it all back together, tied the lid on with a strap, and 2 hours later we were ready to go.

We got maps, instructions and gatekeys for the track and off we went.   It was a very scenic drive through quite difficult, rocky, dry riverbeds, then up and down steep, shale covered hills (mountains), through pine forests, scrub, and eucalypts.  Our first stop was at Cockatoo Hut, about a third of the way through the track.  We stopped and had lunch there under the verandah.  Then we were off again, and an hour or so later we finally reached the top of Mt Gill, which boasted great 360 deg views of the Northern Flinders Ranges.  I drove the last couple of km up the mountain, very steep, and it was great fun.    We stopped and had a refreshing drink there, then headed back down.  We spotted several types of kangaroos on the drive, the yellow-footed rock wallaby, the euro and another I can't remember the name of.  Quite different to our little eastern greys.

Next day we packed and left for Wilpena Pound.  On the way through we stopped at the Prairie Hotel at Parachilna, which is famous for its 'Feral Mixed Grill' and 'Feral Finger Platter'.  We thought we should probably try it, so ordered the FMG for Trev (kangaroo fillet, emu filet mignon, camel sausage with mash and grilled tomato in a rich jus) and the Red Goat Curry for me.  Both were really good, and we shared our plates as we often do.  But I think mine was the better one.  The pub was really interesting, lots of character, and the walls were covered with paintings by Peter Coad, an Australian artist.  I wanted to buy one, and Trevor was keen too, but the one he wanted was $18,000 and mine was $11,000 so we had to give it a miss.  Pity!

We drove through to have a look at the Parachilna Gorge, which was very pretty, then back on to the highway, checked out part of Brachina Gorge, then eventually booked into a caravan park just outside Wilpena Pound.  We decided to stay at Rawnsley Park Station, just near Rawnsley Bluff, for 2 nights.  It had good facilities, campfires at each site and was about 15km from the Wilpena Pound Station.  We did a bit of housekeeping, caught up with some washing, then had a quick drive into Wilpena Pound for some info on walks and drives.

Next day we did a drive around the ranges, through Booleroo Gorge and Brachina Gorge, then back to the camp through Maralina Road.  We saw a few yellow-footed rock wallabies, particularly on the rocks of Brachina Gorge.  The views of the ranges were good, but I think that I was expecting a little more - the Flinders Ranges have been built up to be spectacular, but until you see them at sunset, you just don't get all the colours you see in postcards or on ads.  We arrived back just on sunset, so I managed to get some good photos then, with the reds and purples coming out.  I also captured a few photos of two thorny devils basking in the last rays of the sun in the middle of the red dirt road - brilliant!  They just froze and pretended they weren't there for the entire time I was photographing them.

The following morning we packed up the camper, left it at Rawnsley, then drove up to Wilpena to do our 8km walk to Wangara lookout over the pound.  It was a really good walk, pretty easy until we got to the Hills Homestead.  Then it was virtually straight uphill, very rocky, for the last 800m.  Good views, but because of the recent rain, the centre of the pound was totally covered in trees and scrub, not at all like photos I had seen of Wilpena Pound.  Trev could appreciate it a lot more, because he'd been there about 30 years ago when it was completely empty, just a dust-filled bowl, so he could appreciate the contrast.

After we finished our walk, we drove back to Rawnsley Park and picked up the camper.  We're going to Broken Hill, but we had to stop at Orroroo for the night at a little caravan park - only $19 for a powered site, pretty good.

We're at Broken Hill now and are staying at the same caravan park we stopped at with Bill and Lorraine in 2008 - this is the place where their car broke down and they had to truck it (and the caravan) back home to Canberra!

We went out to Silverton and Mundi Mundi Plains today, and the scenery is quite different to last time - lots of scrub and trees everywhere, where in 2008 it was just red dust as far as the eye could see.  I took some photos so I can compare them when I get home.

I went back to the Silver City Tin Mine where I previously bought some jewellery, and bought another necklace and earrings set - they're gorgeous!  We also had a look at the Jack Absalom art gallery. 

Next stop - Menindee Lakes.  They should be full of water this time.....