Flight of Fancy

Due to being out of mobile internet range (and also being low on data for the month), it’s been a little while since my last entry and we’ve done so much that I’m going to have a break it up into a few separate posts. Last time I posted we were hoping the weather was going to be good enough to take a scenic flight around Wilpena Pound. I’d booked us in for 10:30am and the morning skies were clear and blue so assuming it would be chocks away we had a leisurely morning doing boring things like catching up on washing whilst the kids were off exploring the campsite. It’s funny seeing Ashleigh joining in with the boys playing their imaginary game mixing characters from Star Wars, Harry Potter and Indiana Jones!! If you asked her a month ago to do the same she would have looked at you as if you had horns coming out of your head – but I digress. It turned out that there was quite a bit of turbulence around so flights were being deferred to the afternoon. This was fine as we swapped our itinerary for the day around and went to visit the Sacred Canyon aboriginal rock carvings. After the day before's walk, (incidentally I found out my purple sky was from a dust storm that caused all sorts of havoc in Adelaide) the kids groaned at the prospect of another one today but after giving them the choice of walk and plane ride or no walk and no plane ride, the matter was resolved pretty quickly (not the cheapest of bribes to offer in hind sight!!).

The carvings were nothing spectacular to look at (only a few simple scratchings on the walls of the canyon but seeing them in context of their surroundings, you could tell that the area was of great significance to the indigenous people of the area.

The flight went ahead in the afternoon and was a truly magnificent experience for all of us. Ash, Sean and Timmy were nearly jumping out of their skins as we approached to board the 6 seat Cessna!! After a short safety talk by the young female pilot we were seated and strapped in. The boys felt like they were going on their own Indiana Jones adventure (I just hoped we would not have to end the flight by jumping out of the airplane using a rubber raft as a parachute!!) It turned out there was still a little turbulence which Timmy absolutely loved. He was laughing so much every time the plane took a bit of a dive that he even got the pilot laughing. Unfortunately not everyone enjoyed the roller coaster ride as much as Timmy. Let’s just say that if I booked us in for the ½ hour flight instead of the 20 minute one we were on, Leanne wouldn’t needed to have bothered having her lunch!! The views of the Pound from the air will be a highlight of the many lasting memories we will have from this trip.

That night we had a campfire thanks to a kindly donation of a bag of firewood from some people who had decided to leave early and could not take it with them. Unfortunately the general store had run out of marshmallows, which was just as well as I needed the sticks the kids had collected to toast them on as kindling to get the fire started!!

We left Wilpena for Woomera the next day (Thursday 2nd) with the Pound shrouded in mist – a stark contrast from the clear blue skies of the day before. Stopping in Port Augusta for lunch and to restock on provisions and fuel, we turned north(ish) towards the Red Centre and the next leg of our journey.