Ikara (Wilpena Pound)
From Willow Springs it was on to Ikara, or Wilpena Pound. We had been seeing Wilpena Pound from several lookouts/vantage points throughout our stays in Bendleby Ranges and Willow Springs, including Stokes Lookout with a scale model of Wilpena Pound right in front of the real thing (helpfully labelled, too!).
We had visited Wilpena Pound in April 2017 as part of our two-month mini lap, and we were excited to return. On our previous visit, it rained, and rained, and rained – and when it wasn’t raining the cloud cover was so low that we weren’t able to see much of the impressive scenery of the Pound and the surrounding ranges. Of course a little rain didn’t stop us from enjoying the bush walks and scenic drives in the area. But, the fact was, the views weren’t as spectacular as they could have been, that’s for sure.
On this trip, we had no such complaints.
The other thing we love about Wilpena Pound is a certain group of campsites we found last time we were there, which are well within the boundaries of the designated unpowered campsites, and reasonably close to the amenities blocks (7 to 10 minute walk), yet somehow seems much less populated than the other areas of the campground. The same thing was true this time around and we were super happy to find this to be the case.
The wildlife was friendly (a little too friendly, meaning people had been feeding them human food), and waking up to kangaroos in the campsite, next to the tent every morning, and having them hang around with us every day, was SO cool (although a reminder to be extra careful with food and trash).
While in Wilpena Pound at our freaking amazing secret campsite, we completed a couple of the scenic drives that we couldn’t last time we were there, namely the Brachina Gorge, Glass Gorge, Bunyeroo Valley and Bunyeroo Gorge drives. (NB, there are also campgrounds along these drives, which looked lovely – more for the ‘next time’ list!)
The drives were stunning, especially because the weather was perfect (clear, sunny skies and about 22C during the day), but the most exciting part was that in Brachina Gorge, there seems to be a yellow-footed rock wallaby colony, and we had the extreme good fortune of seeing several wallabies, on two separate days!
We also took the opportunity of a few days of down time to do laundry, stock up on groceries, and relax before we met up with the Sydney Jeep Club to embark on a crossing of the Simpson Desert, with a stop at Lake Eyre along the way. Lake Eyre is something that Nick and I were sad to miss on our last trip, and we’ve wanted to do a Simpson Desert crossing since we heard about it on our 4 Wheel Driver training right after purchasing the Jeep.
It’s now been about two weeks since we left Sydney (well, at the time I wrote the post it was – savvy readers who notice the date will note it’s actually been about three weeks), and we’re feeling pretty great. The Jeep is much more organised. We’ve used up a bunch of the odd groceries we left Sydney with (and therefore have more space), we’ve established a bit of a routine (still more work to do on the routine – like adding in some regular exercise), and in short…we’re happy we made this choice and can’t believe we still have a whole 50 weeks still ahead!
Next week is a big one – we’re meeting up with some friends from the Sydney Jeep Club, and will tag along with them north through Marree, with a stop at Lake Eyre (Australia’s largest lake and the lowest natural point in Australia at 15m below sea level), to Mungerannie, into the Simpson Desert around Poeppel Corner (the intersecting point between three states – South Australia, Queensland, and Northern Territory), and east through the desert on the QAA Line.
MVP Award: The pub at Wilpena Pound, for their amazing warm wood fire and letting us sit there and be warm for four hours in the middle of the day while we caught up on email and had a couple beers.
So, Where Exactly Is This?
Here’s a screenshot of this leg of the journey from WikiCamps! The red is what we’ve already covered, and the green is what was featured in the post you just read. You can also follow us live at this link – our satellite device pings our shared map frequently.
