Day 1
We tag-along on a 4WD tour on a private sheep property - Arkaba, which is parallel to Wilpena. What an awesome experience led by a chap Terry who understands the hardships of being a grazier. He and his wife have made the "tree-change" from a sheep property on the Eyre Peninsula to enjoy this land. We are glad we have the 2 way radios as Terry gives us a running commentary on the history of the area and points out interesting geographical and environmental features as we go along. He keeps us entertained with stories relevant to the surroundings and we have a brilliant time. The Pajero has a good low range workout as we traverse mountain ranges affording magnificent viewa of not only Wilpena but the Elder Ranges. We are happy that we are driving this track, not walking it. The track finishes along a ridge of steep hills named "Stairway to Heaven" with views of Hawker in the far distance.
The afternoon is spent exploring with a walk to Hill Homestead. We follow Wilpena Creek through towering River Redgums, native pines, center acacias and a various array of wildflowers. We scramble up to Wangara Lookout past numerous skinks and lizards on the rocks. We rest for a panoramic view of Wilpena trying to envisage the coiled giant snakes that make up the Pound according to the traditional owners.
Day 2
We visit the old Wilpena Station. Nestled between the ABC Range and the northern ramparts of Wilpena Pound, this station is one of South Australia's oldest and best preserved pastoral settlements. We stepped back in time by 150 years to the early days of pastoral runs. We explored a world of improvisation, dogged with self sufficiency and a powerful instinct for survival. The buildings included the blacksmith shop, corner-post and stockyards, stables and harness room, cemetery, store and the homestead.
Onward bound to Stokes Hill Lookout and it is here that it becomes truly apparent of how over-grazing
by sheep and other introduced animal species have contributed to the erosion and barren-ness of this area. Rabbits and feral goats now add to the destruction of this land.
We head for Brachina Gorge in a hope of spotting the rare yellow footed rock wallaby.
Brachina Gorge road passes through a series of tilted rock formations bearing fossils from the dawn of animal life. Interpretive signs describe events up to 650 million years ago and is like a corridor in time.
Dusk is apparently the best time to spot the wallabies and we are also mindful of the 55kms to get back home in the dark with all of the other kangaroos, wallabies and emus on the road.
We find an area to safely pull over in the gorge which is composed of Bonney Sandstone which is predominantly a thick series of red sandstone and is 560 million years old. A male emu and his 7 chicks are not perturbed by our presence and continue to graze on "Salvation Jane" and other grasses beside the creek. Nick is first to spot the Yellow Footed Rock Wallaby as it suddenly appeared on a dead tree over the water. They are rather timid creatures and are easily startled however the first wallaby is joined by anther just up the creek bank. We the watched as this colourful wallaby leapt with surprising ease up the steep craggy rock face. With special non-slip pads on the bottom of it's feet, it performs gravity defying feats, extending it's arms forward to balance it's fast precarious landings. These creatures were once more widespread however they were hunted by colonists as pets until almost extinct. They became a protected species in 1912 however their survival has again been threatened recently by large numbers of feral goats and rabbits. Forced out of their safe, rocky habitat in search of food and water in more open areas has made them easy prey for foxes and wedge-tailed eagles. It is here in Brachina Gorge that a massive restoration project by the SA g'ment has restored this creatures fragile habitat.
As we head back through the gorge on our way back to camp, we are rewarded with more sightings of yellow footed rock wallabies.
Thursday, 12 April 2012
Port Augusta to Wilpena Pound 14/09/11
Our morning is taken up spent in the Wadlata Outback Centre. Wadlata is a discovery centre that provided information about the incredible diversity and history of how the Flinders Ranges and the Outback evolved. Some of the interpretive stations included geological formations of the region; early explorers Eyre, Sturt, Stuart and Giles. We sat in an early picture theatre, an old Ghan railway carriage, peddled a Traeger pedal radio at the replica RFDS base to be taught via "School of the Air". We watched the story of Tom Kruse and the famous outback Marree to Birdsville mail run through the back of beyond, an amazing man. Once again, BHP Billiton provided insight into coal, gas and oilfields inthe areas we are about to travel.
With our brains well saturated, we move on through Quorn which is the home to the Pichi Richi Railway, a treasured steam journey which chugs it's way through glorious rugged countryside of the Pichi Richi Pass to Port Augusta. Dedicated volunteers breathed life into the abandoned railway in 1973, almost 20 years after the line closed. Alas, it only runs on Sundays. Quorn retains much of it's old world character with wide streetscapes and charming heritage buildings including the iconic Flour Mill building.
Also once a thriving railway town, Hawker not only has 1880 charm but the information centre has a seismograph that monitors regular activity.
Enroute to Wilpena Pound resort, we encounter numerous old homestead remains, a stark reminder that in the end - the land rules!
