Text and photosIan Smith

Aroona - Heysen Range panorama

I’m writing this from memory, yet parts of it are so clear. I can remember tracking along the road and stopping, over a decade ago.

38 | Bushwalk October 2024

I pulled up in the motorhome at one of the few designated spots and pulled my camera gear out. I’d espied a red-capped robin, first I’d ever seen, or perhaps that should have been 'noticed', because it would be another couple of years before I got a serious birding lens and some tuition from one of Australia’s finest, Alwyn Simple.

It was my second trip to the Flinders Ranges, the first on my own, and I was in an exploring mood. I remember I had come through a cutting and the road curved right immediately after and, like much of Bunyeroo and Brachina Gorges, it seemed to have photographic possibilities, so I’d pulled up at this small parking area. There was even a sign saying 'Bunyeroo Gorge' - I don’t recall whether that applied to what I’d just driven through or the whole road itself, but I suspect the former.

No matter, I walked back towards it, side-stepping the puddles, for it was a year of wet, unlike recent times. Then, at some stage I glanced up and could still bring to mind the thought that 'there might be a view from up there, if only I could climb up'. So I eventually returned to where I’d parked and started up a slope, though initially I had to cross an ephemeral stream where eucalypts resided

Bunyeroo Gorge

Red-capped robin

Solanum

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and plunged their root systems far beneath the surface to maintain a water supply. Their branches of harrowing shapes and chubby bases pockmarked by the occasional lightning strike, now reflected in mirror-like ponds that bespoke of the harsh climate they lived in.

It was a strange land; in places they were set in amongst some verdant new grasses yet, where I was heading, the soil was as barren as I’d ever seen. I trudged slowly upwards,

pausing at a tree that hadn’t survived, its tortured shape still showing the emotion of its demise, and then noted some skeletal wallaby remains clustered in a small depression.

Then, as I reached the ridge line, Wilpena appeared. Set beneath some wispy cirrus and a still-visible moon, the ancient semi-barren folds are the iconic image of the Flinders, yet here was a different aspect. I was walking a semi-circular route to the top and had to frequently pause to grasp at just how the view was changing. It’s only from on high that the area’s geology becomes apparent, as I noted on the flight I’d done over the Pound, but here it seemed more up close and personal as I clambered over the last exposed fault line, reached the high point and wondered at the stark contrast of the terrain. Here folds were lathered in green yet, right beside them could be found undulations upon which little could ever grow.

Bunyeroo Gorge

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While some will see the work of a higher being, I marvelled at the incredible forces that had caused such uplifting and where I stood amongst the cypress pine the view was unfolding into something I couldn’t have imagined. From Wilpena to the ABC Range that trailed all the way to Heysens, the panorama was clearly visible from this privileged point and I felt truly blessed to have located such a vista on such a day. I hope when you travel to the area that you, too, will have moments like this.

Brachina Gorge

Flinders Ranges

42 | Bushwalk October 2024