Flinders Ranges

On Saturday we had a short drive to Flinders Ranges and set up camp at Wilpena Pound in the National Park.

Our camp at Wilpena Pound

Our kitchen - stainless steel bench tops and 3-burner stove. The fridge (white box on right) slides out in front of kitchen.

Beautiful gum trees

Hills Homestead just inside Wilpena Pund

 The weather has been pretty cold, so we all went to bed early to stay warm. The next morning Jim got up at sunrise for an 8 km jog/walk/climb into Wilpena Pound while everyone else slept. Wilpena Pound is an amazing circular dish-shaped mountain range. There is some amazing geology around here. After a late brekkie and laze around, we drove for about 3 hours through the southern Flinders Ranges past look outs and through some pretty rough tracks including Brachina Gorge and Bunyeroo Gorge.

Monnie at the Appealinna Ruins

One of the gorges

Great views of mountain ranges

One of Bronte's discoveries in the Filnders Ranges is that she can hold a Vitamin C tablet between the gap in her front teeth!

Ned loves his camp fires, so Jim supported the local logging industry by buying River Red Gum firewood - probably cut from an internationally protected Ramsar wetland. 

Forget telling yarns. The modern camp fire provides the opportunity for one to update their facebook status.

On Monday we mainly lazed around the camp site and made friends with the wildlife. 

Claire giving a young buck some love and affection.

Turns out she crossed the line and he then wanted to be "more than just friends"! She's such a tease.

Did a short bus ride and walk into Wilpena Pound and climbed up to a great lookout. Jim also climbed a nearby mountain earlier in the day for some extra photos.

Elsie inside Wilpena Pound

Monnie, Ned, Elsie and Bronte inside Wilpena Pound

Its still cold at at night, so we had a bigger fire and cooked damper in our camp oven, to eat with Pumpkin soup - beautiful! Can't wait to hit the warmer weather up north.

Tomorrow we are aiming to travel through the northern part of the ranges and get to at least Maree at the beginning of the Oodnadatta Track, or further to Lake Erye. Next update will be at least a few days.