Thursday 24th June 2021
The wind howled most of the night through the campground at Wilpena Pound. We decided to get away early and have breakfast on the road. We headed out at about 7.45am but unfortunately the weather was not being very nice today. It was overcast and raining which was a shame.

Today we are driving from Wilpena Pound in the southern Flinders Ranges National Park to Balcanoona in the northern Flinders Ranges known as the Vulkathunha-Gammon Ranges National Park and then on to Arkaroola Village in the Arkaroola Wilderness Sanctuary which is further north again. The drive was 244km along a dirt road of varied condition, some parts narrow, some winding, some bits wide, some corrugations and some sharp scary rocks. It was a lovely drive with the ranges visible often and the plains also going forever in the distance. The further we travelled north the less it was raining until eventually we had blue skies again.

We struggled to find anywhere to stop safely off the road for ages so we had breakfast at an unusual road stop, near the grave of John Joseph Kenny on the edge of Wirrealpa Homestead. It was a strange place to stop but we had been trying to fins somewhere to stop for ages. We then continued driving towards Barcanoona when we came to a sidetrack to Chambers Gorge. A 8km drive which was a little slow as the track condition was a little worse than the main track. We went for a walk along the gorge to the end where there were some Aboriginal carvings in the rock wall of the gorge. Before the walk we tried to find the track up Mount Chambers but unfortunately to no avail.

Our side track had delayed our arrival to Balcanoona by an hour or more so we had lunch here before driving for another hour to get to Arkaroola Village. We really thought it would only take about 3 hours to get here but as usual it took us 5.5 hours. Oh well. It had been a lovely day anyway. The plan was to go for a long walk in the Ranges which we had to cut a bit shorter due to the daylight available. We did a walk from the Arkaroola Village called Mawson Spriggina which was a pleasant undulating 8km loop walk. We added a little section off the track up a steep rock face to a lovely viewpoint. This was a little tricky as the rocks were quite loose. I did my usual and climbed up and back down with my hands and feet whereas David did his usual and just walked. I always feel a little silly but better slow and safe than slipping down the rock face. The whole walk David had been on the look out for the infamous Yellow Foot Rock Wallaby without any luck until the last 10 minutes where we were so lucky to see not one but two. They have the most amazing tail which is striped like a tiger. It is really unusual to see them as they are very shy. We were so lucky. Unfortunately we didn’t capture a photo of its tail, only a very distant photo but we were very excited to have seen this animal in the flesh. Woohoo!! It made our day. Besides the yellow footed rock wallaby, we also saw some emus, kangaroos, ringed neck parrots and lots of wildflowers.

Then back to camp to setup for dinner under our fantastic gazebo which once again blocked out the wind and made for a pleasant evening in the outdoors. We also had a little rain again tonight. It has been a great day. We now have to work out our schedule for the next few days as we have to be in Dalhousie Springs by the 28th June and it is 806km and 11 hours driving via the Oodnadatta Track. That should keep us busy for the next few days.

Hopefully you are enjoying our holiday as much as we are. Take care in NSW and stay safe.