Elisabeth and Craig's Blog: Flinders Ranges

Last weekend we finally made it up to the Flinders Ranges to check out the spectacular scenery, camping and rock climbing.

The Flinders Ranges (http://www.flindersoutback.com/) is a 4 1/2 hour drive north of Adelaide. Although not very far into northern SA, with the red dirt and barren landscape, the Ranges district gives the impression of being well into the Australian Outback.

Flinders Ranges National Park
(http://www.parks.sa.gov.au/flinders_ranges/index.htm)

The Flinders Ranges National Park where we camped has all sorts of great hikes and beautiful scenery, as well as tons of kangaroos and emus.

Waking up to the shadows of grazing kangaroos on the tent - cool

Going in the wintertime means that there are a lot fewer people around, and the hillsides are not yet parched by 40 degree temperatures.

Although it was a little cold at night (and frosty in the morning), since the fire bans are not in place in winter we were able to roast marshmallows by the fire and enjoy some awesome gourmet camping meals, and of course a good bottle of fire-warmed SA red...
The chef above...

Climbing at Moonarie
http://www.climbing.com.au/crags/guide.php?page=moonarie

Moonarie is one of South Australia's premiere remote climbing areas. It is located on the outside walls of the southern end of the Wilpena Pound. Since Craig and I had bought the climbing guide earlier this year, we were keen to check out some of the rock.

Although the approach was beautiful, we hadn't quite counted on it being quite so long - at least 1 hour up to the bottom of the climbing sites, and not particularly well marked (aka, we got a little lost so some bushwhacking was required!).

Goat Crag
Not a bad spot, and with a bit of a scramble, possible to set up as a top rope. Grade: 16 + 17 (Aussie grading).

We got Luci up her first outdoor climb!

The view from our climbing spot was awesome, which made up for the fact that it was mighty chilly out of the sun.

Sunset over the Flinders Ranges

At the end of the day, we enjoyed a well-deserved beer while watching the sunset over the Wilpena Pound and the rest of the Ranges.

Hiking Wilpena Pound

The Wilpena Pound is one of the Flinders Ranges most characteristic features - a crater-like valley of sandstone (quartzite) formed by fault movements (Dad - feel free to send me more correct text here... Though that explanation beats the meteorite and giant dinosaur print theories we had going on the way up the mountain!).