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Published: April 26th 2013
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St Mary's Peak
Wilpena Pound from Hucks Lookout 24th and 25th
Marg and I decided to have a look at both the Elder Ranges, north west of Hawker and Wilpena Pound north east of Hawker over two half day journeys.
Wednesday morning, we decided to walk to town and then on up Policeman's Hill to a lookout over Hawker and the surrounding ranges. Well worth the climb to get a sense of the area. Hawker itself is rather like an oasis of green in the brown/red plain of arid farmland.
On Wednesday afternoon we drove north to Parachilna at the top of the Elder Range, and as it happens, in line with the north of the Wilpena formation.
The day was fine and the cruising easy along great sealed roads. There are a few lookouts and pointers to settlements long since crumbled, and to various current farm homesteads.
The country side is relatively poor, but dominated by the Elder Range which is long and rugged with interesting formations showing the mighty uplift that has created the angled layers of rock and sediment.
At Parachilna, there is a famous outback Pub that sells feral burgers - camel, emu and kangaroo. As it happened, we
The water station remains
But no thirsty trains travel this way now didn't try the delicacy but did take the photo. What else is there at Parachilna? A sort of caravan park, some motel rooms, a disused railway station and FLIES. Seems they want a lift back to civilisation, and jumped into the motorhome as quick as a flash. They clearly missed the trains not stopping here anymore. We advised the flies that we were not a passenger service and managed to shoo many of them out the windows. But some remained.
These were small flies, about half the size of our domestic flies. Their brain was also scaled down, and were not smart enough to avoid capture with a paper tissue. Once captured, they flew away when shaken out the window.
Safety hazard removed, Marg headed south again back towards Hawker.
We had tried to raise David and Mary as they had gone to Wilpena and exited the pound on this same highway after rock hopping through the gorges and we thought they would exit at Parachilna. As it happened they exited the pound further south, where we stopped for a cuppa and take some pictures. Seems they exited the gorges about 45 minutes after we left for
The crane
Used in the late 1800s to load bails of wool onto the trains. Bales arrived on horse drawn wagons. Hawker.
Thursday, mid morning we headed up to Wilpena again taking the opportunity to visit a number of lookouts finally stopping for lunch about 10 Ks north of the Wilpena turnoff at Hucks Lookout. This was a great vantage point where we could see the rugged formation of the Wilpena Ranges, and particularly St Marys Peak. (This is the peak from which the panorama painting was created that we visited on Wednesday.)
Next on our adventure we drove down into Wilpena visitors centre and walked partway up a couple of the trails. For those with good fitness, the paths are well marked and graded for fitness etc. Many are steep up crumbling rock, so not that easy to negotiate. It is luck of the draw with nature photos as to who crosses your path, or sits in a tree for a photo.
We struck a heard of feral goats, strong sturdy animals that the park managers would like to eliminate.
A few kangaroos, mostly greys bounded past with a cheerful hooroo, a couple stopped to feed and were duly photographed. And we must not overlook the tubby skink. In Qld we call them Land Mullet, down
The Old Ghan Railway Station
Heritage listed and currently a restaurant. here Sleepy Lizards.
As for colourful birds, they were in a hurry to do whatever colourful birds do in the afternoon and total avoided photo opportunities.
Comparing the two days, the Wilpena trip was much more interesting with colourful vegetation, great roads and mindboggling photo opportunities of river gums, rock formations, rural and forested pasture, tortured creek beds and ruins from the past (1850s and on).
The consensus from us and David and Mary is base yourself at Hawker, and choose day trips that your vehicle is capable of achieving. Our Merc would not have been appropriate across the gorges, but a good way to view many of the lookouts and get to some of the walks without roughing it. With a high clearance 4WD vehicle, there a several gorges that can be driven through if the weather is good and the driver is patient.
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Mum & Dad
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Rugged scenery
Great landscapes but real rugged stuff. Not much green grass in that lot. Great rock formations too. Warm windy weather here no rain could do with some.