Wilpena Pound - 27 Sept. 2016

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.

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.

Fire and flood debris in Wilpena Creek

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. 

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. 

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.

Partial view of the Pound - need to be in the air to see it properly

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Old Wilpena Homestead

Outlying buildings

Bookkeepers hut (R) and Motor house (L)

Cemetery ... beautiful and peaceful

Back in the day, being sent to the dog house or the chook shed would have been something else!

Dog houses

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.

The Meeting Circle

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.

Through the Flinders Ranges to Blinman - 26 Sept. 2016

A bit of an odd day but all turned out well in the end.

After my walking feat of the day before and at the suggestion of one of the ladies at the caravan park shop/office, I decided to walk to some waterfalls. First I took the wrong road, soon remedied. There was only one other car in the carpark and with the walk twice as long as to Arkaroo Rock and the hills looking steeper, I squibbed on walking on my own in that much wilderness. Instead, from the same starting point, I did a short walk to the top of a mesa-like land feature, Twidale Top, again with 360 deg views.

A couple of cars at Station Hill Lookout

Caravan park and cabins dotted in the centre.
Posh eco-cabins, a few dots at the left.

And so on to Wilpena Pound, the feature of the Flinders Ranges. I got started on a walk but didn't get far before the path was blocked by the rarely flowing Wilpena Creek. 

Flooded Wilpena Creek

At that point I gave up, realising that what I wanted to see wasn't going to fit in with my lunch plans. But it did get me organised for the next day. I noticed an art exhibition in the woolshed and decided to call back for that after lunch.

Lunch was at Blinman, an old mining town that looks pretty ramshackle. The mine was actually at Blinman hence working men's type buildings rather than the managers type buildings at Burra.

I chose lunch at the local (only!) cafe. A miner's pastie – aka a Cornish pastie, of course. It was full of the traditional veggies, no meat. But unlike any other Cornish pastie I've ever eaten, one end had been dipped in sugar and there was apple inside – a two course meal in one! It really was delicious. 

Dessert wasn't. Yesterday's 4WD guide said that when cooked, quandongs had a rhubarb-y flavour. Yum! So I bought a quandong crumble pie to follow the pastie. Way too much pastry for one lunchtime but there wasn't much else on offer anyway. So - no rhubarb-y taste – not any taste at all really. Disappointing but I'll know for future reference :-)

I lunched on the verandah ... with flies for company. How like Oz!

Across the road from the cafe, there was an art exhibition at the Blinman Memorial Hall – painters of the Flinders and nearby areas. It's an annual event to raise funds to keep the town's historic buildings standing and also to support the Flying Doctor services in the region. There was some very good work there but the raffle prize was such that I didn't buy a ticket. What if I won?!

As planned, I returned to the exhibition at the woolshed at Wilpena. I want to win their raffle! [Late note: I didn't  :-( ] But overall, the Blinman exhibition was marginally better. Here though, I did find out that these two are part of an annual series of exhibitions. Not realising it, I'd also visited two others on the program, at Port Pirie and Parachilna. I might even fit in one or two more (of twelve) on the way home.

I asked when the woolshed was last used for sheep and shearing - 1985. And you could still smell the animals!!

The drive to Blinman was quite pretty.

Also, the number of wildlife spottings increased – more emus and kangaroos and now dragons (some of whom I'm sure would have been squashed before they got across the road), kookaburras and black hairy caterpillars!

A friendly little dragon

"Kookaburra sits in the old gum tree ...."

A very hairy caterpillar  :-)

In spite of the messy visit to Wilpena Pound, it turned out to be another more than satisfying day.

I found an extra blanket and slept soundly without having to turn the heating on :-)

On the road home – Day 1

y margcalFirst posted on March 1, 2014

I got away from the Glenelg motel reasonably on time! I missed the turn-off I wanted (view of signs blocked by big trucks) but picked up my desired road after instructions when I filled the tank with petrol – yet again. Driving through the McLaren Vale wine area, I reached Victor Harbor late morning – morning tea substituting for breakfast. I wandered around the town and, as well as eating, bought some gifts, not realising until later that in doing so I was supporting “a worthy cause”. The quality of their products is excellent and the doll’s house furniture fabulous, a much more extensive collection than the web site shows.

Overlooking McLaren Vale

Victor Harbor’s logo is a representation of its horse-drawn tram which plies a route to Granite Island and back – all 600m of it! I’d planned to take a ride but our timetables didn’t coincide. I walked it instead, passing the tram as I did so. Nice to know I can walk faster than 1hp  :-)

Leaving Granite Island

Heading to Victor Harbour

Leaving Victor Harbor I got a huge surprise – the tumbling cubes house that I’d seen on a fancy houses TV show. I’d had no idea where it was.

Tumbling Cubes House

Then it was on to Goolwa, a proper lunch, the library visit before heading to Strathalbyn, last visited 40+ years ago. I had memories of its bandstand, surrounded by dripping gum trees. How much its setting has changed over the years I have no idea, but it was a beautiful sunny day – hard to take photos with my phone, the sunshine made the screen almost black – point, guess and click!

