Beautiful Flinders Ranges

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Desert Ship Territory Log Day 7

Well the Maree Hotel sure aint the Hilton but it sure is an outback experience. After I tackled the temperamental plumbing in the shower, we headed down stairs for a continental breakfast and got a bit stuck there watching the The Netherlands vs Argentina FIFA World Cup matchwhere The Netherlands lost in a penalty shoot out. After we packed the car, we went on a bit of a walking tour of Marree which used to be the main area where station cattle were mustered from as far away as Queensland and sent by rail to Adelaide to market. The Afghan cameleers also worked from here and there is the relics of Australia's first Mosque made from mud brick and a thatched roof. We feulled up and fuel is still not as expensive as it was on the Nullarbour. We really wanted to stop at some interesting ruins at Farina but we'd knew we'd run short of time. We saw loads of wild emus and had less than 100 km of gravel to travel on before we hit the turn off for the Flinders Ranges. What a lovely change in landscape as it was so green in the ranges and a surprisingly hilly and windy track to the main part of the park. Lots of people were camped in random spots and it really was quite beautiful. We had reached Wilpena Pound by 1 pm and had a picnic lunch. We then did a 6 km walk into the Pound and went to a lookout. To be honest I didn't think the walk was worth the view over the Pound. The view on the drive was much nicer and we got lovely views leaving the Pound as well over the southern Flinders Ranges at sunset. Inside the pound was also quite lush with massive graceful gums and streams. Surprisingly there were feral goats. Our accommodation was about 10 km away from the Pound on Rawnsley Park Station which is 30,000 acre sheep farm. We arrived at 5.30pm and it was self contained so we could could cook dinner. During our stay in the outback I was expecting every place to tell us to onky have 2 minute showers but it just so happens that this part of the world (except the Nullarbor) and 22% of Australia sits on an artesian basin so all the water gets pumped up from there. It does absolutely nothing for my hair.

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