Kangaroo mother with newborn kangaroo
Emu
Orchids
Bluey Blundstones Blacksmith Shop
St. Mary Peak
Cave drawing at the Yourambulla Caves
Alligator Gorge
While I was in Australia, I decided to go on a three-day wilderness adventure through the Australian Outback! I had always imagined walking by kangaroos and wallabies but the Outback turned out to be a very different experience for me. We traveled to so many different places in only three days it was intense!
On Day 1 I had to wake up early because the bus was coming to pick our group up at 7:00 a.m. from the Adelaide Central Bus Station. We had a bus ride that lasted most of the morning and we stopped at Alligator Gorge National Park for lunch. There were places to barbecue and picnic tables and we had a great lunch (we were all so hungry). Afterwards we walked around the trails surrounding the gorge and saw beautiful native orchids. Orchids are the largest family of the flowering plants (Angiospermae). There are over 26,000 species of orchids in the world! In Oceania there are between 50-70 different genera of orchids. They are some of the most beautiful flowers on Earth. While we were walking the trails we got a spectacular view of the Spencer Gulf. It has two inlets in south Australia that are breeding grounds for Australian Giant Cuttlefish. They spend almost 95% of their time resting and divert the majority of their energy to reproduction. The only time they are really active is during mating season.
We left Alligator Gorge and traveled through the Pichi Richi to Quorn which our guide told us was the original start of the Ghan Railway. We also passed the Willochra Plain which was very beautiful. My favorite stop of the day was when we traveled to the Yourambulla Caves to view the aboriginal artwork in the caves. The pictures on the walls and ceilings of the caves told a story of how the native people lived in the past. It was like stepping into a time machine!
Our final stop of Day 1 was at the Rawnsley Park Station for a good meal because we were exhausted from our day of travel. It is situated right in the middle of the Wilpena Pound. Many believed that it was a large volcano but in actuality it is a large deposit of sedimentary rock that has been tectonically formed into a syncline. This means that two plates have been moving together to fold the land up into alternating synclines and anticlines. We ate a simple meal of hot dogs made over an open fire and then started to set up camp for the night. I had a little trouble setting up my tent but I eventually got it figured out with the help of one of the people on the tour with me. The minute I laid down I fell right asleep!
On Day 2 I woke up after a good night’s sleep and ate some breakfast. We set out to explore the Wilpena Pound. We went on a bushwalk that would end with us climbing to the top of St. Mary Peak. On our way to the top of St. Mary Peak we passed through the Bunyeroo and Brachina Gorges which were breathtaking. We saw a couple of kangaroos and I even got to see an emu! I had never seen one before but they turned out to be an interesting creature. They are the largest bird native to Australia and can run at speeds up to 31 mph! They tend to be nomadic and will travel long distances for food. I was so excited to finally see one. The kangaroos might have been the cutest creatures I have ever seen, especially the mother I saw with a newborn kangaroo in her pouch. I was sad to hear that kangaroos are actually hunted for their meat and sport. However, hunting kangaroos for meat actually have environmental and health advantages over cattle and sheep grazed for meat. The bushwalk took up most of the day so we returned back to Rawnsley Park Station where our camp was still set up. We had a nice dinner and I got to enjoy a couple of glasses of wine as well! The exhaustion from the day got to me (or maybe it was just the wine) and I headed to bed pretty early.
On the final day of our trip I packed up my tent and we left Rawnsley Station to travel to Melrose, the oldest town in the Flinders Ranges. My favorite part of Melrose was Bluey Blundstone's Blacksmith Shop. It was built in 1865 and has been fully restored into a very quaint bed and breakfast. The owners still use blacksmith tools to steelwork. We left Melrose to travel back to Adelaide for the end of our trip. We had one last bit of fun on the way when we traveled through the Clare Valley which is known for its exquisite wines. The area is very prone to wildfires, though, and in 1983 a huge wildfire occurred on Ash Wednesday that burned over 6,100 hectares of land. After participating in a wine tasting we arrived in Adelaide shortly before dinnertime to end our trip.
I had an amazing time going through the Outback. I had never really “roughed it” before but I thoroughly enjoyed spending time in nature with some great people! Thanks to Heading Bush Outback Adventure Tours for a fun and affordable wilderness adventure!
Works Cited
http://www.headingbush.com/outback-safaris-3-day-mountain-safari.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outback#Tourism
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilpena_Pound#Tourism
http://www.about-australia.com
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orchid
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilpena_Pound
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emu
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kangaroos
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clare_Valley
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_Giant_Cuttlefish
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spencer_Gulf
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