Day 20. Exploring Ayers Rock. 31/05/2015

Set the alarm for an early start as we wanted to be at the viewing area to see the sunrise over the Rock.  We arrived at sunrise but there was low hanging cloud and no sun was visible.  However, we along with a couple of bus loads of tourists, backpackers and others from various parts of the world were there to see the monolith that is Uluru in all its glory.
It is just an amazing icon of our Australian landscape and to use a phrase of my very dear sister "everyone of God's children should see Uluru."  We were not disappointed and can only say it far exceeded our expectations of what it would look like up close and personal.
After sunrise, we then drove a short distance so we could park the car and then do our first walk in close to the Rock which was the Kuniya Walk that finishes at the Mugitjulu Waterhole.  A very pretty walk in surrounded by the Rock and featuring some caves that had some great Aboriginal art.  The Waterhole itself was amazing and was a very protected area from the elements.
The effect of yesterdays downpour was evident with still some flow from the waterfalls, full waterholes and watercourses full of debris. It would have been a amazing sight. Some other travellers we met today were there when it was raining and have supplied us with some wonderful photos.
There is a large number of wildlife in the areas around the Rock but we did not see any on our walks.
We then found our next walk, the Mala Walk.  Again we ventured deep into the Kunja Gorge which was just beautiful.  It was so peaceful and serene and we spent sometime just taking in all the sights and sounds.
The colours and shapes of the rock walls were spectacular and aboriginal history was explained on signs scattered along the paths. There were woman only caves, training caves for the young men, caves for the older men who could not hunt anymore but told stories to the young men and teach them not to go running off. The ceilings of these caves were blackened from their campfires. The hunting men had there own caves and taught the young men how to hunt emus and kangaroos.
A number of caves were huge and appeared to be shaped by wave action. Many caves had etchings  that are being preserved for future generations.
A visit to the Cultural Centre  was a welcome stop  for a morning coffee and then we viewed a film/documentary of the history of the Rock, when the Aborigines first arrived and how important it was then and is now to their heritage.  In October 1985 the title deeds to Uluru and Kata Tjuta were handed back to the Anangu people after much lobbying by the traditional owners.  It was agreed upon that the federal government would then lease the land for 99 years.
We loved "The Rock" and would recommend that this is a "must see" for everyone.

Some history.

We intend to see the sunrise at the rock tomorrow if the skies are clear, then we will travel to the Olgas (Kaya Tjuta) some 50kms away from camp.

Still dark but very overcast.

We were up early but no sunrise.

Preparing for the Kuniya walk.

Beautiful Mutitjulu Waterhole.

Some information.

Spectacular shapes at base of Uluru.

Some caves at base of Rock. 

The old man caves.

Aboriginal rock paintings

The colours are amazing.

More unusual shapes

Day 19. Storms at Uluru. Kulgera - Ayres Rock 30/05/2015

We left early today because we had a long journey ahead of us some 350 kms. We left the Stuart Highway and turned on to the Lassiter Highway that would take us through to the Ayers Rock Resort.  We could see that we were heading into heavy rain as the dark clouds were ahead of us and although it wasn't raining we knew it was coming!

The trip was an interesting drive the countryside varying in vegetation. No wildlife, but we did see two huge eagles tearing at a dead kangaroo and they were reluctant to leave the carcass even though we were bearing down on them.
A clouded Mount Conner looked amazing. The drifting cloud looked like smoke from a bushfire.
We had just set up camp when the rain came and it was quite heavy too. We decided we would find the Camel Races but they had been abandoned because of the weather, but we did see a few lovely young ladies all dressed up for the "Fashions on the Field" carefully stepping over large puddles in their high heels!  Reminded us of Melbourne Cup Day a few years ago when it poured.
The rain stopped for a short time just near dusk and we were able to get our first long range view of the rock. The sun setting against broken cloud looked spectacular.
A number of travellers were at the rock during the heavy rain and witnessed many waterfalls spilling down the rock face. A very rare event. Some photos of the flooding are shown below.
The Ayers Rock Resort is a very large complex consisting our a number of hotels, motels and other accommodations as well as caravan and camping areas. There is also a supermarket and other shops in a little village atmosphere.
Watch the footy tonight.
Tomorrow we get up close and personal to the Rock.

Mount Conner looked on fire.

Mature and immature Desert Oaks.

The rain came down waiting to get into the Uluru Park.

Waterfalls on the Rock (courtesy fellow traveller).

Only 1 in 100 travellers see waterfalls at the Rock.