Next stop, of a sort, was Wellington to wait for the punt to cross the Murray. That had changed little in 40 years! I am surprised there isn’t a bridge by now.

Waiting to cross the Murray at Wellington

Dry salty lakes near Meningie

I’d thought of stopping the night at Meningie but it was a bit early in the day so I pressed on to Kingston SE. I did stop first at the shores of Lake Albert. A couple walking by stopped to chat briefly, said they were annual visitors and that the place had changed beyond recognition – the lake was full, it hadn’t been for years, farmers having to keep adding lengths to the pipes which drew water for their stock and crops.

Driving along the Coorong was one of the main reasons I chose the coast road home but it too was different to my 40 year old memories, more vegetation, fewer sand dunes ….  the smell! But still good to do.

The Coorong

At a point about where the Coorong finished, I spotted a sign “The Granites”. I had no idea what it referred to but the road was sealed so off I went – to see huge, I do meanhuge!, lumps of granite near the water’s edge. They looked rather like whales. I don’t know if it’s safe to swim there but if you could manage to clamber up the rocks somehow, it looked like it would be great fun sliding off again into the water.

The Granites

Kingston SE is home to The Big Lobster …. oh dear! Say no more :-(

It was time to stop, I thought, and enquired at a motel. One room left – a bus load of tourists was in. I had my doubts at that – how much clattering and banging as they left at what time the next morning? When they said the only room was on the first floor, great views – I chose to drive another 40km to Robe rather than lug my bag upstairs.

I got to Robe with not a lot of time to spare to get tea at the local pub. My meal was accompanied by the sound of a man at the next table sniffing. I ordered a cup of coffee and when I was trying to decide where to sit, the young woman behind the bar said “Go through to the lounge” – it was wonderful! I don’t know why others weren’t using it …. apart from the sound of the pokies coming from the gaming room :-(  Beautiful old (comfortable!) furniture, historic photos, napery, silverware, visitors books from days gone by.

Robe Hotel

Driving back to my motel after dinner, I discovered Robe, like Warracknabeal, was also  in a bit of a time warp. It was now quite dark and the tree in the middle of a roundabout …. had its Christmas lights twinkling madly!

Melbourne to Cairns to Atherton

First posted on May 5, 2013

A few days before leaving for Cairns the weather reports showed a cyclone out at sea but heading in that direction. I don’t know where it went, but certainly not here in Cairns. On the other hand, I’ve never been on a plane before that was rockin’ n rollin’ while still at the gate. It was Very Windy when I left Melbourne, but surprisingly it was an un-bumpy at take-off.

Dropping altitude on the approach to Cairns, my first glimpse once through the cloud layer was of a big patch of green – a bit different I thought. Well, I was thinking land, grass or crop of some sort. It was the sea, as green as could be! No Mediterranean blue here. Then, as I could see the coast, it was so beautiful, treed hills right to the water’s edge. A thin strip of sand, as though someone had pencilled a line, separated water from hills. No photo of that – I was using my phone camera and it was turned off by then, sadly.

First sighting of Far North Queensland coast

As soon as I got off the plane you could feel the warm, damp air. It’s a humid part of the world. But thankfully bearable at this time of year.

First stop was to pick up the hire car. Second stop was at a hazy lookout on the road to Kuranda. Third stop was the butterfly house at Kuranda itself. It was a small but beautiful place, and SO frustrating! Butterflies move surprisingly quickly. Too good for a feeble photographer like me.
Spot the flash of blue …. a Ulysses butterfly.

Blue flashes

When they stop they’re a much less impressive brown.

Ulysses at rest

However, I have seen a couple since, “in the wild” – once while driving along and once I watched one fly above the path of the river at Herberton Village, flash, flash, flash of the most vivid blue as it flapped its wings. When close by, as at the butterfly house, you can really feel the air move as wings flap.

The Cairns Birdwing butterfly does look good when its wings are folded. I later saw these "in the wild" too - on my long walk in Cairns.

And the hand model had gone AWOL so this gorgeous fellow had to make do with me.

My butterfly friend

It was a quick stop at Barron Falls. Not a huge amount of water. It would be interesting to see after a lot of rain. But the rocky surrounds were quite stunning. In the distance I could see cable cars gliding along. I’m sorry to miss the train to Kuranda but not too sorry that I’m missing the cable car return ride!

Barron Falls

From there it was an easy, uneventful drive to Atherton. I was going to stop at a tourist coffee/chocolate place in Mareeba for a late lunch but as I pulled into the carpark I saw it was open daily, 9-4. I looked at the car clock. Spot on 4.

After settling in to the (highly recommended) Atherton Hinterland Motel, complete with sounds of the stream running behind the building to soothe the travel weariness, I went off to the Boston Twins paternal grandparents’ place to meet up with the family and some other friends of theirs. It was great to see everyone again and meet Kiera and Jeremy for the first time. They’re gorgeous!!

And I was well ready to tuck into the feast of a meal that was waiting!