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 :-)

Flinders Gorges - 25 Sept. 2016

From the beginning I'd planned to do a half-day 4WD tour offered (for a price!) by Rawnsley Park Station. I wasn't fussed which day I did it but as it happened, doing it on my first morning helped orient me for the rest of my stay. I wanted to see the Brachina and Bunyeroo gorges that I couldn't get to in my little car.

Spot the rippled rock - like sand in the shallows at the beach
 - as it indeed was at the time it solidified

There has been an unusual amount of rain in the area – creeks which are normally dry were flowing briskly. Fun to be driving along them, i.e. in the water! - just glad it wasn't me doing the driving.

I was happy with the wildflowers that I saw – and lots of Salvation Jane or, more indicitavely, Pattersons curse … it does look pretty though! However, the tour guide said better is to come. The rain has kept temperatures down a bit and many buds are still waiting to burst open.

Bush tucker was on offer! I tried and very much liked the leaves of Afghan hops, a plant introduced from Afghanistan by the early cameleers. The plant made good padding for camel saddles apparently. There was a tang to the leaves but it wasn't bitter, more sweet if anything. It would make an excellent addition to a mixed or green salad.

The other was a quandong, a so-called native peach. A lovely looking fruit, a beautiful red. But very little fruit – it was more stone. The fruit itself was dry with not much flavour. You'd eat it if you were hungry but otherwise not bother – in my opinion!

I was thrilled to see some emus on the drive to Parachilna. Now they became a commonplace! Kangaroos too although not quite so numerous. We saw yellow footed wallabies – rock wallabies, basically. But why yellow-footed when their tails are also yellow, very long, and much more easily seen? There are more birds than I can possibly remember but lots of rosellas if the artwork on the tomato sauce bottle is accurate! And few birds stay put for a photo :-(

Spot the wallaby!

The formation of the ranges was explained – layer upon layer of different types of rock going back to when the area was under water completely, each layer representing events millions of years apart. These events also gave rise to different soil types which explained the quite varied vegetation in a relatively small area – from heavily treed to grassy hills to plains.

The Brachina gorge is also referred to as the Geological trail and, because of its long history, gives rise to a steady stream of PhDs.

On the way back to RPS we detoured to Stokes Hill Lookout, a hilltop seemingly in the middle of nowhere – but it was a wi-fi hotspot!

In the afternoon I did my first walk – to Arkaroo Rock, a rock with a wave-like inner formation that was covered in (not particularly good) Aboriginal paintings (and the sun at exactly the wrong angle for photos!).

Arkaroo Rock ...

... and paintings

I last walked a rocky path like this when I was in the Kimberley back in 2012! I puffed and panted a bit but I made it! 

The path went from this ... 

... to this!

With occasional views like this - Rawnsley Bluff

The path was partially looped and on the return walk I was rewarded with the sound, if not often the sight, of a babbling creek.

Back at RPS, before getting to my cabin, I turned off to Station Hill Lookout, a small hill that gives 360 deg views of just part of the 30,000 acres that make up RPS. The station runs 3,000 head of sheep but tourism has become the bigger earner of the two.

Looking in this direction, Rawnsley Park Station extends
to the top ridge of the Chace Range in the distance

An excellent, tiring day. The bed is comfortable but the nights get cold. I had to turn on the heating during the night!

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The thing about wildflowers in the outback ... they're tiny!

My foot, for comparison

My hand - not for comparison but to hold the flowers up :-)

Native hops

Not a dandelion but a type of yam

Port Augusta to Rawnsley Park Station - 24 Sept. 2016

This was planned as an easy driving day, allowing time in particular to visit the Australian Arid Lands Botanic Garden. I had wonderful memories of such a garden in Central Australia, the Alice Springs Desert Park, where I thought I'd pop in for half an hour which turned into half a day. Sadly, the Port Augusta version wasn't a patch on the one in Alice, to the point where it didn't keep me waiting until the 10am cafe opening time for breakfast.

Red flowers?

However, I did enjoy a short section of a cliff walk with stunning views of the head of Spencer Gulf where Matthew Flinders had landed. This was the red earth I was hoping to see on this trip.

Red cliffs and mangroves

So on to my next stop, the water tower lookout. A lot of stairs, two days in a row! Good but unexciting views of the city.

From water tower to lookout tower

Breakfast was a takeaway affair from a bakery in the main shopping centre. Fine, for what it was but I'd planned on cafe-style for the day. I was sitting on a street bench looking at the Court House, one of the cities many fine old buildings ... granted, looking across a car park!

Court House

Northern Gateway - former brewery now incorporated into a shopping centre

Onwards to Quorn. It wasn't until after I booked all my accommodation that I looked at the Pichi Richi railway timetable. Perhaps a blessing in disguise that it wasn't going to fit into my timetable. I passed it en route to Quorn – it did look fabulous! 