What a sight.

Our first sunset view  of Uluru.

Day 18. Coober Pedy to Kulgera 29/05/2015

Heavy rain again overnight, so unfortunately things were a little wet when we packed up this morning. Probably the most rain in and around Coober Pedy for many years with much more on the horizon.
Not cold, but low rain clouds surrounded us for most of our journey today of 420 kms.
Had a stop at Marla (the Roadhouse actually had some green grass surrounding it) for lunch before continuing on the Stuart Highway still with rain clouds chasing us.
Same countryside that we have been seeing for a few days now just saltbush and a few trees.  No wildlife at all along this stretch of road except for a mob of yellow crested cockatoos.
It was  a nice change of scenery with colourful  rocky outcrops when we crossed the border into the Northern Territory.
Arrived at our evening stop of Kulgera where we found it to be just a fenced off paddock with a few scattered power outlets and a old concrete toilet block.  Not highly recommended.  A number of fellow travellers have also made it a stopover before heading off tomorrow for Uluru (another 320 kms).
We have now done over 3000 kms and Bullseye, we have overcome"the Bike Riders Curse" with a bit of ingenuity.

Because of the heavy rain the last couple of nights, Calinda is all squeaky clean again on the outside but we know that will not last, as we are heading for unmade red dust roads in the next few weeks.

Day 17. Bus tour of Coober Pedy 28/05/2015

We had heavy rain during the night which had eased by morning to just light showers.  It was fine by the time we boarded the bus for our guided tour of Coober Pedy.  The driver today was Yani who happens to be the owner of the caravan park, who had worked in the Opal mines before buying the park so he was a wealth of information.
Our first stop was at the local Aussie Rules football ground that has beautiful green grass that costs a fortune to maintain because of the scarcity of water in Coober Pedy.  In stark contrast the 18 hole golf course is just rock and gravel with black sand "greens" that have been made by mixing oil with sand so that the sand will not be blown away when the wind blows strongly from time to time.
We then drove to an area where there has been extensive mining and we were able to see the shafts that are 120 ft deep and are still exposed so we were unable to get out of the bus.
Half the residents of Coober Pedy live underground to escape the searing heat of summer. The underground houses remain a constant temperature of 24 degrees in summer and winter.  Yani pointed out a number of houses by the presence of air vents visible above in the rock face.  There a number of churches underground and we toured the Serbian Church.  Attached to the church is a community hall that can seat 300 people.
Our next stop was the Umoona Opal Mine and Museum.  It is a Multi Award Winning Underground Complex and we viewed an award winning documentary "The Story of the Opal" which was very interesting and informative. We then toured the underground mine and saw how the miners lived and worked. We saw a line of Opal that was in its natural state for tourists to view and we found that very exciting.  There is also a special display of Fossils from the South Australian Museum and a large display of exclusive Opal jewellery.  We resisted the urge to buy an Opal as the one we particularly liked was $9000 !
We also saw an area in town that is available for tourists to go "noodling" That is searching for pieces of opal in the mounds of dirt.
We found the landscape quite ugly and we have never seen so much scrap iron (old machines, cars etc) just laying around in yards.

The population of Coober Pedy at its peak was 5000 but now is down to 1500 , the Aboriginals numbering about 500.  They do not live underground but in a "reserve" that has been set aside for them.
Our stay here at the Big 4 Stuart Range Outback Resort has been wonderful because of the excellent sites and the wonderful amenities including very pretty garden surrounds in such an arid area.
Tomorrow we start our journey to Uluru.

The Coober Pedy Golf Course - Greens of sand and oil

A house in a hill.

The breakaways we missed.

A miners room underground.

A miner setting explosives.

Chipping for opal in a shaft.

Jani (our driver) when a miner with an opal.

A raw opal in a vein. Beautiful colours.

Inside the croation underground church.

