The Sacred Cannon Walk

The Sacred Cannon Walk – Aboriginal Rock Art.

There are many places to see and explore in the area around Wilpena Pound. Unfortunately many of them are hikes that are classified as moderate to hard, and require a well above level of fitness to accomplish and can take up to 9-10 hours. Considering our present health (and age) we have decided that up to 3klms and about 3hours duration is about our limit.

We therefore decide to do the Sacred Cannon Walk. This walk is in the Flinders Rangers National Park and the first thing we have to do is purchase a National Parks Pass –great value at $8 for 10days duration.

We turn off the main road and travel 13.5klms along a well maintained gravel track that twists and turns through mainly cypress pine trees. In most places under the pine trees the ground is covered with masses of sweet little mauve wild flowers – which from a distance looks like snow. We also spot kangaroos and their joeys under the trees. The Wilpena Pound Mountain Range remains in sight for most of our trip down this track.

The information board for this walk.

The Dry Creek Bed we start the walk along.

Me enjoying the walk. Easy going at the moment.

The road finishes at a car park where there is a beautiful dry creek bed and as usual there are many majestic old Red River Gums along the bank. Lunch consists of tomato, cheese and biscuits and a thermos of coffee –a simple lunch but enjoyed in beautiful and serene place. After lunch we commence the walk known as the Sacred Cannon Walk. It is a short 500mts walk along the gum lined creek that leads to the site where ancient Aboriginal rock engravings are to be found carved into the smooth sandstone walls.

The walk along the dry river bed amongst the huge river gum trees is just lovely and really enjoyable. The sand is cool and soft under foot and the colours of the many different rocks in the river bed is great to look at and examine.

The climb through the cannon gets a bit steeper.

 

 

The flat out crop where the engravings are.

A view of the vertically tilted rocks.

Eventually we have to start climbing up through the narrow but deep gorge till we get to an open amphitheatre area where the rock art is. Many of the sedimentary rocks in this gorge have been tilted vertically and you can see the individual layers – it is just spectacular. The images of animal tracks, people and waterholes have been pecked into the sheer rock faces by the Aboriginal people with stone tools. It is a very special place and well worth a visit.
 Again we have had a great day and really enjoyed what we have seen.

This is a photo of our caravan site overlooking Rawnsley Bluff.

Arkaroo Aboriginal Rock Art Hike.

Another walk we undertake is to view ancient Aboriginal art work at Arkaroo Rock – this rock is very significant to the Adnyamathanha people of the Flinders Rangers.

The information boards at the start of the hike.

 

This 3klm hike leads us up moderate inclines and over a lot of loose rocks to a large rock shelter containing ochre and charcoal images that depict aspects of the Yura Muda (dreaming) for Ikara (Wilpena Sound).

The path we travelled - steep and rocky in parts.

At least I made it and even though it was difficult for me in parts I think I felt a lot better after having completed it.

The art work is Great. Unfortunately I am still trying to find out how old it is. The cave the paintings are in is cool and very shady. I can see why the Aboriginals would have chosen here to live.

 

It takes us nearly 3hours to complete this hike and on the way we travel through significant beautiful native vegetation and as we climb higher, we get to see magnificent views out over the Flinders Rangers and in particular Rawnsley Bluff. Along the way we cross many small bridges and we stop to rest at the seats provided and take in the magnificent views.

Parts of the hike and the views of the Ranges we saw.

 

 

 

Moralana Scenic Drive.

Moralana Scenic Drive.

About 10klms south of Rawnsley Park Station there is suggested 28klm drive called the Moralana Scenic Drive. This drive is one of the most spectacular in the Flinders Ranges and meanders along a well maintained gravel road that takes us through a very picturesque valley flanked by Wilpena Pound to the right and the Elder Range to the left.

Two views over the Wilpena Pound Ranges

Every turn in the road reveals another breathtaking view of the ranges with different scenery in the foreground. There are many expanses of beautiful cypress pines with massive amounts of corellas feeding in them. These birds sure can make a noise as they feast on the nuts on the pines.  Underneath the trees are a few different wildflowers but unfortunately we are too late for the massive display of colour.