According to science, the geological forces which caused the formation of the Flinders Ranges warped and wrinkled the Earth 's crust in this area. Wilpena Pound is those wrinkles left after thousands of years of weathering. It is a natural basin, called a "Pound" because it looks like an animal enclosure. According to the Adnyamathanha story, two giant snakes ate up all of the people at a special corroboree and then coiled together to form Wilpena Pound.
We also realise that driving at night would not be a good choice as we encounter a considerable number of emus and kangaroos well before dusk.
With our brains well saturated, we move on through Quorn which is the home to the Pichi Richi Railway, a treasured steam journey which chugs it's way through glorious rugged countryside of the Pichi Richi Pass to Port Augusta. Dedicated volunteers breathed life into the abandoned railway in 1973, almost 20 years after the line closed. Alas, it only runs on Sundays. Quorn retains much of it's old world character with wide streetscapes and charming heritage buildings including the iconic Flour Mill building.
Also once a thriving railway town, Hawker not only has 1880 charm but the information centre has a seismograph that monitors regular activity.
Enroute to Wilpena Pound resort, we encounter numerous old homestead remains, a stark reminder that in the end - the land rules!
According to science, the geological forces which caused the formation of the Flinders Ranges warped and wrinkled the Earth 's crust in this area. Wilpena Pound is those wrinkles left after thousands of years of weathering. It is a natural basin, called a "Pound" because it looks like an animal enclosure. According to the Adnyamathanha story, two giant snakes ate up all of the people at a special corroboree and then coiled together to form Wilpena Pound.
We also realise that driving at night would not be a good choice as we encounter a considerable number of emus and kangaroos well before dusk.
Ceduna to Port Augusta 13th September 2011
We find ourselves once again in lush pastoral land and as we pass through the Windunna District, we discover a Farmers Memorial dedicated by numerous families and associations in the area.
We have lunch at Kimba and pass by the "Big Galah". A sign at the bakery proclaims that Kimba is halfway across Australia.
Port Augusta is where the Outback meets the Ocean & is called "The Crossroads of Australia" because roads from Sydney to Perth and Adelaide to Darwin pass through port Augusta.
Established in 1852, it was one of South Australia's major ports for wool, minerals and wheat with regular shipping until 1973.
This progressive town at the northern end of the Spencer Gulf is nestled on the calm gulf waters and is used as a base for exploring the Flinders Ranges, the Outback and the Eyre Peninsula. This is the reason for us being here also and intend heading north east tomorrow.
We have lunch at Kimba and pass by the "Big Galah". A sign at the bakery proclaims that Kimba is halfway across Australia.
Port Augusta is where the Outback meets the Ocean & is called "The Crossroads of Australia" because roads from Sydney to Perth and Adelaide to Darwin pass through port Augusta.
Established in 1852, it was one of South Australia's major ports for wool, minerals and wheat with regular shipping until 1973.
This progressive town at the northern end of the Spencer Gulf is nestled on the calm gulf waters and is used as a base for exploring the Flinders Ranges, the Outback and the Eyre Peninsula. This is the reason for us being here also and intend heading north east tomorrow.
Wednesday, 5 October 2011
Ceduna 12 Sept
Since Angus is keen on these wombat creatures, we visit the Wombat Fauna Rescue Homestead. This place is a refuge run solely on donations and faith by a lady named Val. We learn of the mysterious disease which has affected a number of these wombats whereby it's central nervous system is becoming affected once the animal reaches 3kg. Studies are being conducted by universities in South Australia. The kids get to interact and cuddle these animals along with lambs and a baby emu all of which have been orphaned.
From here we visit the fish markets and move around to Thevenard which is a deep sea port exporting facility for grain, salt, mineral sands and gypsum. Pinky Point Lookout provided a vantage point for sea-lion spotting and they were happy to laze around on the rocks to be spotted.
We continue around the shoreline and foreshore to the jetty where we find crystal clear waters but no fish to be caught.
The Nullarbor Run 9-10-11 Sept
Day 1 Kalgoorlie - Cocklebiddy
We set out from Kalgoorlie enroute for the Nullarbor including the longest straight stretch of road in Australia - being 146.6km in length.
We appreciate having to share the highway with other traffic including Royal Flying Doctor Servive aircraft.
We make camp at the roadhouse at Cocklebiddy hoping to find the caves.
Day 2
We find that the Department of Environment and Conservation has actually closed the caves to the public as they were underground and full of water.
We explore the old Telegraph Station ruins at Eucla. Just as we think that the sand is engulfing the ruins, we meet a fellow who says that more of the ruins are exposed now than when he saw them 15 years ago. We can work out the length of time that they were covered by the years of graffiti that are missing. We lunch and try to use the last of our fruit and veggies before crossing the border to SA. This includes cutting up our last onion and adding it to our sandwich. We set off for the border burping raw onion only to find we don't have to stop or get rid of stuff here. It's after Ceduna that the fruit-fly exclusion zone starts. We continue our journey and pass various trees adorned with items of apparel including shirts, shoes and underwear. Others are decorated with glass and plastic bottles, I guess you need to break the boredom when you do this trip all of the time.Day 3 final run to Ceduna
We hear an almighty loud noise to break the silence as we finish packing up and we turn on the two-way to hear that a truckie with a wide load has just seized a wheel bearing on his dolly. Not much we can do except get passed before the road is blocked. He has a couple of pilot vehicles with him to help.