Pichi Richi steam train - a hit with tourists with more time (or different priorities!) than me

But on reaching Quorn I discovered that the train was expected to be 45+ minutes behind schedule. Not bad for a supposedly 1¾ hour journey!

Street frontage of Quorn's rather grand railway station

Quorn station, track-side

I had thoughts of driving to Rawnsley Park Station via Parachilna and Blinman. But a check on the roads at the Port August tourist info centre revealed that wasn't going to happen. Maps showed inconsistent road surfaces. Local knowledge confirmed the Parachilna > Blinman road is unsealed. Not good in my little car and doubly so after bucketing rain giving rise to mud at best and floods at worst.

Nevertheless, I wanted to see the Prairie Hotel at Parachilna so drove there for a late soup lunch and a lemon squash. A long way to go for a drink! Especially as there was no other way to get to Rawnsley except by retracing the whole of that drive back to Hawker.

En route to the pub I got a huge thrill - I saw four emus grazing on the old Ghan railway tracks. A wonderful sight!

Prairie Hotel, Parachilna

The Outback Highway back to Hawker - no emus this time

Finally – Rawnsley Park and my caravan park cabin! Lovely for one (i.e. me), would work for two. The bunkroom sleeps four – child size … and would be a nightmare!

It was two rolls with spinach and cheese filling for tea. It's harder than I expected to keep up my Vitamin K quota.

View from the cabin

From Home to Ouyen - 21 Sept. 2016

A last minute change of plans due to recent heavy rains had me ducking and weaving through central Victoria to reach my first day's destination, Ouyen. That had a couple of favourable outcomes. I was able to easily visit Trentham Falls, the longest single-drop falls in Victoria (no match for Niagara, obviously!) which, a recent news item had informed me, were flowing beautifully. Indeed they were!

Afterwards, early lunch in Kyneton and the best foccacia I've had since I don't know when. Their mediocre coffee was forgiven.

The other lovely thing came later in the afternoon but perhaps (no perhaps about it!) that wasn't exactly good for me. Birchip is on my return route but now I went through there on the outward journey too. Naturally, I couldn't pass the award winning bakery without sampling one of its famous vanilla slices! I'll be back for more.

En route to St Arnaud, the verges were filled with flowers, the daisies of my childhood daisy chains - crowns, necklaces, bangles, ear-rings - and other daisies of some sort that were a riot of colour. Plus the odd clump of fresias and other “pretty flowers” (i.e. I have no idea what they were!)

Memories of daisy chains

Stunning!

Although there was no water on the road, there was plenty everywhere else – in ditches, channels and depressions at the side of the road, and every dam was full. I've never seen anything like it, not to mention how green the countryside was – unseen before now. 

Lush green crops, golden canola in the distance - and rain that held off!

As I drove along there was one lovely feel-good moment. Approaching a cross-road in the middle of nowhere, I noticed a farm vehicle off to my right. To be on the safe side, even though I had right of way, I slowed down. The farmer and I reached the intersection at the same time. He gave me a wave to acknowledge my slowing down - and boosted my spirits which were already high.

St Arnaud was the “stretch my legs and loo stop” break. I'm now particularly conscious of leg stretch stops. Long hours in the car without regular breaks can be just as conducive to a DVT as can a long flight. A librarian at the public library (where I have visited before) showed me to the loo via a door normally forbidden to the public. I must have looked old and desperate!

St Arnaud streetscape - How to block an unused door

Then for a walk up and down the main street when lo and behold, amongst all the beautiful old buildings, I stumbled upon the Bible Museum. Looking in the window, I was caught when the woman who spotted me came outside to drag me in. It's run by a mother and daughter who are obviously into the Bible – but no attempt at preaching. Their interest seemed to be historical as much as anything else. There were some old and interesting items there but also many facsimile copies of various codexes and even of the St John's Abbey bible, a modern day illuminated text. I love illuminated texts!

Leaving as quickly as I decently could, it was on to Birchip for the vanilla slice, eaten at a pavement table in view of the town's other claim to fame, the Mallee Bull!

Birchip's Mallee Bull

Another news item alerted me to the newfound fame of Sea Lake. Apparently you can see your reflection, or the reflection of the stars of the night sky in Lake Tyrell, just outside the town. Chinese visitors are flocking there supposedly. I stopped to look – presumably at the wrong point of the lake's shore or the wrong time of day, since all I could see was murky water and mud nearby and the more distant algae-induced pink effect. Plenty of saltbush though! If I were a Chinese tourist I'd have been feeling well and truly dudded!

The vaguely pink Lake Tyrell from the viewing platform

More saltbush than you could possibly want!

Then on to Ouyen before the shadows lengthened any further, bringing the risk of kangaroos on the road. Lovely old hotel on the outside, anything but on the inside. It's famed cuisine was nothing more than marginally above average pub grub. Say no more!

Hotel Victoria, Ouyen, in the morning sunlight