Oz Trip - Day 11

Day 11 – 12/5/2012 – Flight over Wilpena Pound and Geological Trail

Another early start as we were booked in to do a 30min flight over Wilpena Pound and Flinders Ranges at 7:30am. It was a perfect day for the flight. Clear and no wind. It was going to be my first time in a light aircraft. When we turned up at the airport we found out that there were 3 other people also booked on our flight. So with the pilot that made 6 of us in the small plane. None of us were exactly tiny either!

The plane

Nice and cosy

Up Up and away!

The views from up in the plane were fantastic. Definitely the best way to see the Pound and the Ranges. They are all really impressive. It gave you a good indication of how big the Pound really was. It can actually fit Uluru in it 8 times!  Wilpena Pound is called a pound because it only has one entrance to the structure.

Wilpena Pound

Part of the Flinders Ranges

And another part.

After the flight we had a late breakfast and then headed off to do the Bunyeroo Valley Scenic Drive and the Geological Trail loop.

From one of the many lookouts on the scenic drive

On the Geological Trail the drive through the gorges in the range was fantastic. The old river gums were just massive and they were everywhere.

Old River Gum

You could see where they had recently graded the road because there was a lot of river debris from heavy rainfall that they had earlier in the year.  They badly needed some more rain as there was also plenty of dust.

Driving through a dry river bed

We also investigated other camp sites in case we were ever back in the area. This was the best one we found. You had to drive a couple of hundred meters up the dry creek bed to get to it. There was a 4wd camp site section and a 2wd section. This was up in the 4wd section. We though we should be able to get the camper to it without too much problem.

There is at least 20km of dirt just to get to campground.

Camp site overlooking dry river bed.  You would never get here if the river was flowing!

Every afternoon a family of Emus wandered through the camp site. You could tell when they were coming because they made a real racket trying to climb through the fence. They would put there heads and necks through the wire fences and then sort of half drag and half fall with their bodies through the fence and then their legs would follow through after them. There was a dad and 3 babies. We found out that in Emu world, it is the male that plays Mr Mum.

Baby Emu walking through camp

As I was taking the photos, Dad emu was keeping a very close eye on me so I couldn't get too close.