Day 17 – Clare Valley to Flinders National Park
Travel Location: Wilpena-Pound,Australia
An early start and a long way ahead! We started to drive from Clare Valley in the early mornings towards Port Augusta, specifically we targeted the Outback Centre. We drove through the plains of South Australia with the bright brown grass. We reached the Outback Centre about lunchtime. Apart from getting a good booklet of the Flinders Range, it had little information we didn’t yet know about. The National Park passes and Dessert passes we require could not be purchased there. We stocked up our car with supplies and petrol and were on the way to Hawker, the last proper settlement (so they say). After failing to obtain the permits there too, we made our way to the National Park.
The scenery changed dramatically from Port Augusta with access to the ocean (and probably the last time we see the Ocean until we will have crossed the continent), to the dry, but grassy rural area just past Port Augusta to the stony sparsely vegetated area of the Flinders. Just near Hawkers we visited the Yorumbulla Caves which have Aboriginal paintings. It was a bit of a walk up the hill but we made it and it was great to see the paintings made thousands of years ago and to guess/marvel at their meaning.
The National Park is amazing. Firstly, the area was at one point in time below the water. That’s about 600 million years ago and all the different layers of stones are from that area. They were lifted above the sea with the pressure of movement of the continents. You find different layers of stones on the mountains. Secondly, the wildlife is great, especially for us being the first time in the outback (can we already use that term?). We saw wild Kangaroos taking a nap in the shades of the trees in the afternoon, we saw Emu’s crossing the road and sipping water. And we saw the rabbits just running everywhere.
There is a “proper” camping ground at Wilpena. However, we decided to camp in the bushes for $10. The designated areas are far away from the main road and hustle and bustle of the tourist trails. Currently, only three campervans are here and, being already 7.30 pm, it is unlikely to increase. The weather is nicely warm, with some clouds and thus not too hot. The flies are numerous and very friendly. We are quite happy to have our fly net tent. We also use our fly nets that can be pulled over the hats. They look really funny and we will not publish any pictures with them. But they are really good – keeps the flies out of your eyes, mouth, ears and noise.
