Advertisement
Published: January 28th 2014
Tuesday 21
st We leave Hawker early under clear blue skies and the temperature rising every minute. About 45 mins later we arrive at Wilpena Pound Resort within the Flinders Ranges NP. It’s very hot by then ! 37+
We book the reception shuttle bus to take us into the park so that we can walk the last few K’s to the Hills Homestead and Wangara Look Out. Wilpena Pound is a circle of mountains concealing a bowl of trees and bush. The Homestead turns out to be a small single storey house used in the 1890’s by a family who ran a sheep station within the Pound. It was a very hard life.
We continue to the Look Out and it’s hot work climbing to the top but we are rewarded with views of the mountains on all sides. A craggy type of landscape we’ve not seen anywhere else.
We’re pleased to get back to the bus stop in time for the ride back. It would have killed us to have walked.
In the evening I talk to the young chap running the bar. He lives nearby on a sheep station of 48,000 hectares !! That’s
big !
Wednesday 22
nd We get up early to go walking only to find it’s overcast and cool. We drive out and turn off the sealed road onto an unmade track leading to some Aboriginal carvings within a gorge. The track’s 13K long and it take us 50 mins to get there. It’s a nightmare of ruts and pot holes and I’m worried about spoiling the look of our little rented car ! We are accompanied on the drive by lots of emus and kangaroos running alongside the road and frequently crossing in front of us.
The carvings are incredibly old and some fairly faint. There’s not a lot to see and it was a lot of effort for very little. It’s another 50 min drive back.
We then drive about 60 K to Blinman. It’s the highest “town” in South Australia. Town’s a bit of an exaggeration as it only has one shop, a hotel and a hall. It’s a scenic drive and we see lots of rolling hills and mountains in the background. The road stops at Blinman so after a look round, which takes 5 mins we drive back.
Late in the
afternoon we walk out the solar power station which provides the electricity for the resort.
Thursday 23
rd We’re met at 8.30 by Amy our driver for a 4WD excursion out on the roads our hire car can’t go. We turn off onto dirt roads which lead to the Bunyeroo Gorge and she shows us red kangeroos and various trees and plants. We continue along the Gorge and see huge trees washed down from flooding. We then stop at a view point and look down Aroona Valley and it’s a great sight. We drive into Brachina Gorge and she shows us fossils of sand lines which formed before life began.
Amy points out Yellow footed rock wallabies which were close to being wiped out only a few years ago.
The scenery is wonderful and so different from anything else in Australia we’ve seen.
We then return along the Gorge and pass mountains which have been dated between 500 and 620 million years ago.
Finally we stop at Stokes Hill Look Out and can see Wilpena Pound mountains and others in all directions. It’s another great view.
We’re dropped back at 1pm and it’s been
a good morning out.
Sadly we give away our tent, lilos and bed rolls as we won’t be needing them any more and spend the rest of the afternoon around the pool. Late afternoon we take a final walk into the Pound.
Friday 24
th We set out in pouring rain and find the road full of kangaroos. We drive slowly and play “spot the roo”” to make sure we don’t hit one.
Eventually we arrive at Quorn, a pretty little town but not in the rain. We stop for petrol and a coffee in deserted streets.
We continue to Port Augusta, a “city” and stop at tourist info to book a river cruise for tomorrow only to find that the owners stopped running them last September ! Not what the tourist booklets say !
After booking into our cabin for the night we decide to go out and look at the Flying Doctor centre. I decide to phone first and find that it’s not open today as the chap who runs it is off sick ! We’re not having much luck with the place.
Finally we drive out to the Botanic Gardens, well
we’ve not been to one for a few weeks. It’s ok and specialises in arid plants. I can’t understand why then they have an irrigation system ?
We then drive into the “city” centre and find it’s the size of Egham. I get a haircut and we replace a few clothes and shoes that have worn out.
In the evening I watch Nadel beat Federer in the AO semi final to just make my day !
Saturday 25
th We drive about 65K to Port Piri and stop to sort out a problem with the mobile phone and dongle. We’re drive on and into the Cape York Peninsular. It’s all flat and very boring.
We arrive at Wallaroo after another 40 mins or so and this was to be our evening stop. We find it’s not quite as described in the tourist info. They left out the mention of the grain silos! It all looks pretty grim and we’re stating to regret our decision to ever come to the Cape.
We’ve only got a couple days left now and don’t won’t to spend them driving all day.
