Very nice visitor’s centre, although fairly touristy, and prices reflect both that and its distance from anywhere – Very expensive. Luckily we didn’t need anything. But we did book a small tour. Janet is still having a lot of trouble with her knee so walking any distance is a real issue, but there was a 3 km walk up to an over look in the Pound, for which there was a bus available for the first 2 kms !! That was a perfect solution, so we caught the bus up, did about a 2 km walk up into the Pound, then Janet caught the bus back later while I walked back – And almost beat the bus !! And on the way back I saw feral goats, rock wallabies, and kangaroos, so the walk was worthwhile, as well as giving me some much needed exercise !
Once back, we had a quick (and very delicious) pie for lunch
instead of getting out all the picnic stuff, and then jumped in the car headed
into the National Park through the Flinders Ranges. Off on dirt roads at last,
we had magnificent views through the Bunyeroo Gorge and Brachina Gorge, over Razorback, and through many fords,
streams and canyons. The rock formations are simply amazing, and we detoured
through gorges and canyons and small river beds on the dirt roads. We saw one rock that I swore was an old
piece of rusting corrugated iron sheet, and then as I passed it, I saw it was a
big rock slab with a totally flat back
!! Wilpena is a geological phenomenon,
and they mark a lot of the rock formations and ages so it is easy to
comprehend. Once again, quite a lot of
yellow footed rock wallabies, ‘roos, and emus along the way. It was great to be
on the dirt roads and using Troopie for what she was designed for !! I am afraid these roads today were way more
rough and rugged than any I saw in Alaska last year, and there is no way Elsie
could have got through.
Finally, when we were almost out of the park, just before we
got to our target roadside bush campsite for the night, Janet suddenly saw 2
enormous male wedge tailed eagles rise up
and there beside the road was a dead emu that they had been feeding on.
These eagles were enormous, and almost looked like lions with a big mane around
their heads. Unfortunately they settled
on a tree about 100 yards away, and they would not come back even though we
waited a while, and even hid behind bushes !!
So poor quality photos as I didn’t have my zoom lens handy. BTW, if you have never seen a road kill emu
– it is a MESS !! Feathers everywhere –
Imagine a feather boa run through a shredder !!
But there must have been some meat in there somewhere ! Anyway, 500 metres up the road was our
campsite – “Bush camping”, it is called
– Just a site with a fireplace (if you have your own wood for fuel, which we
don’t), no power or water, and usually a bush toilet – ie a normal loo that is
bottomless and just is a big hole in the ground. They work very well, and there is no smell or
any problem, although in the heat of summer it could be more of an issue !! Anyway, set up in Dingley Dell site (yes,
really !), and while we cooked supper and had a glass of vino, the sunset was
unbelievable. This area is renowned for good
ones, and I can assure you the photos do not do it justice. Then in to our sleeping bags for the night.
Pics are here :- https://picasaweb.google.com/117739775480775657932/0020WilpenaPound?authkey=Gv1sRgCLuPzpXzp4yvsAE#
No comments:
Post a Comment