19 November 2011 - Wilpena Pound Resort, Flinders Ranges National Park, South Australia

The old roo hiding in long grass

Again it seems I have opened my mouth before checking my facts, or more precisely put fingers to keys before doing so. Today we learned that this Resort is in fact a private enterprise and therefore it is quite unfair to compare the camping charges with say, those at the Devils Marbles, south of Tennant Creek, where we paid just $6.60 for the privilege of parking our wheels. It does not however excuse any camping operation with such minimal facilities ripping off the tourist. We should be forgiven for thinking that this was all a government operation because it is here that we have paid for our park pass and here alone that the National Park brochure has a caravan symbol. We did find another camp today that would have served as well for a tariff of $9 less. However you live and learn!

Wilpena’s Solar Power Station

We fought the bugs last night with fly spray and the bug zapper powered through the inverter. They were not as bad as the three nights we endured crossing the Barkly Tableland, but a stern reminder that we should not reduce our defences. Despite the battle of the bugs, I beat Chris soundly at Scrabble, the first in a while. I must be learning his tricky tactics at last.

This morning we packed up our lunch and drove down to the Information Centre to learn the weather forecast; possible thunderstorms today with tomorrow only the possibility of a shower. And so we elected to have a driving day, touring the park by road as far as possible.

A camouflaged emu

As we left the Resort, we called briefly in to a lookout over Wilpena’s Solar Power Station. This is made up of seventy frames holding 1,280 panels in banks of seven, all lined up in a sheltered hollow to catch the sun. There is also a diesel generator there and it was that we heard doing the generating today, evidence that solar energy is only reliable when the sun is shining. I disturbed an old roo with raggedy ears at one end of the viewing shelter, frightening him with my yelp as he moved. I felt really sorry for the old guy and hope he returned to his spot as soon as we left and that no other came to ruin his day. He actually looked like he had settled down to be left to die, too tired for much else. Stupid human!!

Views of the Flinders Ranges

We passed through  the beautiful rolling hills of the Bunyeroo valley populated with native Northern Cypress pines and emus, then descended steeply down to the Bunyeroo Creek and followed the newly graded track along the river. It was evident that there had been serious rain in the last few weeks and the creek had flowed fiercely enough to rip out young eucalypts. Soon we arrived at the access to the walking track which followed the creek on down into a narrow gorge; we walked just one half of the three hour trail following the creek bed. Large red river gums, the same species as those seen in Alice Springs and around, but weathered and old from the even harsher South Australian extremes, marked the creek, sometimes running as a clear brook and sometimes hidden from view. We picked our way along the rocky bed and delighted in the bird life.

It was just midday when we returned to the cruiser and time for lunch. We found a pleasant spot just up the road, however the rain drove us back inside the cruiser before we had finished our fruit and coffee. In fact the rain continued to bother us intermittently for most of the day, never really amounting to much.

Earlier in the year when we were at Murwillembah, and visited their excellent art gallery, we saw a wonderful exhibition by a New Zealand artist by the name of Euan McLeod, huge dramatic scenes inspired from the landscape of the Flinders Ranges. I had this expectation of the same inspirational scenes here and up to this point had seen no evidence of them.

That soon changed when we drove through the Brachina Gorge. The twenty kilometres of road into and through this gorge claims a variety of geological land forms and is now officially the Brachina Gorge Geological Trail. Regular interpretative boards along the way explain in depth the makeup and age of the strata, all in the range of 540 million years or so. I have to confess that most of this goes straight over my head; my eyes sort of glaze over when it comes to technical geology. Now social history is another matter altogether.

Our appreciation was purely aesthetic; what a magnificent landscape! The high red rock cliffs and trees were wonderful. We were glad to have a 4WD vehicle and were intrigued that the brochure suggested that all public roads through the park were suitable for cars, caravans and anything else you may choose to travel in. We criss-crossed the river bed time and time again, and while there were shades of the river bed delights we had enjoyed with the Bunyeroo, this was twenty times greater. As Chris said, if this was as much as we were to see in the Flinders Range National Park, he would be well satisfied. I would endorse that.

From here it was a straight forward loop back around to the eastern edge of the park, calling in at the Appealinna Station ruins where there were no explanatory notices at all, and a couple of lookouts which did offer lovely views over the whole area and back to Wilpena Pound which we will explore tomorrow. This, Wilpena Pound, is sited as the jewel in the crown of this park; a vast amphitheatre ringed with sheer cliffs and jagged rocks that change colour according to the light. I can hardly wait, and it would seem that the weather will be better for the climb than it would have been today.

In the meantime, we shall enjoy the creatures wandering about our caravan in our remote corner of the camp: a kangaroo and her joey, crows, magpies, a rabbit, galahs – all we are missing now are the hundreds of emus we saw today!