Tag Archives: Flinders Range

Day 39 – Birthday safari

The one good thing about early morning bird hunting

The one good thing about early morning bird hunting

It’s my birthday! And as always, my only plan was “to be away”. So poor Flo had to come up with a plan.

A very loud bird woke us at dawn but we decided to go back to sleep and then slept in a bit. Flo insists that I tell the whole story: He got up, climbed on the stone table and shook the tree to get rid of the damn bird.

Again, there was no cloud to be seen in the sky. Flo managed to get a nice picture of a lizard sunbathing. So we packed our things and drove on only a couple of kilometres to Arkaroo Rock where a nice walk through shrubs and red sand led us to rock paintings by the local tribe. During the hike we found an almost unreal looking little place with a tiny waterfall. So cute!

The significance of the place made sense

The significance of the place made sense

The paintings themselves had to be secured behind bars because obviously people are d****. There was one rock a bit closer to the track where e.v.e.r.y.o.n.e. had left their “I was here” mark.

The view on the Flinders Range during most of the hike was gorgeous and we took way too many photos. We even saw a whole flock of emus at the roadside.

Our next camp is only 52 km away from Hawker. Entering the Flinders Range National Park, we saw many, many more emus on the road leading to Wilpena. Wilpena is a bit of a touristy spot as it is the only “official” caravan park/campsite in the National Park. Flo couldn’t help but detest it a lot at first when we set up camp. They even have a restaurant and bar here. We got some fresh veges for a nice tomato salad for lunch and I got a birthday ice cream. 🙂

A look back down the access to Wilpena

A look back down the access to Wilpena

After lunch we set out for another hike, this time to the Wangara Lookout. The suggested time was 3 hours and you could shorten the journey with a bus ride. The first two kilometers were basically on a dirt road as the bus goes along there but it was still nice with gum trees left and right and some grassy areas in between.

After 2km, the track started to ascend slightly towards Hill Homestead after which the track became a constant climb up to the lookout along Ikara (Wilpena Pound). Up there, you have a view along the rugged hills or mountains that frame the valley. It’s beautiful up there especially if you are the only people because you didn’t take the bus and didn’t end up here with all the other tourists.  🙂

Can you spot the bright green bird?

Can you spot the bright green bird?

The sun was quite low when we headed back. Dusk is a really good time to see wildlife and truly, we saw a couple of kangaroos on our way back. One pair was seemingly avoiding us, hopping along our side for a while then suddenly turned onto the road and cross it right behind us for some greener grass on the other side.

In the evening, Flo went on to cook delicious dinner and we shared the bottle of Princess Moscato with it. I also still had some of my Haigh’s chocolates.

Day 37 – That’s Australia!

A cloudy start

A cloudy start

Waking up in the Barossa Valley, the clouds were hanging very low. So low in fact that the tent just wouldn’t dry at all.

We had breakfast, packed up and headed to one of the wineries for a wine tasting. The lady in the tourist information yesterday had suggested a couple of places we might want to look at i.e. if you like red wine. So we went to Peter Lehmann’s.

The wine tasting is in a really posh place. A couple of men in suits with golf clubs under their arms entered right before we did and not being a wine drinker myself, I couldn’t have felt more out of place standing there in my motorcycle gear.

To our suprise, Nina liked both

To our suprise, Nina liked both

However, the lady behind the counter was incredibly nice and while Flo was trying his way through some red wines, she got a bottle of their sweet white wines out for me: Princess Moscato. It’s low on alcohol and guess what…I liked it. Flo bought a bottle of it for my upcoming birthday and also a shiraz for himself.

After that, we felt as if we were good with the Barossa Valley now; after all there is only that much wine you can try in a day without spitting it all out. So we left in the northern direction.

Coming out of the valley, we had the feeling as if the landscape started changing immediately. It got warmer. Lunch was at a small parking area next to the road where a couple of other travellers (in a car) had parked. We had a delicious avocado toast lunch before continuing further north, past Burra and into Petersborough.

The clouds start to break

The clouds start to break

On the way to Petersborough, the whole landscape had changed for sure. I’ve never been to Arizona but this was how I imagine Arizona to be: So much open space everywhere. The land is flat until far on the horizon a hill might block your view. And above all is a vast expanse of sky.

Between Petersborough and Hawker, where we are staying tonight, Flinders Range came into full view. I tried to capture it in the pictures but I’m not convinced that I managed to. The mountains in the otherwise rather flat landscape are quite epic.

Now we’re camping in Hawker, a 300 people village, where the gas station is also the general store and the visitor’s center.  🙂