Australian travels...: Flinders Ranges

After chilling out for a couple days in Port Augusta, it was well earned, we headed 160km north east to the Flinder's Ranges. We first stopped at the Yourambulla caves to check out some rock art. It is slightly different then the rock art in the Northern Territory, but still the same idea. It was an uphill 1 km walk to the caves, and we could have gone further to see some smaller ones, but it was hot, and we where hungry, so we headed back down. After a bit to eat we headed towards the ranges. We checked into the campground, got some information on the walk/hikes available, and found a quiet campsite in the corner of the campground. There where not many people about as it is off season, and we where ok with that. I was completely exhausted that day so we chilled out in the campground, reading our books and I took an afternoon nap :)

We made some friends that afternoon, some kangaroo friends that is. One little guy came right up to us, smelled us, he even tried to eat my book that was on the table! He headed towards Rob who gave him a cookie, and that was it, he loved us forever. He started snooping the the trunk and the car. He tried to practically get into the trunk, and even after Rob had his head almost stuck in the trunk from closing the lid, he still was snooping around!!!! The little stinker even grabbed my shoes from the car! We closed all the doors to the car, and shortly after, he left. I guess he gave up looking!! I still thought he was cute though and wanted to take him home :)

The next day was a bit over cast in the am, and even a bit rainy. We waited a bit and it started to clear up, sort of. We started a 4 hour hike to the summit of Mount Ohlsser-Bagge at 1100, and by 12:30 we reached the peak. We saw tons of reptiles on the way, a couple spiders, and even a billy goat - I was very surprised!! And at the top, we of course saw more kangaroo's, these ones not as friendly though. Off in the distance we could see a storm, but couldn't tell which was it was moving, and the rest of the sky was overcast. We had lunch and headed back down, hoping the storm wasn't coming our way. Just about half way down we could feel drops of rain, but this wasn't from the storm we saw, another one had developed behind us and before we knew it we could hear thunder. Then, we had a crack of thunder directly over our heads. It scared the livin' day lights out of me and I was on the ground with my hands on my head in 0.23 seconds flat (instinct I guess?!!!) We didn't get a ton of rain, but enough to make the rocks slippery and my clothes wet - so I wasn't all that impressed. It was also a bit chilly and by the time we got to the resort I was very relieved! We stopped in at the pub/restaurant and the semi-final match between Canada and Slovakia was on. I had yet to see a game and was pumped to watch it. I caught the third period, I think it was the best one and was ecstatic that we won!!!! Bring on the gold medal game! I found out later that night from some people we met from Adelaide that USA had won their semi's match and became very jealous that I wouldn't be at home to watch it. oh well, not much I can do about it :(

The next day was overcast again, but didn't look quite as bad, and it didn't rain overnight. We hiked to the Wangarra lookouts, and yet again saw another roo baking in the warm sun, we just can't get enough of them!! These lookouts weren't as good as the previous days, but still a good climb and nice to get the blood movin'!

After the hike we packed up the car and drove to Port Augusta where our next stop was to the southern tip of the Eyre peninsula - Port Lincoln.