The Nullarbor NP adjoins the Great Australian Bight and extends inland. It encompasses approximate. 2,867,000 hectares from WA border to the Nullarbor Roadhouse (297kms west of Ceduna), & north beyond the Transcontinental Railway Line. The Eyre Highway passes the coastal areas of the park and only traverses a short section of the true Nullarbor.
The Great Australian Bight Marine Park WA's established in 1996, further recognising the importance of these whales.
As we continue on, the landscape changes from windswept coast to green pasture with small earthy mounds. These mounds belong to the Southern Hairy-nosed wombat which breed prolifically in the good seasons. Thus the road kill changes from roos to huge solid wombats, better them than us. The sign at Nundroo Roadhouse says it all -
"Wecome to Nundroo,
Population 12,
Sheep 10,000,
Wombats 2.5 million".
We make it to Ceduna without making a dent in the wombat population.
Kalgoorlie 7-8/9/2011
The Mining Hall of Fame is our destination for today. Here we are able to immerse ourselves in mining history, memorabilia, and displays. We book in for an underground mine tour and another gold pour. While waiting we explore the various areas including the huge 793C dump truck and underground miner's refuge. There are many displays of mining equipment and infrastructure that keep us busy until it is our turn to gather at the massive shaft headframe.
We choose our hard hats and wait to take our place in the small cage for the journey underground. It is a tight fit for 2 adults 2 kids and an operator. We are told that when this was a working mine that this cage would take 6 beefy miners for each trip. We travel 35m to the first level where we disembark. We meet Jim who is our guide and an old hand at underground mining who in his later years has become a tour guide.
We are kept entertained with an educational, informative and funny narrative of the hardship and conditions of underground mining. Too soon we return to the surface informed and amazed at the tenacity and perseverance of the underground miners and the dangerous conditions that they encountered every day. We head to the gold room to see the gold pour. Although we had seen gold pours in Perth it is still interesting and informative. We find that the day has gone too fast and we still have much to see. We decide to come back tomorrow as our entry ticket allows us 2 days entry. 8/9/2011
We come back to the Mining Hall of Fame to see what we couldn't fit in yesterday. We go through the main display building which houses a huge display of minerals from around the world. There are more 'ite's' than you can poke a stick at. Stolzite, Manganocalcite, Rhodonite, Apophyllite, Kutnahorite, and Calaverite just to name a few. There are also many more well know minerals and gems such as Gypsum, Copper, Silver, Rubies, Diamonds and of course Gold. We learn about the different methods of mining that are required for the different minerals. We read stories of the various prospectors and of the booms and busts associated with the mining industry. After we had dug through all the information we could process, we took our leave and headed elsewhere.
The local RFDS base is our next stop but we arrive to late for the last tour of the day. We have a look through their display of memorabilia where the kids pedal on the Traeger pedal radio ( again ). We then head back to camp to find we had more neighbors in the overflow area where we were setup. After we all introduced ourselves the chairs and drinks came out and many stories of our separate adventures were told. We head to bed a bit later than planned but still set the alarm as we are off across the Nullabour tomorrow.
Kalgoorlie 6/9/2011
Today we head for the Superpit lookout where we can gaze into the depths of this massive open-cut goldmine. For years the area known as 'The Golden Mile' had been a series of individual mining leases where underground mining of the rich ore bodies was conducted by various mining companies and individual operators. A shrewd business man realized the need to progress to open-cut where the economic advantage of large scale operations would be more profitable. This business man started buying up the various leases in order to start what is now known as the Superpit. Unfortunately Alan Bond couldn't complete his plan and Kalgoorlie Consolidated Gold Mines Pty Ltd (KCGM) combined the entire area in 1989 and open-cut mining began.
From the lookout we watch the huge trucks and loaders operating at various levels in the mine and the drilling rigs drilling the precise pattern of holes required for blasting. After sometime watching these operations we take the chance to look at some of the various machinery on display when we notice the gravel that we are walking on has some distinctive sparkling specks that might be gold ( but are more likely to be pyrite or fool's gold). Claire develops a certain condition commonly found near goldmines and with some reluctance gets in the car when it is time to go.
We drive around the town seeing the old buildings, many damaged by the earthquake last year. We visit the Superpit shop where we watch an informative video about the Pit and the town before heading to the Mount Charlotte Lookout where we learn about the struggle to secure a reliable water supply and how in the past water was more valuable than gold. The pipeline was conceived by C Y O'Connor and was able to deliver 23000 kilolitres per day via 8 steam driven pumping stations and 566km of steel pipe and is recognized as a National Engineering Landmark. We head back to our caravan park to plan the next day.
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