Day 16. Opal Country Glendambo - Coober Pedy 27/05/2015

Departed Glendambo this morning for our journey to Coober Pedy that would take us 3 hrs and travel 260 kms.   The landscape was very much as we had expected,  rather flat with a few undulating hills.  The vegetation was mostly saltbush with the occasional tree here and there.  We saw only one emu,  3 beef cattle and 4 crows. Road kill consisted of one roo and a wild pig. The journey was probably a good practice for us as to what to expect across the Nullarbor on our way back to Melbourne.  It is becoming quite apparent to us that we will from now on see many familiar travellers at the same rest stops and caravan parks.  There as so many people heading up the Stuart Highway and as we settle in each day at another park, the familiar faces and vans keep rolling in.
We are at a very nice park in Coober Pedy considering the starkness of the surrounding area.  There are opal mines everywhere and the township itself is only small with very few shops.   Probably more selling Opals that anything else.  Plenty of Aboriginals (abora-ginals) but they appear to keep to themselves and I don't think they actually work the mines but exist on welfare.
Tonight we had "Happy Hour" with Rod and Jude, Don and Heather outside our vans but with our gas heaters glowing to provide some ambiance.  Not cold but it looked good.
Calinda looking like a seasoned traveller now with her red dust coating but water is so scarce up here she will have to stay dirty for some time yet.

Welcome to our new followers Tim, Karen and the boys, our friends from Omeo camping.  Great to have you along!

At the Big4 Stuart Range Park Coober Pedy.

An oasis in the desert.

Our heating system worked a treat.

Day 15. To the Outback. Port Augusta - Glendamo 26/05/2015

Left Port Augusta this morning to take the Stuart Highway north west.  The caravan park was full last night and one by one the caravans departed quite early to many destinations.  Our journey was going to be 285 ks to Glendamo for an overnight stay.  The road was climbing steadily and we actually hit a couple of steep rises.  Travelling was affected by a fairly strong wind so John was driving to conserve fuel.  Saw a number of salt lakes, a few emus but not much else!
The park at Glendale is very rustic.  It is called a resort but really it is just a glorified road stop.  It was quite amazing to see all the caravans arrive after us.  We thought we were going to be on our  own but  ended up with about 30 vans on site.
Had dinner in the very rustic hotel but suprisingly we had a very enjoyable meal.
Retiring early tonight as there is no T.V. coverage, no decent water except for what is in the swimming pool which looks quite good!
Heading to Coober Pedy tomorrow and really looking forward to that stay.

The open spaces of Glendamo camping ground.

Happy hour with Rod, Jude, Don And Heather.

Day 13 & 14. Back to Port Augusta 24 - 25/05/2015

Cloudier day as we left Rawnsley Park to travel back to Quorn where we stopped for a morning cuppa and to see the departure of the vintage diesel train, a tourist train that travels weekly from Quorn along the very picturesque route to Sheep Yard Flats.  It had 2 very full carriages of tourists this morning.

We arrived in Port Augusta about noon and after setting up we did a re-stock of necessities in the local supermarket.  Not much going on in Port Augusta on a Sunday!  Returned for lunch then just spent the afternoon catching up with Rod and Jude, Heather and Don who have also arrived in Port Augusta to spend a couple of nights before we all head off to Coober Pedy.

A very quiet day preparing for our journey to central Australia.

Tomorrow will be a look around town. No blog

Beautiful old pubs in Quorn.

The diesel tourist train Quorn to Sheepyard Flats

Day 11 & 12. Discovering Wilpena Pound and Rest Day. 22 & 23/05/2015

Beautiful sunshine greeted us this morning even though we shivered to an early morning 3 degrees! Did some laundry (the washing machine in the caravan works very well), then packed a picnic lunch to take along for our discovery tour of Wilpena Pound.
Wilpena Pound has a circumference of 35 km.  It is 15km long and 8 km wide. It was formed by the uplifting, folding and subsequent erosion of sandstone that was laid down 600 million years ago when this area was covered by sea.
It is a very beautiful area with many walks both long and short throughout the Pound. We decided to do the hike to Hills Homestead that would take us a couple of hours. The walk was a steady climb upwards and we again were surrounded by the most awesome giant gums. A spring fed creek meandered through the walk. The walk reminded us of many we had done in Canada, the only difference being we were surround by gum trees not pine and maple trees.  We reached the homestead and were glad of a rest before we had to return back to the car. The Hills Homestead was first settled in 1851 for the purpose of sheep farming. The conditions were very harsh and the Government of the time stipulated how many sheep were to be grazed per acre and it was almost impossible to meet the requirements. After the drought of the 1860's the whole sheep farming venture was doomed to failure.  The stone cottage on the site was not the first dwelling as a pine and pug cottage had been built earlier.
The return journey at dusk was carefully driven because of the number of roos and emus out grazing.  To see the sun go down over the Ranges was breathtaking. We thoroughly enjoyed our day in the Pound and will be telling all that the Flinders Ranges are a "must see". We finished our time here with a warming log fire.
Tomorrow will be a rest day.  No blog.

We could be hiking in Canada.

