03 Flinders Ranges - Day 1 - Getting there
We got up bright and early to pack and pick up the car at 8. Then we stopped at a mall to get the rest of the groceries for our 3 days stay in the Rawnsley Park Station. By the time we headed out of the city, it was 10:30. The highway close to Adelaide is a 3 lanes divided one, it then turns into a 2 lanes divided and finally into an undivided 1 lane. But all the way, the speed limit is 110km/hr, with the exceptions when it goes through towns. It was not a bad drive overall. You can appreciate how big and dry South Australia is during the drive. When it is close to the coast, both sides are farmlands. But since this is summer and very hot and dry, all the fields are brown. As we moved inland, both sides are pastures for sheep or cattle. There are miles and miles of brown, dead grass or arid land. Also, you can go for miles without seeing any buildings or signs of life all around. Though there are mountains far away, the flat land in between is huge. And the scenery is different from that in Utah, or Tibet or the Silk Road in China.
On our way, we stopped at the Arid Land Botanical Garden. It features mostly native plants, especially those that are almost extinct. There were explanations on how the natives used to use them as foods or medicine. There is also different setups to show people how to arrange a garden using native plants and save 75% of water. Some of them are quite nicely done - all without a stitch of grass.
We then visited the ruins of the Kanyaka Homestead. It was established in 1851 and had over 40,000 sheeps at its peak. Now there were only skeletons of buildings left. Not very interesting. But we saw an Emu running up the hill, too bad it was running quite fast and by the time I alerted David, it was too far away. We also saw a flock of Galah, they have a pink belly and white grey wings and back. They are quite beautiful when they fly together, but they are loud and noisy!
We checked into our room at 6pm and had a home cook meal of pasta with hot Italian sausage and tomato. The tomatoes were not too juicy and so ther were not a lot of sauce; but it still tasted alright.
We also went out to look at the night sky and there were tons of stars in the clear sky. Unfortunately when I used the Google Night Sky app to check out the stars, I could hardly recognize any of them as I'm down under!
On our way, we stopped at the Arid Land Botanical Garden. It features mostly native plants, especially those that are almost extinct. There were explanations on how the natives used to use them as foods or medicine. There is also different setups to show people how to arrange a garden using native plants and save 75% of water. Some of them are quite nicely done - all without a stitch of grass.
We then visited the ruins of the Kanyaka Homestead. It was established in 1851 and had over 40,000 sheeps at its peak. Now there were only skeletons of buildings left. Not very interesting. But we saw an Emu running up the hill, too bad it was running quite fast and by the time I alerted David, it was too far away. We also saw a flock of Galah, they have a pink belly and white grey wings and back. They are quite beautiful when they fly together, but they are loud and noisy!
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| Kanyaka Homestead |
We checked into our room at 6pm and had a home cook meal of pasta with hot Italian sausage and tomato. The tomatoes were not too juicy and so ther were not a lot of sauce; but it still tasted alright.
We also went out to look at the night sky and there were tons of stars in the clear sky. Unfortunately when I used the Google Night Sky app to check out the stars, I could hardly recognize any of them as I'm down under!
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