Wilpena Pound (Flinders Ranges NP) 17 - 18 May 2006

Drove along an increasingly desolate road, until we arrived at Hawker, a small village at the base of the Flinders Ranges. Like most of the towns we have visited, this is still suffering from the effects of the drought. Caught up with our ANZ banking at tiny isolated Hawker as there is not a branch in Port Augusta. Only bank in town! Some thing unusual in the banking world there.
Arrived in Wilpena Pound in the Flinders Rangers National Park and set up camp overlooking lovely mountains. Took off for a 9km hike in the early afternoon to the remains of Hill Home Farm – the major property in the Pound in the early days. The story of their life is all set up on boards with lots of photos and it made you really think about how very fortunate we are today. The farm was wiped out by a long drought that was broken by a flash flood through the valley that destroyed the road that the sons had taken years to make. The stories of the early settlers’ hardships reminded us of the stories Peter’s dad used to tell of him growing up in the bush in Queensland. The walk followed the creek and we were really impressed by wild life - lots of birds and Euros Kangaroos Specific to Flinders.