3/4/09. Today we drove through the Southern Flinders Rangers. I have always wanted to see the Flinders Rangers and from what we saw this morning they are Magnificent.We are camped in Melrose at the foothill of Mount Remarkable. Melrose is the oldest town in the flinders rangers, discovered in the 1840/s due to a Copper deposit found nearby.
Pic 1. The Flinders Ranges.
4/4/09. Moved of once again towards Wilpena Pound. Stopped at a small country town by the name of Quorn for a coffee break, can not buy fresh Bread anywhere only frozen.
6. Wedge Tail Eagles.
Sandra is so Excited to see so many wedge tail eagles on our trip up through the centre, to date we have counted over 50 of these huge birds, and most of them have been feeding on road kill on the road. The pic shows them with a dead Kangaroo.
We are in luck today as an original old restored "Ghan" Steam Train is going for a run down to
Pt Augusta a 2 hour trip. The cost of refurbishing the motor alone was a staggering 1 Million Dollars. 
2. The Old Ghan Steam train.
Tonight we are camping at Death Rock near the Kanyaka Waterhole. No Water here just a sign that says Beware of Snakes. San and Joan are a little nervous, but with 2 Macho Men to protect them (no worries).
Tonight we are camping at Death Rock near the Kanyaka Waterhole. No Water here just a sign that says Beware of Snakes. San and Joan are a little nervous, but with 2 Macho Men to protect them (no worries).
3. The Ruins of Kanyaka Homestead.
Kanyaka Homestead (pronounced Kanee-aka), means " Place of Stone ". There is about 8 Stone buildings here, it is more like a village than a homestead with a Cemetery in a paddock out the back, and all was built in the mid 1800s. Owner
John Phillips persevered for over 30 years on his property but drought dwindled his stock of Sheep from a mob of 41,000 down to just 10,000. The Shearers quarters held 24 blade shearers. The loss was too much for him and he left Kanyaka in 1881.
Kanyaka Homestead (pronounced Kanee-aka), means " Place of Stone ". There is about 8 Stone buildings here, it is more like a village than a homestead with a Cemetery in a paddock out the back, and all was built in the mid 1800s. Owner
John Phillips persevered for over 30 years on his property but drought dwindled his stock of Sheep from a mob of 41,000 down to just 10,000. The Shearers quarters held 24 blade shearers. The loss was too much for him and he left Kanyaka in 1881. 6/04. Drove out to Wilpena Pound this morning with Joan, Stan, Sandra and I. We decided to take a Flight instead of driving through the Pound, the dirt roads are to rough to travel on and we could see more of this amazing place from the air.
4 & 5. Wilpena pound and Akarba station from the air
Wilpena Pound is 17 klm long and 8 Klm across. We flew across Arkaba Station, Elder Range, Edeowie Gorge, Heyson Range, lake Torrens, Bungeroo Gorge, Brachina Gorge, The backbone of the Flinders ( It looks like the spine of a Crocodile from the air ), Saint Marys Peak and the Pound Gap. All up the flight was over 100 klms and lasted for 30 minutes. Our Pilot was a young Lass of 23 years of age, her name was Eureka she has held her Flying Licence for 6 years. The take off and landing was Perfect. A very competent pilot.
We spent that night at Arkapena rest area 20km south of wilpena. Drove down to Port Augusta, a strange place not a very large town, there are a
Lot of Indigenous people living here. Fueled up did some shopping, had our Flu Injections, got a text
to say Donna had a baby boy - great. We could not find any rest area's here so on to North Tent Hill rest area 34km N.W. of Port Augusta, it is now dark and after a long day's drive (over 300km ), this will have to do. Not much sleep, with Road Trains and Rail Trains going all darn night, but it did look good to see a Train going past us in the moonlight with the salt Lake in the background.
8/04. We are now on the Stuart Highway heading north, this highway will eventually take us all the way to Darwin.
to say Donna had a baby boy - great. We could not find any rest area's here so on to North Tent Hill rest area 34km N.W. of Port Augusta, it is now dark and after a long day's drive (over 300km ), this will have to do. Not much sleep, with Road Trains and Rail Trains going all darn night, but it did look good to see a Train going past us in the moonlight with the salt Lake in the background.
8/04. We are now on the Stuart Highway heading north, this highway will eventually take us all the way to Darwin.
6. Wedge Tail Eagles.Sandra is so Excited to see so many wedge tail eagles on our trip up through the centre, to date we have counted over 50 of these huge birds, and most of them have been feeding on road kill on the road. The pic shows them with a dead Kangaroo.
8/04. Today we drove into Woomera, it is the place that the English And Australian Governments did experiments with rockets in the 1950s & 60s.
7. Woomera Rocket.
All types of Rockets are at the entrance to this small town and on show at various sites here. Woomera is a Restricted area for so many 1000s of sq kms.
7. Woomera Rocket.
All types of Rockets are at the entrance to this small town and on show at various sites here. Woomera is a Restricted area for so many 1000s of sq kms.
If you catch a falling star you cannot keep the evidence, its covered by Federal Protection and Cultural heritage, there is a heavy fine if you don't hand any bits and pieces over, once handed over you will be given a bronze medallion and $5000 for your find. Penalties of up to $100,000 or 5 years in prison if not handed in.
We have passed by so many salt lakes on our way to towards Coober Pedy( our next destination. ), this one in pic 8. is called Island in the Lake.
We had an overnight Rest stop near here at Lake Heart, which is not that far from Woomera.
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