Wilpena Pound

Wilpena Pound is one of the locations on Peter’s wish list. I’d never even heard of it, but before we had even arrived, we were in awe of the scenery we passed. Low rolling hills bordered with high rocky escarpments. Just beautiful.

Still within the Flinders Ranges National Park, Wilpena Pound (Ikara) is an extraordinary land formation. When seen from the air, you could be forgiven for thinking it was an ancient volcano, or it could be the sight of a meteor strike. But its formation is not as dramatic as that. Simply geological and extreme climate change over an inexhaustible period of time.

My summary of the formation is this: Around 800 million years ago the entire area was covered by a sea. This sea dried up and returned many times and over a period of about 300 million years eventually filled with layers upon layers of sediment up to ten to fifteen kilometres thick. After the sea had disappeared, the weight of all this sediment caused the centre of the pound to collapse under its own weight, and then geological pressure caused the layers of sediment (now turned to stone) to buckle like big waves. Wind, rain, floods and even glaciers did the rest. All this change is still happening to this day, so the pound is still changing. In fact it is getting higher.

The result, strikingly beautiful landscapes.

We didn’t have the opportunity to do a flyover, but if we had, this is what we would have seen. A natural amphitheatre, seventeen kilometres long, eight kilometres wide, the crowning glory of the Flinders Ranges.

There are many walks that allow you to enjoy the Pound, as well as 4×4 tours and of course flights over the area. We only had three days here, still not quite match fit, but we did manage to do the Wangara Lookout walk via Hills Homestead. This walk took us inside the Pound and though it wasn’t that far, under eight kilometres return, it had plenty of uphill, making it a good stretch of the legs. 😊

Wilpena Pound was a fantastic place to visit, and is super popular with all ages. And for good reason. Take into account the views, the facilities, an IGA, bottle shop and fuel. The resort, restaurant, and swimming pool, not to mention a family of emus wandering through camp, we’d highly recommend it. Even the tricky caravan parking due to poorly marked sites and a multitude of trees didn’t dampen our enjoyment of this visit.

INSERT IMAGES CAMP AND EMUS

Oh, and if you were wondering where the name came from, wonder no more. The Adnyamathanha people know the area of Wilpena Pound as Ikara, meaning meeting place. The word Wilpena is also Aboriginal, meaning ‘Place of bent fingers’ and Pound is taken from an old English term for an animal enclosure, usually made of stone. In 1851, the pound was leased and used to breed horses. They were simply confined within the Pound and left there to do what comes naturally.

Of course, with all of this stunning scenery around we had to try to find the perfect sunset spot. It wasn’t really that hard. But as always, we had fun on the drive and enjoyed the show.

See you out there somewhere

On tow and on the go!