Our Latest Travels - Flinders Ranges

The following day we spent exploring the general area of the Flinders Ranges.  We fitted a lot into our day. 

I suppose I should start by mentioning that the ranges are named after Matthew Flinders.  He explored the South Australian Coast in 1802 on his ship The Investigator and saw these Ranges in the distance.  As we continue our trip, he will feature quite a bit.

As we travel around, I pick up whatever tourism guide brochures are available. South Australia has some really good ones.  However, the little flyer provided by the staff of Rawnsley Park Station was as good, if not better, providing details on some of the more minor spots of interest in the area.

As we left Rawnsley Park Station we saw quiet a few sheep, reinforcing that this is still a working property.

The landscape changed so much during the day, starting with these rounded hills.

Our first stop was Pugilist Hill Lookout, with a great view of Wilpena Pound.  Wilpena Pound is the most famous part of the Flinders Ranges, being a depression, surrounded by hills.  It was not an early volcano, nor is it as the result of a meteor strike, but just how the sedimentary rocks were pushed up as the continent formed.

This part of the lookout was almost like a terraced garden with all the wildflowers.

Despite its popularity, we only visited Wilpena long enough to buy our National Park day pass.  The shortest walk was for three hours and we had so much more to see that day.  We had been there before, so don’t feel that we were missing out.

The next spot we visited was Cazneaux’s Tree.  It only had a tiny signpost, so just as well we were on the lookout for it.

Back in the 1930s Harold Cazneaux won international photography prizes with this photo entitled “The Spirit of Endurance”.

The tree still stands tall and I presume, like so many others, I have tried to take a photo from the same aspect of the tree now, some 90 years later.  

It is still enduring.

Funnily enough, there were quite a few lookouts.  The next was Hucks Lookout, which had a sign which very simply explained how the Flinders Ranges were formed.

The grass trees were a feature in this area.

We were amazed as we drove along at the number of emus grazing beside the roads.  They weren’t phased at all as vehicles drove past.

One of the spots that was only  mentioned on the small flyer from Rawnsley Park Station was Appealinna Ruins, marked once again by a tiny sign.  We are so pleased that we visited this spot, as it was so very interesting.

Joseph Wills and his family settled here in 1858.  The attraction was a permanent waterhole, which didn’t even dry up in that severe drought in the early 1860s.  

The rocks in the creek bed are like slate, so made easy building walls and making flagstone floors.

They also built a walled gardens to provide the family with fruit and vegetables.  

The wall was restored in 1996.

There was a mining camp set up on the opposite side of the creek and there was continual conflict between the two parties, primarily over access to the creek water, which was initially included in the lease to the Wills family.  Eventually, the government changed that to allow others access.  

The ruins of the mine manager’s house on the other side of the creek shows that better building techniques were used, rather than just a farmer building a home for his family.  They even built little stones shelves into the corners of the structure.

Back on the road, heading towards the next section of out drive.  The roads in South Australia were all really good.

This was the main destination for the day.

You will see why this sign is rather relevant.

I love the way the hills are all on a slant.  Apparently, this is one of the oldest ranges on earth.

We had a quick look at this little hut, which is a place for people walking the Heysen Trail to camp.  

It is the longest walking trail in South Australia, at 1200kms.  It is named after the German born artist Hans Heysen who is famous for his watercolours of the area.

Time for another lookout.  This time Bunyeroo Valley Lookout.  I found this to be the most picturesque. 

A little further on was Razorback Lookout.

Some of the hills had verticals stripes of different rock structures.  It was interesting to see that each layer had different vegetation growing on it.

Now we started to drive through the gorge section and we started to see why the flood warnings were at the start, as the road criss crossed the creek and on several occasions you were actually driving along the creek bed.  It was rather pretty.

Check out how this tree is growing out of what appears to be solid rock.  

We stopped for a picnic lunch at Wonoka Formation.

It was interesting seeing the rock structure.  Look at all those layers of sedimentary rock.

Yet another water crossing.

Now for a bit of fun, here is one of our water crossings all those years ago when we visited.

You could see along the way where floods have left debris.  The water would roar through some parts of the gorge.  We were blessed with the perfect day for seeing it all.

There was a sign for “Cambrian vertical burrowing animals” fossils.  An elderly couple were just returning to their car as we arrived and said they were pretty ordinary and there are much better examples around Alice Springs.

We went to have a look and couldn’t see anything, as we know nothing about fossils.  However, it was a pretty little gorge, with plenty of wild flowers.

A little further along, the same couple were parked on the side of the road and waved us down, as they were e very excited about some other fossils they had found.

This time it was “Archaeocyath Reefs”, which meant absolutely nothing to us and once again we would have had a look and seen nothing.

This is what they pointed out, with their car key fob to show the scale.  Zoom in and you will see a little ring to the to left.

Here is another photo showing more, if you zoom in.  These little fossils are of very early sea sponge colonies, dating back about 650 million years.  That is seriously old.  It turns out this couple were very keen on fossils and they are the best examples they had ever seen. 

Before long, and it seemed quite suddenly, we popped out at the other end of the gorges into dead flat country.  What a contrast.

We drove to the main highway and headed back south, travelling beside the ranges.

Before turning onto another dirt road, driving along Moralana Scenic Drive.  Much more open country on this drive.

And then we were back at Rawnsley Park Station.

In time to sit in front of another little fire and do some stitching.

And then making a pizza.  Another memorable day.