It was off to an organised start to the
day. I'd booked a seat on the
Wilpena Pound shuttle bus to cut out a
bit of walking (part of which I'd walked the previous day). Lazy but glad I did it, for two reasons – firstly
(in hindsight!) it was to conserve energy for not much later,
secondly, the driver gave a couple of bits of fascinating info.
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| Along the road to Hill Homestead |
In the short section of the walk that I
did yesterday I'd noticed a lot, and I do mean A Lot!, of fallen
trees in the creek. The last bushfire in the ranges was in 1988. This
was followed the next year by massive floods which washed all the
dead, fallen, burned trees down the creek. The driver said the creek
has only flowed six times in the past three years so water there is
not the norm.
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| Fire and flood debris in Wilpena Creek |
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Horizontal tree - enough roots remained undamaged to keep the tree alive when it fell
... and now the branches grow vertically |
However, near the creek but not part of
it there is what looks like a small pond. Wilpena gets all its water
from what is a natural spring. The water keeps on bubbling up but
only ever to the same level. The shuttle bus driver said no one knows
how deep the spring is in spite of people such as Navy divers having
tried to fathom it.
And thus we reached the drop off point
for a very pleasant 1 km walk to Hill Homestead – Hill being the
family name of the first/early inhabitants of the small cottage.
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| Hill Homestead through the trees |
From
there it was up, up and away to Wangara (pronounced Wongara) lookout. I didn't think I was
going to make that one.
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| Looking down to Hill Homestead from part way up to the lookout |
But it was so worth it! The lookout gives an
excellent view of the basin that is the Pound and is opposite the gap
in the hills that is the only “break in the walls”, so to speak.
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| Partial view of the Pound - need to be in the air to see it properly |
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| The gap in the Pound 'wall' |
Adding to the wildlife tally – the
rear end of an echidna, beetling it's way into a rock crevice, and
various types of lizard – but mostly off and away before I could
get my camera out. This fellow was more green than the photo shows.
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| A lovely little green-ish lizard |
Waiting for the return shuttle bus,
this raven was quite happy to walk around, even joined me on my seat.
They look mean when flying but close up this looked a very friendly
fellow.
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| Friendly, inquisitive raven |
At Wilpena visitors centre, by a busy
caravan park and campground, were an emu and two chicks … no doubt
accustomed to people, given the location, so it was easy to get up
close.
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| Emu and chicks ... soooo cute! |
And at the Old Wilpena Homestead, a
skink or two.
I did walk across the creek today, to get to the homestead grounds.
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| Wilpena Creek - at the Old Wilpena Homestead |
The homestead would have been a bustling place in its
day. But now (until some other people arrived) the silence was
palpable. I could really live with that.
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| Old Wilpena Homestead |
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| Outlying buildings |
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| Bookkeepers hut (R) and Motor house (L) |
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| Cemetery ... beautiful and peaceful |
Back in the day, being sent to the dog
house or the chook shed would have been something else!
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| Dog houses |
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| Chook sheds |
A modern "meeting place" has been constructed on site. Quotes from descendants of the original inhabitants of the land, i.e. Aboriginals, are set in tiles in the floor of the circle. There are only brief signs of explanation but I gather that on guided tours this is where groups meet to get a more detailed history of the place. In the meantime, it's a peaceful place to sit and reflect.
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| The Meeting Circle |
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| The lower left quote is sad and damning |
For my last night, instead of making do
with frozen meals from the camp shop with spinach leaves that I'd
bought in Port Augusta to fill my warfarin demanded vitamin K quota, I
treated myself to dinner at the Woolshed Restaurant, another offering
at Rawnsley Park. Service so-so, food only a bit better than OK - disappointing really,
although the venue was lovely.
