Hello from Wilpena, again,

I decided to do some driving, combined with some short walks today. The first walk was 15 minutes return, just a couple of kilometres drive from the resort, to a view overlooking the solar power station which provides electricity to the resort, hidden away in a little valley out of view from the road. As soon as I topped the rise, I could hear the thump of diesel engines running generators to provide backup power; this was at 9 in the morning, under clear blue skies, and the sun had been up for 3 hours!

The second walk, accessed from a track 17km back down the sealed road towards Hawker, was about 55 minutes return, to some aboriginal rock paintings (Arkaroo Rock). I wasn’t particularly impressed by them, but the walk was enjoyable. I had morning coffee at the parking area on my return (I’d ordered a picnic lunch from the resort, to sustain me through the day).

I then retraced my drive, back to toward Wilpena, and took a 14km drive along a gravel road to the Sacred Canyon Walk, for a 10 minute return walk to some aboriginal stone engravings.

The rest of the day was spent driving, initially on gravel roads, through the Bunyeroo Valley, Bunyeroo Gorge, and Brachina Gorge. I had lunch just past the Bunyeroo Gorge. I fed a skinny looking magpie with some turkey from my sanger, and she rewarded me with a serenade for a couple of minutes. It’s the longest I’ve ever heard a magpie sing continuously, and along with the usual ad-lib warbling, there were some vocalisations I’d not heard before from a magpie; I suspect she was mimicking other birds (but not well enough for me to discern what they were). Meanwhile, a crow, perched on a branch above, watched me intently with his beady white eyes.

About 20km past the Brachina Gorge, I was back on the tarmac, the Hawker-Stirling North Road, for a 120km trip back to Wilpena; I was “home” around 3pm, after covering about 240km.

The scenery is magnificent, and varied. Photographs can’t do it justice, but here’s a couple of shots anyway.

Cheers,
Julian