The road takes us across many picturesque dry creek beds with huge majestic Red River Gums along their banks. (Some of these gum trees are 400 plus years old.) Most of these creeks only flow once or twice each year - but by looking at the erosion they have caused and the size of the rocks and large rubble they have dumped along their path, they must have a huge volume of water in them when they do flow.

One of the many dry Creek Beds we cross on this drive. The banks of the creeks are lined with Majestic Old Red River Gums. Some are said to be over 400 years old.

A view of the Elder Ranges.

As well as being a very interesting and a gorgeous drive it is also very quiet – we virtually have it all to ourselves, only seeing one other car. Our journey, however is interrupted several times by emus, kangaroos and wallabies crossing our path.  We also stop several times to take photos of emus and kangaroos grazing in the fields. I have never seen as many Australian birds and animals as I have in the Flinders Rangers.

We have to stop for Several Emus and Kangaroos - they own the roads out here - but you also see the results of many who make the wrong calculation.

At the end of the scenic drive we decide to do a big loop back to Rawnsley Station via Hawker on the main road. It might be a main road but it is still devoid of much traffic. Going this way, gives us the opportunity to stop at different viewing points or when we want to take photos.

We have our picnic lunch on the top of a small hill with fantastic 360° views. There are monuments on this hill to the Adnyamathanha people - the traditional land owners, the original surveyors of the area and the overland telegraph line. We also have a surprise visitor for lunch - a very inquisitive emu who just wondered up to see what we were doing.

This is our lunch spot. Very out in the open and quite high up - wonderful views and a nice cool breeze.

On the way to Hawker we see cattle and sheep drinking at troughs that have been filled by water pumped to the surface by metal windmills, several derelict old pastoral homesteads and many different views of majestic mountain ranges. It is a very pretty and interesting drive.

The 40klms from Hawker to Rawnsley Park Station has many sightseeing stops and this time we can stop and take in the views- (It is a lot easier to stop when we do not have the caravan in tow.) At one viewing place we stopped, we saw 12 emus all together. They looked just beautiful walking in the fields that were a mass of yellow and different shades of green.

We did a total of 120klms –saw plenty of beautiful scenery and had a fantastic time.

There were 12 emus in this group. I felt very lucky to get 9 of them to look at me. I love this photo.

Rawnsley Park Station - Flinders Rangers.

Rawnsley Park Station & the Southern Flinders Ranges.

Our first week in the Flinders Ranges is going to be spent at the caravan park at Rawnsley Park Station, which is situated about 20klms south of the entrance into Flinders Ranges National Park. It is a vast undulating area, very well treed with gums, cypress pines and other small scrubby plants (the most prolific are covered in masses of very pretty small pale yellow flowers) and masses of very dry grasses. The whole countryside looks very beautiful, and even though it is very dry the trees are covered in green foliage so it gives the appearance of the scenery being green and not completely arid.

Rawnsley Bluff can be seen from our caravan site and is magnificent at sunset.

The view from our site towards the Wilpena Mountain Range.

A view as you enter the caravan park at Rawnsley Park Station.

Rawnsley Park Station is surrounded by three picturesque mountain ranges. We have a great camping site.  It is very large site with some elevation and a great 180° view towards the most southerly part of the massive Wilpena Pound Range, called Rawnsley Bluff.  Just below us is a small flowing creek and because of the continual water supply there are several large elegant Red River Gums. It is just so beautiful and at sunset the mountain range changes colour – some nights it is purple and on a good night it can be bright red.

We have power and bore water but no TV, internet or phone reception. The amenities block is very good. I would recommend this Station to anyone.

The weather has been hot and very dry - Temperatures around 35° and some days have been days of total fire ban.

The Caravan Park has many beautiful Australian Plants many are in bloom.



There are many beautiful parrots that come to eat the nuts in the Cypress Pines near our van. We also have the occasional kangaroo and Emu come to the small creek just near us.

We plan to go on several short day trips using Rawnsley Park as a base.

Our Touring Holiday To The Flinders Rangers - South Australia Oct - Nov 2015. 1

The car and caravan hooked up and ready to go.

Our Touring Holiday to the Flinders Ranges Begins.

