Flinders Ranges, S.A.

We had a very busy four days while based at Hawker, SA. Predominately travelling in, around and over Wilpena Pound and the awesome Flinders Ranges. We have many photographs, maybe we will let them describe our fascinating tour of the area. I took a total of 99 photographs but have selected 28 for this blog post. During our four days at The Flinders Ranges we experienced huge variations in the light conditions. Virtually none of the time was conducive to decent photography but we had to make do with what we had. We will need to return to the area for another tour at a different season of the year. We are now familiar with the area and knowledgable about where to travel on any subsequent visit.

The small, historic mining town of Blinman is about 50 km north of Wilpena and well worth a visit. The North Blinman Hotel is one of the few businesses still operating in the town.

We had a locally baked Quandong Pie (tastes a little like rhubarb) and coffee at the Blinman General Store. Note the corrugated roofing iron statues featuring a kangaroo and an emu guarding the Store Entry. Not to mention the Wedge Tail perched on the verandah.

This Cafe also operates in Blinman.

The Blinman Memorial Hall and the town museum are about the only other buildings of note.

It appears if this old Miners Shack is still lived in today.

The Flinders Ranges just south of Wilpena.

The southern escarpment on the outside of Wilpena Pound.

Beginning at Wilpena Pound Resort we took one of the shorter walks. This track leads to "Hills Homestead" and "Wangara Look Out". About 2.5 hours return.

The path took us past this shady water hole.

Hills Homestead.

The view of Wilpena Pound from the Look Out.

One of the aerial shots of Wilpena Pound.

The lighting was constantly changing on our late afternoon flight over The Pound.

The walls of The Pound are awesomely rugged.

Back on Terra Firma walking into Sacred Gorge. All the Gorges shown on this blog posting are actually dry river courses and of course would be impassable following heavy rain.

Minor scaling required to avoid water holes in Sacred Gorge.

Higher and Deeper into Sacred Gorge.

This cave is situated beside a large pool at the top of Sacred Gorge.

The entrance into Bunyeroo Gorge. This Gorge is much wider than Sacred Gorge, so much so that vehicular traffic can pass through.

The geology of the gorges is remarkable and they all date from different eras.

The different strata of the rocks is clearly visible.

After exiting Bunyeroo Gorge we passed over some high country en route to Brachina Gorge.

Brachina Gorge is much wider than Bunyeroo Gorge and the rock is from a different era, something like 20 to 30 million years difference. Not much difference really when the oldest rocks go back 550 to 560 million years.

Two distinctly different rock types in this area of Brachina Gorge.

Another different rock face in Brachina Gorge.

The exit from Brachina Gorge, note the width of the dry Brachina Creek bed.

We were fortunate to see two Yellow Foot Wallabys on the way out of Brachina Gorge.

The western escarpment of The Flinders Ranges from the Leigh Creek Road while returning to Hawker.

Southern Flinders Ranges, S.A.

We have turned a corner in our travels, we are now heading towards home, although we won't reach there anytime soon! Mainly we are biding or time waiting for the School Holiday patrons to clear out of The Flinders Ranges before heading there ourselves. We pulled into the small caravan park at Crystal Brook to fill in a couple of days and found ourselves camped beside a couple from Bundaberg. Australia truly is a small Country. A little piece of Trivia, apparently Crystal Brook has the most train movements of any country town in Australia.  ANZAC Day came about while at Crystal Brook, so we rugged up to attend The Dawn Service with about 300 others. The local RSL was astounded at the turnout, the largest for many years. The previous ANZAC Day, 2013, there were only 4 remaining RSL members and 3 of those passed away during the ensuing twelve months. The local community rallied around to support their RSL Club and the organisation now boasts 70 Members!

Made a few more kilometres north along Spencer Gulf and pulled into another small town, Port Germein. This port is potentially great for fishing and especially for Blue Swimmer Crabs. One distinctive feature is the 1.5 kilometre long timber jetty. Officially, 1532 metres as it stands currently. There was another 150 metres to the jetty until it was storm damaged. The Jetty was originally constructed to load sailing ships with bagged wheat grown in the area.

Moved another 170 kilometres closer to The Flinders Ranges to make camp at Hawker. We can now see our destination. Hawker is a small town now totally geared up for the tourist traffic heading to The Flinders Ranges but it was once a railway station on the Old Ghan Line between Port Augusta and Alice Springs. Jeff Morgan, an artist in the town, has painted an awesome Panorama of Wilpena Pound in The Flinders Ranges. It took 4000 hours to complete the art work in The Panorama. If you are ever in Hawker this Panorama is a MUST see attraction. If the weather is kind to us we plan a 30 minute aerial tour of Wilpena Pound. Hopefully you will see photographs of this in the next Blog Post.

The pretty shopping centre at Crystal Brook.

The gardens and Memorial Pavillion in Crystal Brook, the venue of the ANZAC Dawn Service.

It is only a short walk from the caravan park to this historic railway bridge at Crystal Brook.

The old bridge makes way for the new!

A commemorative sculpture depicting the shipping history of Port Germein.

At 1532 metres, the Port Germein jetty seems to stretch out of sight. It is great exercise, over 3 kilometres out and return.

Arrived at the end of the jetty to find this large fellow waiting for scraps from the fishermen on the jetty.

The final 150 metres of the jetty is storm damaged and little remains. These piles wobble around in the swell so I guess they will disappear in due course.

Looking back towards Port Germein from the seaward end of the jetty with The Southern Flinders Ranges in the background.

The old Original Lighthouse was once positioned on the end of the jetty. After the storm it was rescued and is now secure on dry land.

The Hawker Hotel.

The Booking Office for Bush Pilots Australia aerial flights over Wilpena Pound. Hopefully, weather permitting, we will get to use their services.

The Flinders Ranges from the fringes of Hawker.

The Old Ghan Railway Station at Hawker.

The water tower that was used to refill the tanks on the Old Ghan Steam Engine.

One of the Murals that is also on display at The Jeff Morgan Panorama of Wilpena Pound. This outstanding mural is 15 metres across. I hope they didn't mind me snapping this copy.