Our Flinders Ranges Camping Trip!

Last school holidays we went camping with friends at Wilpena Pound. It is a crater-like natural amphitheater located in the Flinders Ranges National Park about 430 kilometres from Adelaide. Isn't it beautiful?

Even little Ted tagged along...he is Milla's special friend.

Fruit salad for driving snacks. It took us about 5 hours to get there.

And local cookies from some old ladies in a small town somewhere...

The road out there was so, so beautiful. Hours and hours with beauty like this...

The word Wilpena in the local Aboriginal dialect means a “place where fingers bend” or a “cupped hand”, and possibly related to a way how this place protects its’ local nature and wildlife from the surrounding desert.

For the first white man who stepped on to this aboriginal land, the valley surrounded by hills and mountains looked like a giant cattle-pound. So, this place was called – Wilpena Pound.

According to an ancient Aboriginal legend, some time during a Dreamtime, two giant serpents (Akurra or Arkaroo), each 20 kilometers long, surrounded a hunting party who were preparing for a ceremony. After the long and desperate battle, hunters killed the snakes and their bodies petrified forming the walls of the Wilpena Pound. Two peaks of the Wilpena Pound – St Mary’s Peak and Beatrice Hill – are heads of these serpents. We went for long walks and climbed the peaks while were there. The highest point is St. Marys Peak, approximately 1170 meters above the sea level. I couldn’t find an official height of this peak – different sources mention different heights, I saw – 1188, 1194, 1170 and 1171 meters.

Two places around Wilpena Pound that we explored were the Casneaux's Tree and the Blinman Pools. Cazneaux’s Tree, near Wilpena Pound, is named after photographer Harold Cazneaux whose photograph of the tree in 1937 ‘Spirit of Endurance’ won international acclaim. In it's solitude it is breathtakingly beautiful.

We also trekked up to St Mary's peak.  Emus e-v-e-r-y-w-h-e-r-e!  One of our hikes went out to the Blinman Pools. We drove as far as we could and then we went for a bush walk for a couple of hours. Wildlife abounds as you wind your way through the rocky creekbed to the Blinman Pools. There are cascading waterfalls, majestic river red gums and wedgetailed eagles.  So refreshing with a cool dip after a sweaty walk! One day on one of our excursions we even found a cooking 'festival' a small town I have forgot the name of: Every dish tells a story! Mr C wanted to sign up but we were too late to  join :-( Grasshoppers all over the place! Mr C's lunch Always room for home-made scones and jam! Marshmallows at the campfire after a long day At our campsite the kids had SO much fun. Here are some pictures from their favourite activity: catching grasshoppers! A whole box full of grasshoppers! After deciding to try and eat them (!), they had to be washed of course... The kids persuaded Michelle to fry them up for them (because they were quite chewy uncooked) A little bit of garlic and pepper... Ok, let's eat!!! Jacob first... ...Zack next... ...and Elliot... No probs! Mmmmmmm! Oh my god - SO MUDDY!!! Making mud cakes! Nice warm showers and pyjamas time with marshmallows! Doesn't get any better than this! And then this little fella' had breakfast with us in the morning!! Found a new use for the bull-bar on the car! Perfect place to sit for a ride around the campground! And time to go back home.....Agnes is sad... But what a wonderful trip away we had! Loved every second!