Blogs from Wilpena Pound, Flinders Ranges National Park, South Australia, Australia, Oceania

Today we’ve booked for the so-called “Time Travel” tour, which is being led again by the very entertaining Mick, our indigenous guide from last evening’s Stokes Hill sunset tour. We’re not quite sure why it’s called the Time Travel tour, and are now thinking that we probably should have thought to ask when we booked. Perhaps unsurprisingly, our transport isn’t something out of “Back to the Future“, it just looks like the bus we were on last night. Mick explains that we’ll be heading north from Wilpena Pound and then turning west onto the Brachina Gorge Geological Trail. The “Time Travel” tour title is apparently a reference to the journey we’ll be taking through 130 million years of geological time in little more than about ten kilometres of road distance. First stop is an inspection of ... read more

Waking up in Clare to a fairly damp morning, despite having lots of suggestions from friends on where we should visit while in Clare, it was only an overnighter to see us on our way toward the Flinders Ranges (South Australia). The rain decided to pour for a while on our Journey, but I checked the radar and it showed that there was no rain where we were heading at Hawker, hmmm. Driving through the rain toward Jamestown and listening to The Verve's Bittersweet Symphony, this brings back so many memories for me, especially when I was contracting in London and would drive back to Southampton on a Thursday night, put the roof down and drive along the open road back down the A316 and M3. Ok maybe not quite the open road, as my memory ... read more

Hello Everyone, As we farewelled the Barossa one sunny morning with grape-stains on our fingers, grape-vines in the rear-vision mirror and memories of being called back to work after lunch with the word "Cupla" (meaning "a couple of minutes" before we start work again!), we headed across to the York Peninsula. But…as it turned out, we ended up in the Flinders Ranges, not because we had our map upside down, but thanks to our new friend Mohican!!… We stopped in a little town and as we emerged from the fruit shop we saw a slim shirtless man with a shaved head and lots of tatts. He looked like a biker from way back. He had a bunch of women in the car presumably partner, daughters and grand-daughters. While drinking a can of beer and jump-starting his ... read more

Flinders Ranges National Park After a refresh and re-fuel at Port Augusta, I started to make my way back up into the South Australian Outback. It was a really hot day today, with a hot wind to boot, so the drive was exhausting and sweaty. I stopped at Hawker for a break before coming into Wilpena Pound and my campsite for the night. Driving into the Flinders Ranges is beautiful and the Ranges look impressive in the late afternoon sunlight. When I was turning into Wilpena Pound I saw all these vans and trailers and straight away wondered if they were making a movie. Sure enough (as the receptionist told me when I was checking in) they are indeed filming for a new Australian movie to be called 'Swerve'. Sounds interesting! The campground at Wilpena Pound ... read more

Day 243 - Wilpena Pound, Flinders Ranges Wakey Wakey it’s Christmas Day! Hurrah, has he been, has Santa been, quick, open the door and have a look…….he’s been, he’s been, he’s brought us our very own stocking! Amazing isn’t it that we’ve travelled half way around this huge country, are the other side of the world from where ‘we should be’ and yet Santa can still track us down, what a guy. Dar has been working hard on the preparations for the dinner. Lots of people have asked us what we’ll be having, why turkey of course with all the trimmings and if it’s 40 degrees outside then so be it! There was a special virtual present to open from my Mum and Dad, bless Mum she’s becoming a whiz with photographs these days! We’re stunned ... read more