In the Ranges

From the Eyre Peninsula we went north, through miles and miles of dry dusty golden stubble, to the Flinders Ranges. It was exciting to see hills again, and then mountains as we drove further north.



But it is just so dry here in SA, it apparently didn't rain at all in winter, the water restrictions are fierce, and all anyone talks about on local radio is water, water, water.

So we didn't see the Flinders Ranges at their best. Any vegetation on the ground was so dry it crackled underfoot, and the hills were generally a monochromatic brown. It didn't help that when we were there there was a high cloud covering the sky that bleached the colour out of everything. The moments when the sun came out changed everything, making the rocky outcrops golden brown, and the vegetation more green!


But it was really hot, really REALLY hot. SA has had a bit of a heatwave for the past few days. Too hot to do very much at all. We did go for a short walk (part of a 5/6 km roundtrip to the Blinman Pools which was very appealing but too far in the heat) and even managed to find a small spring-fed pool to cool off in, which was about the only water we saw the whole time we were in the Flinders.

We just had to drive through the other gorges with the airconditioning blasting. These gorges were fabulous, with massive river red gums and a variety of rocks tumbling down to the dry river bed. We camped at Parachilna Gorge, up high & away from the road. And awoke to the most amazing colours on the surrounding gorge walls before the high cloud set in for the day.




Cold beer was almost essential, and luckily for us there was this very surprisingly funky Prairie Hotel nearby in the otherwise nondescript village of Parachilna.