As we head north, the weather becomes warmer during the day but cools rapidly at sundown so we continue with our central heating – a hot water bottle popped under the duvet an hour before we turn in. Once in the tent it’s cosy and warm, no matter what it’s like outside.
The Australian Arid Lands Botanic Garden is just outside Port Augusta, a small town about a day’s gentle drive north of Adelaide. Kim was keen to see the Sturt’s Desert Pea. It’s an odd looking plant that is the State Emblem of South Australia, although it’s a rarity to find one growing naturally. We found it of course, growing in profusion, but that’s what Botanic Gardens are all about.
Most Australian desert plants are tough, grizzled looking things from a distance, but get close and it’s often a surprise to see delicate little flowers in a wide variety of colours. How about this little gem as an example?
On the road again and we were held up at a rail crossing whilst a train went by, all one and a quarter kilometres of it. There might not be too many trains but they are invariably very long and travel slowly. We waited for quite a while for this one to go by. They stack ‘em high too.
Speaking of trains, we stopped off at Quorn (no not the knitted mushroom vegetarian food but the town). The Pichi Richi Railway runs steam trains on part of the old Ghan railway line built in 1879. Quorn was a major junction. We rode it almost 40 kilometres to Woolshed Flats, nothing more than a halt that was built to take away fleeces that were shorn from the sheep in a shed alongside the railway line. Some challenging engineering enabled the line to be built. The scenery was as spectacular as the steep cuttings, winding narrow gauge track, mountain gorges and many trestle bridges.
Northward again and we entered the Flinders Ranges National Park just north of the town of Hawker. The road climbed upward, tarmac all the way much to our surprise, until we reached Wilpena Pound. So named because the rock formation creates a natural boundary with just a single point of entry. It’s big. We were told that Ayers Rock would fit into it some eight times. At one time 120,000 sheep were farmed there but that number quickly destroyed the vegetation and extremes of weather more or less destroyed the entry point.
Seen from space, it looks like this.
Following the ranger’s recommendation, we walked to the centre of the Pound but decided that it was a bit of a disappointment as all we could see were trees. Still, it was a nice walk. We back tracked and climbed to the top of one of the peaks where we could see into the bowl and where the air was fresh.
Don’t be fooled by the blasé poses. We’d trekked about 10 kilometres during the day and were hot and sticky by the time we made it back to camp, a situation resolved by cold shandies and hot showers.
That night we had a visitor. With no rain in the area for over three months, food is scarce and the local population of kangaroos have taken to scrounging what they can from the campers.
After two days at Wilpena, we moved on. Stopping a few kms out of town where the tarmac runs out, we lowered the pressure in our tyres and set off on dirt, the first real outback road that we’d encountered on this trip. Traffic was almost non-existent, the surface was good; hard, not many ruts or corrugations and only periodic patches of loose stones to negotiate. Mostly we rolled along about 80kph, dropping to 60 on the bends. Vin Rouge, being such a short vehicle, has little directional stability on loose surfaces and care must be taken to avoid sliding on the bends.
Then we encountered the Bunyeroo and Brochina Gorges. Speed dropped to 30k or so, but the scenery was so magnificent, we stopped regularly for a proper look. VR was quite dwarfed by the rocky mountain sides.
A ranger who was passing told us of a rare yellow footed rock wallaby in a small cave and we managed to spot the little chap high up. How he got there we don’t know, but he is a rock wallaby so I guess that explains it.
Lunchtime was approaching as we passed out of the gorge and a stop at Parachilna was called for to check out their ‘feral menu’. Kim had a kangaroo cutlet whilst I enjoyed the kangaroo pie. Then on to Leigh Creek, the last place to top up with fuel and water before hitting the Oodnadatta Track.
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