24th-27th April: Day 3,4,5
Arrived mid Afternoon after a 470klm drive from Mannum. The rich farmland (fed by the Murray River) becomes noticeably dryer as we pass through the Clare Valley, famous for its Australian Wines. We come within 75klm of Adelaide, Home to 1.3 mill people, which is the capital of the State of South Australia. Adelaide is renown for its beautiful parks, museums, art galleries, wineries & the city’s Adelaide Festival is an annual international event. It hosted the Formula 1 Grand Prix from 1985-95, until Melbourne poached it from them. (shhh! don’t mention it). Also hosts the opening round for the year of the professional bicycle racing, Tour Downunder. My cousin Declan, Trish and family moved here 30 years ago from Ireland. We have had many wonderful holidays in and around Adelaide, and their hospitality to many of our friends, sense of fun, welcoming & adventure knows no bounds. The strong Anderson gene (characteristics as above, my mum’s side) which runs through one side of the family is clearly evident.
Razorback Ridge
Red Gum
We holidayed here in 1994 (Colette and Paul received their first driving lessons from me on these quiet roads) and is a jewel in SA, so different from Victoria, semi-arid, receives about 200-250mm of rain a year. Wilpena Pound (IkaraIt is north of the Goyder Line, where George Goyder (surveyor, 1865), stated that anything above this line was unlikely to support any crops. However in the mid 1960’s there were several years of unusually higher rainfalls, and farmers ignored the advice, building rail lines, farm houses and planting crops. Goyder proved correct, and only light grazing is sustainable. Many farm house ruins & settlement can be seen today north of the Goyder Line.
The natural amphitheatre shape of the enclosure with steep sides is breathtaking. Early settlers in the 1850’s grazed sheep (100,000), but proved too challenging. It is a Boom or Bust environment, with bushfires, then flooding rains that mostly exit from within the pound out through one side.
The Pound 
From the Van
Original Homestead
Brachiner Gorge 
The intense heat of the fires burns the roots of the Red Gum turning them into charcoal, then the unseasonal flood waters topple the trees like bowling pins, piling drift wood all along the creek bed. This then creates a new life with all the nutrients, with insects, small animals, birds, kangaroos etc who return to re-start the cycle.
Very popular for hikers, campers, bike riders, geologists and much more. Average daytime temperatures for Dec-Mar is mid 30’s C.
Tomorrow we head off towards Whyalla then onto Port Lincoln
