Heading Bush, Day 2 - Wilpena Pound and cave paintings

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After a surprisingly sound night's sleep in our swags we woke up to the early morning sun around 6.30am. It sounds strange but waking up to the sunrise feels very natural and peaceful, much less abrasive than an alarm clock in a darkened room. Maybe I'll be sleeping with the curtains open when we get home!

For breakfast we started the fire up again and toasted some bread while a kettle warmed in the embers. There were two choices for a toilet. We could either use the drop dunny attached to the farm which was basically a hole in the floor surrounded by four walls or go in the bush. The previous night I had opted for the drop dunny but in the morning light I spotted a large huntsman spider that was watching me from a corner so decided that the bush was safer! On the subject of creepy crawlies it was only in the morning that we noticed we had laid our swags out next to a bull ant nest and had been lucky not to get any in our sleeping bags as we slept. I didn't manage to get any good pictures but for those of you who have never seen a bull ant before, have a look at these links:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bull_ant
http://media.photobucket.com/image/bulldog%20ant/idontcareifyouspamthis/BuggyBulldogAnt.jpg
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/fa/Myrmecia_nigriceps_1.jpg/800px-Myrmecia_nigriceps_1.jpg

We agreed to check thouroughly for ant nests before choosing our swag spots in future!

We set off from the campsite at around 7.30am and headed to the Kanyaka Homestead, a set of ruins that serve as a reminder of Australia's rural roots and the incredibly tough lives that the pastoral farmers of the 19th century led. The Kanyaka Homestead was set up in 1851 as a sheep run by a man called Hugh Proby. He drowned in a creek the following year so the lease was taken up by two partners, Alexander Grant and John Phillips. Over the next few years the men extended the homestead to over 360 square miles that were home to 50,000 sheep and 70 families that worked there. Conditions were very tough in the unforgiving climate and the devastating drought that ran from 1864 to 1867 killed nearly half the sheep and all but ruined the business. The homestead struggled on in different guises for a few more years before being abandoned in 1888 and the ruins there today are a legacy to the early settlers who tried to make a life in the outback. We wandered around the ruins for a while before driving a short way to the base of the Yourambulla Caves which contain well preserved Aboriginal rock paintings. We climbed the side of the steep hill to the caves where we found a sign that explained many of the images' meanings. Ian also told us that, rather than the painings being for the sake of art, they were actually for a practical purpose. The Aboriginals were nomadic people and would wander the plains looking for food, water and shelter and the cave paintings were often signposts to these vital means of survival. The markings were made by mixing ochre, which is a coloured dust found in the earth, with either water or urine and applying it to the rocks with fingers or sticks. Clearly this method is pretty effective as the markings are still clearly visible and we had fun trying to work out the messages that they were conveying. The view of the plains from the cave was also pretty cool.

Next stop was the town of Hawker, a small town of about 200 people. It used to be a much larger town when the old Ghan railway ran through it but now the line has been moved over 100km away it is largely deserted. There is still some passing tourist trade as it is only 55km away from Wilpena Pound, our next stop, and it also houses a painted panorama of this spectacular natural geological formation that was completed and opened to the public in 2003. We saw the 360 degree canvas which is incredibly detailed and must have taken years of painstaking work before heading off to the pound itself. On the way we briefly stopped for a view of Rawsley's Bluff from the road. The bluff is a gorgeous rocky mountain that forms the south end of Wilpena Pound where two mountain ranges meet and we stood in the blazing sun with a very atmospheric dingo carcass at the side of the dusty road emphasizing the brutality of the environment we were in.

We drove to the Wilpena visitor centre and read up on the geological causes behind the unusual formation that I won't bore you with here, suffice to say that Wilpena Pound is essentially two curved mountain ranges that create an almost complete circle, with a huge natural amphitheatre in the middle. The highest point is St Mary's Peak at 1,170 metres high and the interior of the amphitheatre covers an enormous 80 sq km. We all made sure that we had enough water for the climb to a look out point and set off.

The walk to the lookout point was gorgeous and as we slowly climbed the steep rocky slopes more of the view was unveiled with each step. We finally got to the top and looked out over the vast expanse of land that is held within the two ranges. The local Aboriginal tribe, the Adnyamathanha, believe that the pound was made by the bodies of two sleeping serpents that turned to stone and from the lookout point you can see how this idea was conceived. Unfortunately our camera wasn't able to capture the sheer scale of the landscape so I have cheated slightly and included an aerial photo from google images so that you can see quite how incredible the Wilpena Pound is. I did get a quick video that you can see here but it really doesn't do the view justice -

After standing at the top looking out over the prehistoric looking landscape and half expecting to see dinosaurs roaming around we grudgingly climbed back down and got back into the bruck. Our next stop was the small village of Blinman an hour or so down the road. We mainly stopped for fuel and to stretch our legs but it was also quite interesting to wander along the main road. When I say the main road, what I really mean is the tiny dusty road that was home to a post office, a tiny church, a pub, one shop and a handful of houses. Essentially, the only road. Ian reckoned the village and surrounding fields was home to no more than a hundred or so people and we chatted briefly to the pub landlord who warned us that bad weather was said to be on the way, something that Ian had mentioned might be a problem further down the track. More of which later.

After leaving Blinman we left the tarmac and went offroad into Parachilna Gorge in search of a campsite for the night. The road was incredibly bumpy and uncomfortable but the scenery was well worth the discomfort. Even when we had to jump out of the bruck while Ian crossed the boggy bed of the almost dry river we were all snapping away at the surrounding scenery rather than wondering whether we'd be stuck there for the night. I don't think anybody would have minded if we were. As it was, we only had to drive a short way further before we found our camp site. We'd already debated one spot but decided it didn't look big enough so had driven on in the hope of something better and we were very glad we did. We suddenly turned a corner and found the perfect campsite. The river was deep enough to wade knee deep in, we had a nice flat area to spread the swags out over and lots of dead wood laying around for our fire. We unloaded all of our bags and food and started to set up camp. After two whole days of walking and sitting in the bruck without a shower me and Amy decided that we were going to go have a bath in the river. I think this raised a few eyebrows but when we came back beaming and fresh smelling after a quick naked dip behind a large rock that just about protected our modesty almost everybody else decided to follow suit!

We had yet another tasty fireside dinner and chatted a bit before turning in for the night.

The only downside was that the wind picked up quite a bit that evening and we didn't get as good a night's sleep as the previous night but when you've got the stars above your swag to watch while you try to sleep it's not really that much of a hardship and we went to bed very happy with the day's adventures.

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