March 12 -- Wilpena Pound

The attraction of WP is the area known as the Flinders Range within the Flinders National Park. The Fliinders are slightly bigger than the Santa Cruz mountains or the Diablo Range in the east bay (might need a fact checker here) but are somehow more prehistoric looking. They're colorful in spots like the Grand Canyon hues we are all familiar with. But they're also filled with enormous gum trees (eucalyptus family).

The problem with WP is the area is so immense. We wanted to get a sense of the size of this country and coming to the more remote area like Flinders Range satisfied that desire. But to really appreciate even this corner of Australia you need more time, a 4WD vehicle to take you down the dirt roads -- our little Yaris wasn't suited for such forays or allowed off the hard road -- or you need to take advantage of one of the small plane tours.

Despite being limited to where we could go on foot, we headed out for an explore. We took a walkabout on well marked trails adjacent to the visitor center and general store in the park. The trail led to the WP homestead -- a site where early settlers lived and farmed and raised sheep. We managed our way up to a nearby lookout for a more panoramic view and were surprised to see how green things were. For more than a year now, South Australia and Victoria have been suffering from sever draught. Hope here is that the draught is coming to an end and that a wet winter is on the horizon. Apparently there was a good dosing of rain in January that greened things up considerably. Turns out the rains in January were significant enough to wash out the roads leading into the park and isolating WP for a week before roads could be restored. We're hoping the fair skies and dry weather hold untill we get out of town. After that, we hope the natives get all the rain they want this winter.