Quite a rugged climb into Wilpena.

The rebuilt Hills Homestead in Wilpena Pound.

The old homestead and some history.

Our campfire on the last night at Rawnsley Park

Day 10. Rawnsley Park. Driving the tracks 21/05/2015

 Today we set out on a Central Flinders Highlights drive, a drive that would take us about 6  hours and we would clock up about 230 ks.
Our first dirt road took us to the Bunyeroo Scenic Drive that had a gentle climb up through the rolling hills which gave us magnificent views of the eastern side of the Pound and the dramatic ridgebacks of the ABC Range so named because it has 26 peaks.  We dropped down into Bunyeroo Gorge driving along the creek bed for some distance between the Heysen (named after Hans Heysen) and the ABC Ranges.  We then travelled into Aroona Valley to find the ruins of the original Aroona homestead.  An interesting stop to read about the pastorlist Fredrick Hayward who arrive in 1851 to take up a lease where he ran sheep for 11 years.  He built a stone and slate 5 roomed dwelling complete with underground cellar.  By 1862 he had became an extremely wealthy man and returned to England with 4,000 pounds.
We then experienced driving into the Brachia Gorge said to be the real jewel in the crown of the Central Flinders and indeed it was.  The gorge is 8 km long and we drove between glowing red sandstone peaks and majestic gums lining the creek-bed.  We searched unsuccessfully for the endangered species the Yellow-footed rock wallaby.
Our next stop was at the Parachilna Hotel that was once a railway siding for the old Ghan train.  It has been restored and the hotel is quite unique as its serves "feral food" - kangaroo, emu, canal and goat.  John sampled a roo burger but I was more refined in my choice of Spencer Gulf King George Whiting.  The meal was excellent.
Further adventures were ahead of us and included a creek crossing that actually had water in it. (Greg you would be  proud of us).  The Parachilna Gorge was very lovely again with magnificent limestone bluffs and majestic gum trees.  We  saw a number of roos and goats  throughout the day.  A stop in Blinman a township that grew up around a copper mine in 1862 and interestingly is the highest town in South Australia.  A visit to the old cemetery with many historic graves. Is always a must for Wendy.  Travelling further south we saw the "Great Wall of China" a horizontal bed of limestone and it is most certainly like the Great Wall in China.
Our next stop was the Appealinna Ruins a well preserved former homestead of Joseph Wills who had a pastoral lease in the 1860's.  The buildings had been made out of slate and then rendered with mud.
We returned to Calinda (who by the way has now lost her sparkle because of red dust) then spent the evening reliving our wonderful trip today. John won at cards 10 to 1

Day 9. Rawnsley Park 20/05/2015

Our first day in the Flinders Ranges and we started our day preparing for an early morning scenic flight, but on arrival at the airstrip the flight was cancelled because of bad weather.  We decided to do a hike into the Sacred Canyon.  We walked along the creek bed a very pretty walk. We disturbed some kangaroos and a wild goat before reaching the historical Aboriginal etchings in the canyon.  The etchings were quite simple depicting windbreak, waterhole, emu.  We then drove to the Wilpena Pound Resort.  We viewed the display to educate visitors on "Bounceback",  a major conservation project to conserve plants and animals in the Wilpena National Park.  The display featured information about the Streambank Frog, Emus, Roos, Pythons Goats, Goanna, Foxes and Andu - a very rare yellow footed rock wallaby and birds such as the Red Throat Scrubswren.  We then drove to the Cazneuax Tree a 450 year old Red Gum that was named after the photographer Harold Cazneuax who first photographed the tree in 1937 his most famous image.

Our walking track into the Sacred Canyon.

Aboriginal etchings in Sacred Canyon.

The Cazneuax Tree.

Looking into Wilpena Pound from the Cessna.

The two travellers - plane was not big.

One of the many gorges- most of the driving tracks follow the creek beds.

Our navigator for the flight.

Our scenic flight this afternoon was booked for 3 pm  and we boarded a very new 6 seater Cesssna piloted by a young man (Michael) of 25 years of age who looked about 12 years old.  He told us he had been flying since he was 15 so we felt very comfortable with him.  A very smooth take off then we were soaring over the Ranges viewing Rawnsley Park, the Elder Range, the Hysen Range all the beautiful gorges such as Brachina, Parachilla, Glass Gorge and townships of Blinman and Parachilla, Angorichina and Wilpena Pound itself.  A wonderful 45 min journey that really bought the beautiful Flinders Range to life for us.