Flinders Ranges Part 1

My first thoughts about the Flinders Ranges are of being cold, almost constantly cold, despite wearing thermals plus 3 other layers! True to form, it seems whenever we try to camp off grid (be it a free camp, State Forest or in this case, National Park), it rains. So it rained and was quite miserable the day we arrived and the second day. It cleared up throughout the third day there and we got to enjoy a bit of sun, and then the rain set in again that night and it rained on the day we left. So really, my opinion of the Ranges is pretty much seen through a grey drizzle.... not the best first impression :)

The drive out to the Ranges is lovely. From Quorn to Hawker there are a lot of ruins; beautiful old stone buildings that have been left to fall apart and crumble. They are beautiful and it is such a shame that they have been left to all down. I saw quite a few Flinders Ranges postcards with ruins in the sunset or sunrise on them and many of the ones we drove past could have been the ones on the postcards. Admittedly, we saw them through misty or drizzling rain, but they were still postcard worthy. I think they are a remnant of a time when it was more profitable to farm there, or perhaps it is just that over time the stations have grown much larger and there has been no need for the old buildings in these larger, amalgamated properties.

Not a great photo as the weather sucked and I was having camera issues

The Ranges are beautiful to look at, even covered in cloud. There is so much difference throughout the ranges. I thought they would be much more like the Blue Mountains, all rugged and sharp with deep gorges in amongst the mountains. I didn't expect the green rolling hills and almost open plain areas between the mountains. It is a beautiful mix of environments.

Probably the best views we had of the outside of Wilpena Pound

We camped at Dingley Dell, a National Park site with a (very clean and non stinky) drop toilet, garbage bins and fire pits. There were 2 other campers the first night, we were there alone the second night, and a Winnebago was there the third night, but each time they camped at the opposite end to us (wonder what that says about us???) and you didn't even know anyone else was there. I don't think it would be all that pleasant if it was full, but there are only a limited number of marked sites so it wouldn't be overwhelming. The camp site is right on the bank of a creek.... you can tell from the geography that it is a creek, because there was no water in it. All of the creeks were dry and they all had interesting rocky beds. At Dingley Dell the creek is a mix of rocks with a lot of shale. You could see why people build with it, as it breaks off in lovely flat rectangular pieces. The kids and I had a lot of fun playing in the dry creek, finding different coloured rocks to draw with and generally exploring. There was almost always a kangaroo or two bout 20m away keeping an eye on us.

View from the campsite

We had fun drawing on the rocks, exploring which rocks gave which coloured writing and making rock towers, when it wasn't raining, As these photos show, we did get some sun on Tuesday afternoon and all had fun playing

 A rainbow using coloured rocks

 Testing rock colourrs

Tilda's rock tower

It wasn't this dark really, just had camera issues. By the time it was this dark we were hiding inside out of the freezing cold