Some time later we found the free camp site, about 18 km north of Hawker, and immediately nearly bogged both car and caravan. That would have been very embarrassing. But “country boy experience” came to the fore and everything was Ok. That night Darryl and I built the best campfire imaginable—and we did not have any crumpets. Dinner was home made soup and campfire cooked toast—with a glass of fine shiraz.
The arrival of dawn, and my obligatory early morning walk (in new places), showed that we had been camped about 200 metres from the Old Ghan rail line, and a pre-loved railway bridge across a flood plain. We used a different way out to avoid the wet track in.
About an hour after departure we were booking in to Rawnsley Park, our home for the next three days, on the site next to Darryl and Kay.
After lunch (more soup) the four of us went for a drive to Wilpena Pound where our guide (Darryl) took us on a 2.5 hour return walk (and approx 8 km) to Wilpena Pound lookout. The view from the lookout was magnificent and not adequately illustrated by the adjacent photo.
On our return we met Gary & Jenny who were friends of Darryl & Kay and who drove a lovely Winnebago motor home. Later we lit another campfire and cooked our steaks over the fire. Life is good.
Day 7 was a rest day so we started with a 5 km walk around a Rawnsley Park track, via "Clems Corner". Among the barren rocky landscape were many small flowers—merely 1 cm wide.
That night we dined at the local “Woolshed” restaurant where the guys ate a mixed grill of kangaroo steak, emu sausages and camel rissoles. They were all excellent—particularly the kangaroo.
Our first stop was the Old Wilpena Homestead, which is nestled among some lovely gum trees.
The six of us (Darryl, Chris, Shirley, Jenny, Kay, Garry) then headed off to visit the Cazneaux tree—a lovely old tree famous for the award winning photo that was taken by a photographer called Harold Cazneaux in the 1937.
Occasionally some local fauna would pose for a photo. Unfortunately most of the fauna we saw was on the side of the road as a victim of a one-sided clash with some form of motor vehicle.
The views that we were constantly seeing were mind boggling, again emphasising how great the scenery in our bonzer country is.
The photos here give an idea of the scenery, but again the photos do not do justice to the wonderful views.
Around 1:30 we just happened upon the tiny hamlet of Parachilna whose main claim to fame is the Prairie Hotel. The lunch of kangaroo pie and chips was excellent.
The sights that we visited included:· Brachnia gorge & geological trail
· Prairie hotel at Parachilna
· Morealna scenic drive pat Arkaba rocks
· Old queing yards for shoeing working bullocks.
One of my photos of the day was to take a photo of Shirley through the hollow in a tree.
Happy hour was again spent around a campfire—built by the guys. It was needed as the evenings and nights have been fairly cool. Dinner was razer fish, courtesy of Garry & Jenny who caught them at Streaky Bay on the Eyre Peninsula. They are a crustacean, tasting a bit like a scallop but from a much larger muscle-like shell. Very enjoyable.
Day 9 was spent driving the 200 km to Copley via Hawker and Leigh Creek, the latter being a stopover to buy provisions and pay $1.72 per litre for diesel. Copley is a very small town consisting of a pub, general store, caravan park and a couple of other shops (if you could call them that).
Day 10 consisted of a 128 km drive west-north-west to Arkaroola. As it was to be a non-caravan dirt road we left our accommodation at Copley. The trip took 2.5 hours. The six of us (two cars) checked into one two-bedroom cottage and a motel unit and then went for a 13 km drive along a very rocky road to a few local scenic spots, with interesting names like
Nooldoonoodoona,
Bollabollana Spring and
The Pinnacles.
Nooldoonoodoona,
Bollabollana Spring and
The Pinnacles.
The views everywhere were spectacular.
For dinner we had a carvery at the restaurant with soup, beef/chicken/port roast and dessert, and the obligatory bottle of shiraz.
Early next morning I woke up 10 minutes before the 7am alarm so that we all had time for a shower and breakfast before we joined the “ridge top tour” for the morning. There were 10 on the tour (plus the driver) and so nine of us sat in the open top/side back of a diesel V8 troop carrier. The next 21 km were definitely the roughest trip of my life and took nearly 2 hours. Again the scenes were spectacular, some many km away in the flat lands away from the Flinders Ranges. These views included the Beverley Uranium mine.
We stopped for morning tea at a place called Sillers Lookout, which was at the top peak of a seriously steep hill. The adjacent photo shows the road to and from the hill stop—but does not adequately show the steepness of the track. Needless to say, we were all hanging on—some with eyes closed.
After lunch and a relaxing few hours we jumped into our cars and headed out to the Arkarloola waterhole.
Again the road was very rocky and rough and the views were magnificent. To our delight we saw numerous yellow footed rock wallabies—some of whom posed for us.
Again the road was very rocky and rough and the views were magnificent. To our delight we saw numerous yellow footed rock wallabies—some of whom posed for us.
At 8am on Day 12 we arose to a cloudy sky and the interesting sight of a short rainbow. A while later we said good bye to Arkaroola. We had been told that Arkaroola was a geologists paradise—and now we knew why—thanks to many type of rocks and many interesting forms of geology phenomena. We were not sad to leave behind the rough and rocky roads. However it is a great place to visit.
Our first stop, still in the Arkaroola boundary, was the Oche wall, which would be great for instant makeup or face painting. There were many colours, and they were easily obtained.
We headed south to Blinman, 150 km away, still on a dirt road. Some of the terrain was very flat, while some of it was rolling hills, with more rocks. Most of the plains were without trees and most of the creek beds had healthy looking trees - many of them gums.
The road was fairly good quality, although we had now found drizzling rain, and we duly arrived at the Blinman pub where we all had some form of “Blinman Mega Burger” - which was a feast on a plate.
We then had 30 km of dirt road before we found the sealed highway. The first 25 km was OK as it twisted through rolling hills. However the last 5 km was being graded as the rain got heavier. The speed was reduced and 4WD was engaged. 
However the back of the cars gathered some of the road.
After stopping for provisions at Leigh Creek we arrived back at Copley at 4:45 in constant rain. We had driven over 360 km of dirt roads and 70 km of sealed roads—and the car looked like it.
On Saturday 1 June we arose to a wet and cloudy sky. Copley had had in excess of 30 mm of rain overnight.
This meant good and bad news.
First the good news—it was great for all of the South Australian people on the land.
Now the bad news—the road to Birdsville, including the Birdsville Track is closed, and so Birdsville is off the agenda for now. Tomorrow we head for Alice Springs via 270 km south to Port Augusta.
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Looks like a very adventurous trip you guys have had. Some wonderful scenery though, makes it all worthwhile. Thought you guys must have been off the air, (or having too great a time) not having heard from you for days!
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