Tuesday, 6 May 2014

6th May - Wilpena Pound

After a couple of long days pounding the bitumen we had a day off today to explore the Flinders Ranges NP.   I have visited Wilpena Pound twice before, but Alan had never been here.  We decided to go for a walk in the morning and do a trail ride in the afternoon.

But first we tried out one of the dehydrated meals we planned to use for the second part of our trip.  So we had bacon and eggs with baked beans for breakfast and I must say it wasn't too bad and just needed boiling water to add to the packets.  We rode the bikes to Wilpena Pound and found that from the visitors centre we had to walk as no vehicles were allowed past that point.  We selected an 8 km walk to the Hills homestead and up to a look out called Wangara.  The walk followed Wilpena creek into the Pound and is the only access point.  The Hills family cleared the scrub in the late 1800's using an old water tank that was on display.  Various droughts caused problems but they stuck it out until a huge flood washed away their access track past Sliding Rock.  They kept the lease until 1922 and then left.



We took the track up the hill  behind the homestead and enjoyed great views of the whole Pound.  The Pound was formed millions of years ago as the core of a large mountain was gradually eroded leaving a jagged ring of hills around a flat internal plain.  The hills were a harder band of sandstone tilted up by folding of the earth's crust.  It formed a natural enclosure for stock and the internal area was ideal for grazing.





We got back to the visitors centre on schedule and set off for a ride around the northern areas of the park taking in Bunyeroo Gorge Rd and further north the Brachina Gorge.  We lowered our tyre pressures and found the Hiddenaus coped very easily with the dirt road and we could travel quite quickly.  The countryside was spectacular and was made even more so when the sun came out later in the afternoon.



We got back to Rawnsley Park in time to buy some food from the store for dinner including wood for a barbeque.  The  meal was a great success and washed down with a bottle of wine. While cooking the sunset highlighted the rocks on the Rawnsley Bluff opposite the cabin.  We moved up to the camp kitchen to connect to the internet and had a chat with a couple of nice sorts from Montreal who were touring around Australia for 6 months in the university break.



Tomorrow we head off to Maree and then William Creek.  Things are going well.

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