The Outback Beckons

(karen)
We've hit the open road and I've got to say that it feels fantastic to travelling again. We had a great stint in Sydney, but when the outback beckons one must heed the call. After consulting with some of our local Aussie friends we had a last minute change of itineray and decided to forgo the nation's capital and take the dusty red highway across New South Wales towards the Flinders Ranges in South Australia.


The landscape was everything I dreamed it would be. The red earth was so rich and vibrant against the deep blue skies, and graceful eucalyptus trees abundantly dotted the horizon. I was so excited by the beauty of this desert that I was constantly yelling to Steve "Stop! I need to take a photo RIGHT NOW!" The cars out here are few and far between so we weren't at any risk of getting rear ended with our manic screeching to stop on the shoulder. I fell in love with the desolate train crossing in the photo above, made even more dramatic by the rain showers on the horizon.



It's a bit disconcerting to stand looking out over the endless sea of the scorched red outback and huddle in your coat against the chilly winter air, but such is life in the desert. Also disconcerting are the frequent signs at every dip in the road warning of possible flooding, with depth indicators up to two meters. We had sunny skies during our journey but I imagine in the wet season the flash floods must be biblical in proportion.


Our ultimate outback destination were the beautiful Flinders Ranges, about four hours north of Adelaide. We stayed just outside the National Park in a small caravan resort in Rawnsley Park, which looked very similar to the front range in Colorado. The grass trees shown below are a particularly beautiful feature of the landscape.


We were truly amazed at the abundance of wildlife in this region. Just walking around in the evening we came across dozens of kangaroos grazing and jumping about. Their legs are so powerful that we saw one group jump clear over a four foot high fence without blinking an eye. We spotted the small grey kangaroos, the larger red kangaroos, and we were very luckly to find the endangered yellow footed rock wallaby inside the park. Another treat was seeing herds of wild emu. They were unafraid of us so we actually were able to see them quite close, and at one point we actually had to shoo them off the road!



Don't tell the car rental company but we ditched the paved roads to explored the dirt roads of the park. The landscapes we encountered were more beautiful than I ever imagined we'd find in this remote area.


One the way back to our camp we came across several ruined stone buildings from old abandoned settlements in the area. The sun was setting which made a glorious backdrop for the house. It was a perfect sunset and a great end to a memorable outback experience.