Pounding to Trails of Wilpena

I’m not sure why but our next stop, Wilpena Pound, is a place I have wanted to visit for a long time. The drive from Peterborough through Hawker to the ‘Pound’ was highlighted by more stunning scenery as we approached the foothills of the Flinders Ranges. Passing through quaint country towns such as Orroroo and Carrieton on the R.M. Williams Way, we lamented the fact that we should take the time to stop and look around them. If we did that for every town we passed through however, we would still be in the Blue Mountains!!!

We literally stopped in the middle of nowhere for morning tea. Since we didn’t reach rest stop by 11am I just pulled over. Lea decided to brew up a “fancy” coffee which seemed to take an inordinate amount of time to boil so my intended quick pit stop stretched out to a 45minute coffee marathon!!

The campsite is very picturesque, nestled amongst the Cyprus Pines and Red Gums right at the only entrance to Wilpena Pound itself. After a late lunch (thanks to a late morning tea) we went for an exploratory walk. We soon realised the scale on the map was very deceptive so we cut it short and returned home for happy hour (it’s only taken two weeks to knock it into the kids that “home” for the next 3 months is the large box on wheels we’ve been towing behind the car!!) With rain forecast for the next few days we weren’t too hopeful of being able to see Wilpena Pound in its full glory.

Today (Tuesday) did in fact bring rain. It was quite warm over night – the warmest it’s been since we left in fact which was surprising since from talking people who were here last week when we were in Broken Hill, we were expecting it to be freezing (nearly literally!!) The rain was the on-again, off -gain variety so we decided to go for a drive however once we were ready to head off the weather looked like it had settled down (cloudy but no rain) so we changed plans again and set off on foot into the Pound proper.

About 15miniutes into what was expected to be a 3 hour walk, the sky started to turn a peculiar shade of purple!! Always the optimist, I said it was just the effect of the red dust blown up in to the air by the overnight winds but when people coming the other way said there had been too much rain recently for there to be any dust I just kept quiet. We were committed to the walk so there wasn’t much we could do about it anyway!! Fortunately the rain held off (I still reckon it was dust!) and we enjoyed a very pleasant stroll through the pass into Wilpena Pound, stopping at the Hills Homestead (a 19th century stone homestead and the only building within Wilpena Pound itself) for lunch.

The climb up to Wangara Lookout should have afforded spectacular views of this natural amphitheatre however the haze from the rain that decided to make a reappearance soon put a dampener on that (no pun intended). We completed the 8km round trip walk in just on three hours (which included a couple of rest stops and lunch). Timmy began to wilt in the final stages but the lure of an ice cream from the general store soon got him going again!! The whole day had been shrouded by cloud and rain but as soon as we got back to the caravan and got stuck into our ice creams, the sky’s seemed to miraculously clear and the sun came out. My suggestion of us all donning our walking shoes and doing the whole thing again to get better photos was greeted with contempt that it probably deserved (can’t anyone take a joke??!!)

Tomorrow, weather permitting, I’m hoping we’ll be able to take a scenic flight around Wilpena Pound its surrounds as a belated 40th birthday present to myself. The stars are out tonight so here’s hoping.

P.S. We're having a few technical hitches with our emails at the moment. We receive OK but cannot send any. I'm hoping to get this fixed in the next few days. In the mean time happy reading.

A Land of Contrasts

Our aim today was to get to Wilpena Pound in the Flinders Ranges. This was going to be another fairly long haul so we were up and at it early. We got so dirty packing the van up (from the mud still on it from the week before) that we decided we’d had enough – it was time to give the van a bath!! Once we were hooked up we ventured back into town to the car wash. This was great! Three bucks, and 5 minutes with the high pressure cleaner and the van was looking in much better shape.

With the van clean (and probably 50kg lighter from all the mud that came off) we continued west to the South Australia, stopping briefly for the obligatory tourist shot at the border and a toilet stop (the first of quite a few today for some reason). I was surprised at how the landscape changed as we travelled. The scraggy saltbush plains gave way to Mulga scrub (and the return of the goats) and then we seemed to be gently funnelled in to a wide valley running between to unknown ranges (I’m sure they have a name but they weren’t shown on the map I had). As we approached Peterborough, the terrain became quite hilly again. After the reds and browns of the outback that we had been driving through for the last few days, the vegetation became very green and lush (obviously prime grazing land) reminding us very much of the south coast around Berry.
We stopped to refuel in Peterborough and rang Wilpena Pound Campsite to check to see if they had a vacant site. Luckily we did as it turned out that they were full!! Fortunately we could book three nights starting tomorrow so as there was no real point in going any further for the day, we decided to call it quits early and stopover in Peterborough. The caravan park here is very nice and has a lovely view. There is even a mini Put-Put golf course which the kids (both young and old) loved. Sean got two hole-in-ones which he was most proud of. I don’t think Tim quite got the idea initially as he was trying to score more points than anyone else by seeing how many time he could hit the ball before getting it in the hole!!

Broken Hill Busted

Today is our last day in Broken Hill and despite the weather not being the best for the last few days we have had a great time here. Fully fuelled up again we went out to Silverton and Mundi Mundi lookout. Mundi Mundi is reputed to be a place from where you can look out across a plain so vast that you can see the curvature of the earth. As we were approaching the lookout from the blind side of the rise, I commented to Leanne that I hoped this was not going to be one big anti-climax. However, as we crested the hill we were both gobsmacked!! The sight was every bit as impressive as it's reputation made it out to be.

