Friday 14-Mar
Today we did a 2 hour flight over the Flinders Ranges. The Flinders Ranges consists of the part of the mountain range between the ‘town centre’ of Hawker in the south and the ‘town centre’ of Parachilna in the north, as well as some land to the west of the range. In the north east it contains all of the protected areas of the Ikara–Flinders Ranges National Park and Bunkers Conservation Reserve, whose eastern boundaries align with that of the locality.
We flew alongside Wilpena Pound which is a major natural amphitheatre of mountains. If you look carefully you can even see the caravan park we stayed in.
We could see a few (very dry) lakes and suspect that a fly over during the winter months, after some rain, would be even more spectacular.
Saturday 15-Mar
We left the Finders Ranges behind us and made our way to Riverton where we will stay one night before moving to the Limestone Coast.
Sunday 16-Mar
We drove around this area on some 4WD tracks and stopped at a remote little pub for lunch. The caravan park manager had recommended this place and told us to book ahead. Which we did. Well it seems that people were more interested in a nearby rodeo show as the place was deserted. However, the food was great and we had a lovely day out.
After lunch we drove to Eudunda to see their silo art, again worth the trip.
Nature here has some interesting trees around here that look (and could well be) like they were hit by lightning and the bottom has all evaporated.
Monday 17-Mar
Next stop is Meningie and Lake Albert also known by its Ngarrindjeri name, Yarli, is a notionally fresh water lake near the mouth of the Murray River. It is filled by water flowing in from the larger Lake Alexandrina at its mouth near Narrung. It is separated on the south by the Narrung Peninsula from the salt-water Coorong. The only major town on the lake is Meningie.
Tuesday 18-Mar
We drove to our next stop, Robe where we will stay for 3 or 4 days. We will get the car fixed here and there is lots to do in the area. We stopped on our way in Kingston SE. Here we admired the Big Lobster, an old lighthouse and some very nice street art.
Wednesday 19-Mar
Jen had booked a boat tour for the morning and Arno booked a visit to one of the caves nearby at Naracoorte.
Arno explored the chamber of fossils recognised by UNESCO for its outstanding scientific value in the Victoria cave. During the one hour tour we walked through magnificent speleothem chambers while our guide outlined accumulation of bones in the caves, excavation techniques and current research. We had a big group of 22 people and a very knowledgeable guide.
Quite amazing to learn that over 500.000 years various animals have fallen in the cave (there are straight tunnels from the top through the roof of the cave) and their bones preserved in the cool conditions inside the cave.