How we got to the Flinders Rangers:

The planning for our big adventure to the Flinders Rangers National Park (450klms north of Adelaide) has been in the pipeline for several years, but because of unforeseen medical issues it has taken till now, October – November 2015, for us to finally get around to undertaking this much anticipated journey. The caravan and car are packed and Allan, myself and our two blue budgerigars are ready for our touring holiday. Our plan is to spend 4 weeks in the Flinders Rangers seeing as many of the natural attractions as possible, undertaking many scenic drives, exploring some of the 4WD tracks, bushwalking, wild life and bird watching and hunting for wildflowers.

The Paddle Steamers at Echuca on the Murray River.

We leave our home on the Mornington Peninsula on Sunday the 18^th October 2015, and travel to the Regional City of Shepparton where we spend our first night. We have the caravan serviced on the Monday (this is part of our touring ritual as our dealer is in Shepparton) and then we head for Echuca on the Murray River. Arriving late in the afternoon we have a very pleasant walk on dusk along the river bank, passing many house boats and several old Paddle Steamers ending up at the Old Port area and the main township of Echuca. The Old Port is a real tourist area which has many attractions showing what life on the river was like and how the port operated in the 19^th and early 20^th century when paddle steamers were the main source of transportation. Everything is closed but it is still a very enjoyable and picturesque area to wonder around. We have it all to ourselves.

The Main Street Of The Old Port in Echuca.

Next day we head to Mildura. We travel close to and follow the Murray River for approximately 380klms, crossing into NSW and then back into Victoria. It is a very pretty drive, the countryside is rich with agriculture. The many farms we pass include citrus orchards - mainly oranges, orchards of stone fruit trees, almond tree plantations and massive amounts of grape vines - interspersed with golden fields of wheat and other cereal crops. We even see a willow tree plantation that supplies the wood for the Australian cricket bats. The weather is hot and humid and the sun is hidden all day by threatening dark storm clouds.

After leaving Mildura, we travel past kilometres upon kilometres of different varieties of grape vines, all looking vibrant green and fresh from the rain we had overnight.  Eventually we cross into South Australia and go through the border Quarantine Station inspection point. No fruit, honey or vegetables are allowed across the border into SA – I therefore spent part of last night cooking up all our spare potatoes and carrots and we finished the honey at breakfast. (chips and potato salads for the rest of the week.

Southern Australian Boarder.

We Follow The Murray River.

We top up our supplies (we need enough supplies to last us 4 weeks) at Renmark, and then keeping the Murray in site we continue on. Many prolific orange and avocado orchards pass us by and eventually we come to the little township of Caddell.  At this tiny spot we put the car and caravan on a small ferry and cross the Murray for the last time. There are very few bridges crossing the Murray River in SA. The SA Government therefore continues to operate many small car ferries all the way along the River to provide access backwards and forwards across the Murray for all modes of transport. From Morgan - the next town - we head due north and the scenery really starts to change. With the mighty Murray River no longer around to supply valuable water for irrigation, the countryside becomes very dry and barren and covered with stunted salt bush and vast paddocks of colourful dried grasses. Every now and then we come across an abandoned old derelict stone farm house that tells the tale of pastoral life long ago and now forgotten. It is great to see that these reminders of the past and especially the difficulties and isolation that the pioneers must have experienced are allowed to remain standing in their current state and have not been completely demolished.

We put the car and caravan on the Ferry and cross the Murray.

Salt Bush in the Fields with the Mountain Ranges behind.

The Old Church, Bridge and River in Burra.

The old Miners Cottages in Burra.

We spend the night at the caravan park in the beautiful historic township of Burra. This area is famous for its historical copper mine which was discovered in 1845. It is now listed as a State Heritage Area and has many great historical attractions.  A walk around the town revels a historic shopping area with many 19th century shops still in excellent condition and in use, as well as many other beautiful old buildings. There are two churches, a town hall, a court house, several museums, many neat little miners cottages and two interesting bridges. Burra is an excellent step back into the past as it is so well preserved.

There are heaps of flowering Gums - they look very beautiful.

From Burra we drive 270klms straight to the town of Hawker (population 490 people) which is the last town before you enter the Flinders Rangers. We have lunch in the local park and drive around and look at some of the historic sites of Hawker. The local gum trees are in full bloom – white, yellow, peach and pink in colour. The weather is now very hot and dry, and you feel as if you are really entering the Australian Outback. Our adventure is about to begin.

 

The Old Ghan Railway Station at Hawker. 

The Stuart Desert Pea - Hawker.