Day 58: Tue 11 Apr 23 - Flinders Ranges (Wilpena Pound)

April 11, 2023

Tue 11 Apr 23 - Flinders Ranges (Wilpena Pound)

13 Deg and partly cloudy in the morning, reaching 21 Deg with rain on and off from the afternoon into the evening. I was handed the maps last night to plan some drives over the next few days, and after a bit of short quick research this morning, we decided on a long scenic drive tomorrow, and another long scenic drive from Edeowie on the weekend. For today, we would set out for a couple of hours to explore a few nearby tracks and lookouts. After a short walk, we finally set off at 1030, each us in our own cars, returning again almost five hours later having driven 90kms. When we got to the first track that we intended to drive along off the Flinders Highway, we found a sign saying we could not enter without a guide - we suspect it led to a sacred site so we turned back and continued along the highway, stopping shortly after at Hucks Lookout. It was a nice morning with some cloud about and the sunlight brought out some wonderful colours in the mountain ranges. From here we drove a little further along the highway, turning up a steep side road to Stokes Hill Lookout which offered spectacular 360 deg views across the region. After about 40 minutes here, we continued back down and along the highway, then turned down another track to Willow Springs Station. It's quite a rough road into the station which has a campground. Here we found out about a very scenic drive through the property - but at a cost of $75 per vehicle, we decided it wasn't for us. Needless to say, we turned around and headed back along the highway further north to another side track into the Appealinna / Wills Homestead Ruins. In the 1850s, an English pastoralist by the name of Wills took up unwanted land on the southern side of the creek and started building stockyards as well as a homestead. Soon after, copper miners arrived and settled on the opposite side of the creek, and a 13-year argument over lease boundaries and access to a Water spring began. It was very interesting wandering through the of the Wills' pastoral run and the miners' settlement and reading the story boards at the site. After about an hour, we continued down another side road for about 9km of good freshly graded dirt road and another 7km of narrow and very rough bush track across several creek crossings to the Wilkawillina Gorge. Unfortunately, rain began to fall as we arrived, and stopped us from making the most of the long drive to get here. It looked very picturesque, and would have been nice to walk along the dry creek bed looking up to the mountain ranges, but they quickly disappeared behind the rain. We decided it was time to turn around and head back home, arriving to find the underneath of our caravan and awning, including our folding chairs, soaking wet with all the water that had been running down through our 'great' site. I dug a few trenches to drain the water away, but it will dry eventually. It is expected to clear overnight. After my gardening, we had a nice hot coffee and then by 1700 the rain cleared so we ventured up to the Hollands' site for sundowners by the fire and a matching beautiful red sky. Unfortunately, the rain rolled in again after only 45 minutes, so we dispersed for dinner and night back in our vans, as the rain continued on and off.