Wilpena Pound

Wilpena Pound from Wangara Lookout with Elders Ranges in the Background.

Yay, we made it. Thanks to the five guys from Ovens Valley in Victoria who took our photograph.

Some interesting flora growing along the walk.

Aren't these trees majestic?

River Red Gums are a feature of the Heysen Trail, and of course of the watercolour paintings of the artist Sir Hans Heysen, after whom the trail is named.

We caught the bus to the start of the walk, rather than walking the two kilometres from the resort. There were two very unhappy passengers who got off at the wrong stop for the walk they wanted to do.

Apparently, (we found out later) the best vantage point for seeing the entire Pound was from Mount Ohlssen Bagge. This trail is a hike rather than a walk and even though one can catch a bus to the start of the hike, one also has to get off much earlier than if doing the Wangara Lookout walk but no one had told these two young men and they had their whole day's plan turned topsy turvy because no one at the Info Centre had bothered to point that out to them. No one had bothered to tell us that this would be where we could see the Pound at its best either.

Oh, well...don't know if I could have managed a four hour return walk anyway, but at least I could have made that decision if I'd known in the first place.

Again, great views were enjoyed but not as spectacular as I was expecting. Those great shots of Wilpena Pound that you see on promotional posters, postcards etcetera are all taken from the air as there is no other range close by from which you can view Wilpena Pound.

We also toured the Hills Homestead on our way back. Interesting to read how our country's pioneers struggled against this vast and contrasting land. Took them four years to build a road on which they could transport their produce, only to see it washed away in one flood.

Interesting too, to note how the Pound has recovered after being over grazed and left abandoned, eventually being taken over by weeds. It's a beautiful place and perhaps needs to be further explored but maybe I've left my run too late?

Returned to our camp to do some relaxing in the gorgeous sunshine, sit with the chuff bird, observe the wallaby hassling tourists, and then pack up to move on to some proper bush camping.