Although there was a cold wind blowing in from the west, we spent nearly half an hour looking at literally nothing!! It was quite surreal really. At one point we saw what looked to be a large white train cutting its way across the plain. It was actually a huge flock of white birds making its way to what I assumed to be a water hole way off in the distance. The photos I took to try and capture the moment I’m sure do not do the place justice.

We had morning tea in Silverton – a town famed for such movies as Pricilla Queen of the Dessert (the famous ping pong ball scene in the pub), MadMax – a replica of the Interceptor is parked pub's car park and many a beer commercial. Apart from a few art galleries, a leaning dunny, some painted VW's (punch buggies went to Sean and Timmy), a few old stone buildings and the pub (which we didn’t go into) there was little else to see so it was back in the car and back into town.

The last bit of site seeing we did was to drive to the top of the huge mullock heap (the waste from the mines that has been piled up in the centre of town) to visit the Miner’s Memorial and get a panoramic view of the town. To my dismay I learned that you had to pay to get to the memorial from the gift shop so being the cheapskate that I am, I decided to look at it from afar. Sean thought it looked like the Jawa’s Sandcrawler tank from Star Wars – which it does!! The boys had more fun playing on the old mining bulldozer that was out the front anyway.

Lea and I spent the rest of the afternoon getting re-organised for the next day's departure whilst the kids roamed feral around the campsite. I finally fitted the infamous jerry cans to the van (and I even remembered to fill them too so we should be right for fuel from now on!!). If your wondering where the caravan's spare tyre has gone Dad, I've put it in the back of the car.

Ashleigh cooked us all a chicken coconut curry for dinner which even Tim said was delicious so it must have been good!!

Tomorrow we are on our way again, crossing the border into South Australia and a whole new adventure.

Schools, Spiders and Exploding Paint!

The sound of rain on the roof of a caravan is one of those special sounds that I will always enjoy and last night did not disappoint (although I could have done with a bit more sleep and a little less rain appreciation)! The overnight rain continued into a rainy day which was fine because today was a day of indoor activities. It started with a visit to the Broken Hill School of the Air (SOTA). We’ve all heard about it but to be there during one of the classes (music assembly in our case) was something quite special. What blew me away even more was the technology that it behind it all. Gone are the days of teachers talking to kids in remote areas via radio – since 2004 it’s all satellite links and high speed broadband internet. Kids now see their teacher via video link and they can be patched in to talk to each other as well as the class room. What also surprised me was the fact that the children do make the journey into town from time to time and that the class as a group also meet up on several occasions throughout the year.

After the SOTA assembly it was time for our own recess so it was off to the famous Bell’s Milk Bar. Going in was like stepping onto the set of a Happy Days episode. The milk bar has retained the authentic feel of the 1950’s and the huge array flavours of delicious spiders (lemonade, flavoured syrup and ice-cream) and milkshakes made it very difficult to choose. After a very satisfying morning tea and stroll through the small but interesting milk bar museum, we visited the Royal Flying Doctors Air Service. Like SOTA, this icon of the Australian Outback was a must see on our travels. The walk round the newly opened visitors centre combined with a short tour of the RFDS operations centre and hanger viewing gallery topped off a very enjoyable morning (out of the rain!!).

After a quick pit stop back at the van for lunch, we visited the Pro Hart gallery at the top end of town. Looking at Pro’s painted Rolls Royce, I couldn't help but think what would be worth more, the value of the Roller or the work of art on it!! The boys couldn’t believe it when we explained how Pro’s famous paint cannon worked. Using a gun to create art – cool!!! (Note to self – hide the water balloons when we get home).

The rest of the afternoon finished the way it started with a bit of schooling for the kids whilst I set about fixing the newly acquired jerry can holders to the van. Work only stopped when my battery drill ran out of juice.

Underground Overground (Wombling Free)

Today was a very interesting day indeed. We spent the morning at Daydream Mine, a quirky little tourist attraction reached by a dirt track off the road to Silverton. In its hay day in the late 1800’s, the mine was a silver mine worked by two shifts of 75 men. The above ground section of the tour showed examples of how life used to be working the mine over 100 years ago. The group then donned miner’s helmets and lamps for a truly spectacular underground exploration. The entrance to the mine was very steep and the passage way very low. The adults in the group had to double over at times to pass through but the kids (especially Timmy) had no trouble navigating the passageways at all. A couple of rather large people were forced to go back as they were so big they physically would not fit!! In hind sight I think it was a bit slack of the tour operator to allow them enter the mine in the first place. After the tour, we had morning tea of scones and tea (coffee in my case). The scones were great but as barristers they should stick to mining!!

We gave Silverton a miss as I was running low on fuel so we headed back to the caravan for lunch and a bit of schooling for the kids (I reckon I should be able to claim some of this trip as a Rudd Education Revolution tax right off somehow!!). I went into town to get some hardware sorted out to mount the jerry cans on the van then it was off to the Living Dessert and Sculpture Symposium. The idea was to watch the sun set over the sandstone sculptures that are set out a bit like a modern day Stonehenge. To be honest I found the sculptures to be a bit of a letdown – in part I guess because the cloud had rolled in and there was no spectacular sunset. We still enjoyed it though and got some good photos.

Tomorrow morning we visit the School of the Air (tax right off again??) We’ve tried to explain to the kids that because of the remoteness of the stations where they live some children cannot attend school like they do bit have lessons at home over the radio. It will be really interesting to see how it all operates.

After talking to people in one of the neighbouring caravans, we are now contemplating negotiating part of the Oodnadatta Track to visit Lake Eyre – watch this space!!