Minnipa to the Jilah Rocks at Mundrabilla

If yesterday was long today we travelled even further. By the time we'd stopped we'd gone 730 kms. Fuelled up in Ceduna and bought a takeaway coffee, dog marched and then on and on. I finished my book. Lunch stop. We have this down to a fine art so in half an hour the dog got plenty of steps, I made warm tasty toasty sandwiches out of the stale bread on board and we were off again. We had fruit to eat before the check point so that kept us sustained as the country side whizzed by.



They were easy kilometres, lucky Greg likes driving. Traffic was light, the wind was light and everything went smoothly. We travelled through the Yalata Aboriginal Land, the roadhouse is now ruins and luckily for us no dog this time to run in front of the rig. Nullabor National Park with its low stunted growth is fascinating in an arid barren sort of way. Finally we had some warmer weather with the temperature getting to 18C, shirt sleeves again.

We detoured to the "Head of the Bite" it see the whales.  I was sceptical and didn't expect to see anything. Left Rifter in the vehicle with the windows and after paying $24 total frog marched quickly down the path and steps to the viewing platforms. Wow!!! Dotted in front of us were lots of Southern Right whales, mothers and offspring. Apparently the tally so far that day was 104. The story is that they cluster here to calve in the ocean where the warm Leeuin current meets the colder sub antarctic flow.  They were snorting, blowing and the babies were flapping about their mothers. One of those magical sights. Managed to take a video of their antics. Loved them!!



Unfortunately that little detour meant we were now stuck behind two massive eight metre wide loads which took up the entire road. It was the tray of a mine dump truck accompanied by two escort vehicles and two police pilot vans. There was no way they could pull off. After about half an hour there was an emergency airstrip on the road so they pulled off to the right and we zoomed up the left hand side and into clear air. 


A stop at the fruit fly check where we were inspected by a grumpy inspector. He was going to make sure we didn't have anything and so it was "open that door, what's under the bed, under the seats, let me climb in the back seat and look out the back of the car" bah humbug! A smile or a slight drop of pleasantness wouldn't have gone astray.

Fuel at Mundrabilla and finally Jilah Rock cam ground appeared. By this time the sun was set and just the gentle light of dusk to set up with. Too late to bother with too much so it was pumpkin soup and fresh..ish bread for tea, then a video before a well deserved sleep.

Flinders Ranges to Minnipa

It was time to just do the miles again. With big distances and not very much between spots we just kept the wheels rolling. However saying that it's amazing what you can find.

Our first stop was Kanyaka Station. We actually drove past then decided it was worth a look. The first place was called dead man rock. It was a permanent billabong on a creek bed with large rocks and lovely trees. It received this name because aboriginal people would bring their frail and sick people to lie under the rock before they died. There were ruins of a couple of huts, plus an old lime kiln for making the mortar for the buildings.




Then we drove on to the best preserved abandoned homestead in SA. We could There see walls of the homestead, men's quarters, shearing sheds, couple of cottages, wells  other outbuildings and a cemetery. A fascinating look at a time gone by. The homestead was built out of carefully selected stones joined with lime mortar, some of the rooms were plastered. There was a cellar, dry stone garden walls and one palm tree standing sentry.


The place was first settled by Hugh Proby  in 1851. Unfortunately during a thunderstorm animals stampeded and in his attempt to stop them he drowned in the creek. He was buried nearby. It was taken over by Grant and Phillips. Terrible drought hit the area in 1865 and he lost 20 000 sheep. At it's peak the property produced 41 000 sheep. The owner built a hotel to service passing traffic and 70 families lived there, children were born. There was a large store as supplies came from Adelaide.
The shearing shed was built of stone, a very strong looking building with substantial shearing quarters near by. The kitchen was on one end and what appeared to be a bread oven.


All around the area there are the remains of stone buildings, even townships such as Gordon,           ( according to the tourist brochure). It was have been very tough. There is an imaginary line called the Goyder Line which separates the crop land from larger pastoral station country.

We stopped at Quorn for coffee, well I had tea and a scone with absolutely delicious quandong jam. Bought basic supplies at the local IGA and decided we needed to come back another time to further explore the area. Again there were some elegant old buildings in the town.

We drove the spectacular Pichi Richi pass and into Port Augusta. There is a train trip which runs on the weekends from Perterborough up the pass which would be lovely in winter or spring.

I don't think we've given Port Augusta a fair go, our opinion was formed years ago when we arrived and tried to shop on court day. Don't think any of us will forget the bloke who blew his nose a t shirt from a rack on display outside a shop. I'll never forget the look on our kids' faces, which was probably also mirrored by my face. Apparently they have world renown dry land gardens so one day we must stop longer.

Then we drove on through dry farm land that had sprung into life after above average rainfall. Every other time we've travelled it's been mid summer so it was nice to see it so green, the crops looked very healthy.  There was a stunning contract between the beautiful blue skies, the green crops and the odd yellow field of canola.


Each little town would have a story to tell. No stopping for us today. I managed to take a photo of all the windmills at the entry to Penong. Lots of these towns have entry statements such as the big galah at Kimba. We finally stopped, watched a nice sunset and free camped at Minnipa.  We were close to the road so a restless night as big trucks thundered through the night.
 
Today we travelled 530 kms and Rifter happily slept through out. Every time we'd stop we march him around so all off us could stretch our legs.

Flinders Ranges

We are camped at Rawnsley Park at the foot of the Flinders Rangers. This is a sheep station that has been owned by the Smith family for over 60 years. They still run 2000 sheep but the industry is tourism. Farming in this area is marginal north of the “Goyders Line’ of rainfall”
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Chilly nights ( down to 1C) and cool days are perfect for exploring.


Flinders Ranges is the largest mountain rage in South Australia. Wilpena Pound, a teaspoon shaped Nation  Park in the centre of the ranges, covers nearly 80 square kilometres and is a popular place for bushwalking. St Mary Peak is the highest point at 1170 metres. The geology is very ancient…deposited 500-600  million years ago. Amazingly a giant asteroid slammed into the Gawler Ranges. It hit with such a force that debris from the impact formed lakes and spread 300 kilometres east into the area now known as Flinders ranges. Later the debris settled into water above earlier layers and then later again it was folded, compressed and uplifted. Erosion and weathering again changed the geology.  One of the drives through gorges signposts the different layers.

It is a semi- arid area however looked quite green in the winter.



Now dingos and foxes have almost been eradicated eradicated and there are permanent water holes so the kangaroos have flourished and are there in huge mobs; red kangaroos, greys, euros and the rarer yellow footed rock wallaby. We were lucky enough to see some. They are beautiful.










We did a couple of great drives. The first through the centre and out east to very marginal farm lands only getting back after sunset. The road crossed a lot of cattle grids. My eyes were on red alert for kangaroos.


and also through Glass, Brachina and Buneroo Gorge and the township of Blinman.









Blinman is an old copper mining town with buildings dating to the 1860s We had lunch at the hotel. Think the township population is about 20 these days.


We also visited Sacred Canyon and walked up the creek bed into the gorge to look at the Aboriginal rock carvings.
 

Creeks in the Flinders Ranges are mostly dry and surrounded by huge river gums that suck moisture from deep below the dry creek bed.











Its a fantastic place and we thoroughly enjoyed our time here.