We go on to Moonta Bay in
desperation and hope. It’s a lovely place with an enormous sandy beach and long pier. We check into a cabin and then drive to Moonta to get a few things.
It’s an old mining town with connections to Cornwall where the miners came from. We look round their museum and then drive a short distance to the old mine where a small train takes you around. An elderly German lady guide explains it all as we go round. Her English is a bit hard to understand!
We then take a walk and paddle on the beach and a walk along the pier to see people catching crabs (a nasty problem !) and squid. Later we watch the sun set over the sea.
Sunday 26
th We drive to Port Wakefield and decide not to stop, it doesn’t look a great place. The Cape has a pretty boring landscape and is fairly industrial. So we continue onto Adelaide and find a motel for the night.
We then catch the bus into the city centre to see what’s on for Australia Day. There’s a big cycle race around the city which forms the last leg of the Tour
Down Under, the equivalent of the Tour de France. We sit under a tree and watch the last 10 laps as they go wizzing round. There’s a big crowd cheering them on.
We then walk back into the city streets to watch the parade at 2pm, except it’s been moved to 6 and no one told the tourist office ! So we have 4 hours to kill. We sit in a park by the river and see them setting up for a pop concert later before having a wander around.
Eventually the parade gets under way and it’s huge! To celebrate Australia’s multi culturalism there are dozens of different nations in costume, well some of them, parading past. It takes about an hour and a half for them to go bye.
We then nip off for dinner and get back just as the concert ends. We catch the final act and wish we hadn’t. A chap “singing” to a booming bass beat. Terrible ! But the 35,000 people in the park seem to like it.
We then have to wait nearly an hour for a bus back as there are huge crowds everywhere.
Monday 27
th We pack our bags and leave behind many of the things we have bought as it won’t all fit in our bags which must be ready for the plane in a couple of days. We drop the car off in the city and walk round to our hotel, The Hotel Grand Chancellor ! A real steal at £52 per day on Agoda ! We feel a bit under dressed as we book in.
We’re early so leave the bags and go for a river cruise. The trip’s through the Botanical Gardens and past the zoo. It’s a really pleasant trip and the park’s lovely.
Today the temperature’s around 37 so it’s a struggle to do a lot of walking but we wander round the shops for a while but no stopping mind !
We stop off at the University and look at the wonderful old buildings and then call in at the Art Gallery of South Australia. It’s a mixture of traditional and modern art. The traditional paintings and sculptures are fine but the modern stuff is a bit like the Emperors New Clothes. Some of it is terrible, they were just too afraid to tell
the artist. A circle of stones in the middle of the floor and two dead horses, real ones, stitched together with 5 legs standing on its head !
We then go back and check out our room. It’s swish !
After a rest we go out for a drink and check out the places to eat for later. We go Thai in the end.
Tuesday 28
th Today’s our last day in Australia and we are having a cultral morning. First we visit the museum of South Australia and see exhibits from South Sea islands and a lot of stuffed animals. The museum’s a bit old fashioned but does have some interesting things on display. It also has pre historic rocks and bones going back before man.
Next we go to the Migration Museum a very interesting museum about how Australia expanded it’s population. It gives a lot of interesting information on the £10 POM and the living conditions they had on arrival. No wonder so many went home after seeing the prefab hostels most had to live in.
It also explains the “whites only” rule and the incredible dictation test for non whites. They
had to take dictation in any language they didn’t know and if they failed (they all did)they were sent back ! This was only changed in 1973 ! There are lots of visitor’s comments about racism.
In the afternoon we spend our time in the Botanic Gardens having a look round and planning our trip to Fiji which starts tomorrow.
Our four month stay has gone incredibly quickly. We have seen some amazing landscapes, met many really nice people and encountered most of the widelife. We will miss it all but it’s time to move on.
We probably won’t have internet access for 2 weeks, so this will give our friends a rest from reading about our travels. We hope to continue after arriving in New Zealand on 13
th Feb.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.119s; Tpl: 0.015s; cc: 11; qc: 30; dbt: 0.0442s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Carol and David
non-member comment
Hot, hot, hot there. Wet, wet, wet here! The lakes area near Quorn reminds us of Somerset. Devon was nice though and we had a good, fairly dry week........considering. Was that you, Chris in the parade? Have booked a week in Egham to save us flying ~20,000 miles to see Fort Augusta City. Don\'t forget to book your romantic Valentine\'s meal on the 14th. Hope you\'ve taken this into account, Steve. David & Carol X