Flinders Ranges

Introduction

With a over a months leave stacked up it was high time I took a holiday. With 2 weeks off I could I cover a bit of territory and I decided on the Flinders Ranges in South Australia.

Ikara

The Flinders Ranges are 430 kilometres long and start at Port Pirie but we'll start our journey at Ikara (also known as Wilpena Pound). I unhitch the caravan at the Wilpena Pound Discovery Resort which sits just outside the Ikara amphitheatre which looks very nice.

When I arrive the weather is hot humid and stormy. Half a years rain hits nearby Rawnsley park station overnight and fellow caravanners tell me how the storm ripped up their camp.

The park has a bunch of tours but most are cancelled due to the weather. Its been a long drive so I take it easy for a bit but do the walk into the amphitheatre.

The walk along the Wilpena Creek is very pretty and finishes at the Hills homestead who had a tough time trying to raise sheep and grow crops here.

If you follow the directions given by the locals its a quick walk up to the Lower Wangara lookout. Thanks guys!

Okay the weather has cleared up so I get away from people and send up the drone.

Hmmmm.. I push the altitude and distance limits of the drone but the peaks of the Ikara amphitheatre are just too high and too wide to get a good view. Are the Flinders Ranges just too vast for a proper Above Matt perspective?

Ah light aircraft doing scenic flights. Hmmm I think I have a solution.

Ahhhh thats what I wanted to see. The scenic flight over the national park is easily one of the most spectacular things I've ever done. Words and a handful of photos just can't do it justice.

I'm so euphoric after the flight I have to hang around the airport for a bit and discuss respective outback touring adventures with travellers waiting for their flight. I am most definitely the wussy one in the conversation.

Sacred Canyon

Okay scenic flight done and now onto the second tour of the day. This is to a nearby canyon noted for its petroglyphs.

Some people who moved in recently called it "Sacred Canyon" however our Adnyamathanha guide pointed out it wasn't sacred. If it was we wouldn't be allowed to visit or take photos. So a good thing for us tourists!

Tourists can only access the canyon with a guide. Usually you can tag along in your own car but because of the storms over the last few days the rangers decided to cut it back to a tour bus to help protect the roads, after one of the uncles had checked it out of course. After the bus dropped us of at the creek bed its just a little bit of rock-scrabbling to get to the petroglyphs.

The canyon was used as a passage way for the Adnyamathanha inhabitants travelling to and from Ikara for their big meet-ups and the petroglyphs are sign-posts and useful tips for new-comers to the area.

Bunyeroo Valley

The Bunyeroo Valley is immediately north of Ikara. The scenic flight pilot had pointed out the road you can follow from the air and he reckoned it was much easier on his car than some of the other valleys you can visit. Still got most of the afternoon left and I still feel energized so lets do the 3rd tour for the day.

The blurbs for the park area list views for this road as "Iconic" and phoweee they are. Fraid its another photos can't do it justice situation. The road starts of in foothills above the valley edge, goes down along the razorback and follows the valley floor, with occasional forays along the river bed.

The scenic flight shots give a great view of the different layers of sediment that run the length of the ranges. I mentioned how it was like you suddenly gained the power to look back in time.

The Never-ending road

And on it goes. The geological trail, a ridge line called the Great Walls of China, Parachilna gorge. So much more besides but I'm out of time and I've posted more than enough.

The ranges continue north for hundreds of kilometres. The country-side is getting even more arid and the sign-posts that indicate the distance to the next destination are getting into the hundreds.

But follow one of the valleys west and soon as your past the tallest peaks the ranges abruptly stop and the flat plains of the Australian outback spread out before you.

Tempting. But its time to head back south.