CAMPSITE # 85 - Wilpena Pound

Site : Wilpena Pound Camping Ground
Rating : 13 / 20
Facilities : Great facilities, very spacious grounds with plenty of sites.


Next on the list was just a 1.5 hour drive south-east from Parachilna, straight into the heart of the Flinders Ranges National Park and in to Wilpena Pound. Wilpena Pound is a crater-like amphitheatre formed by a snycline of dipping strata. The weather wasn't looking too crash hot so we held off the 'big' walk on the first day in hope that things would clear up a little the next.


During this time, I was frantically trying to get in contact with the Shearing Contractor. I hadn't spoken or heard from him since we were in Tasmania and all we knew was that we were due on Wednesday the 24th of March somewhere south of Port Augusta. That was a little too vague for my liking and it was just a few days out, we needed to establish where we needed to be, what we needed to bring and when we needed to get there. Except, after 3 days of trying to call him... things were not looking good. Mind you though, we weren't really concerned cause we were pretty confident that we would be able to find work elsewhere without too many troubles, our main concern was whether their dollar figure could match up. When we eventually heard back from him, we were told that he was delayed with his other jobs in NSW due to the wet weather and would still want us again in three weeks time, if we were still around. So really, it worked in our favour... we could put the feelers out over the next few days as to whether we could find any other work with similar pay and if we couldn't then we could come back to him in three weeks. This was a last resort as we really didn't want to put the brakes on for a few weeks. 


Day number two at Wilpena Pound was probably worse, weather wise, than Day number one. And yet, Tom still managed to find that burning desire to go on a 6 hour hike up to the tallest mountain in the Flinders Ranges, St Mary's. He was desperate to go and I couldn't think of anything worse... cold, wet and miserable climbing up slippery steep slopes only to fumble back down a few hours later. Plus, we had some serious job hunting to do and we needed some direction of where to go after Wilpena. I was on a mission, but so was Tommy.


The SES would be very mad at us. Tom went by himself. But we were both very pedantic about the supplies he took with him - food, water, torch, Leatherman, knife, lighter and most importantly a GPS. I didn't feel good about letting him go but we agreed that if he wasn't back by dark... I was calling in the helicopters. 

Apparently the view from St Mary's on a beautiful day is an incredible 360 degrees of the Flinders Ranges...

Not surprisingly, Tom had a slightly different experience...

He had to climb UP those rocks.

I awarded myself negative girlfriend points when Tom returned to tell me how many times he got lost. I felt so guilty but he did mention to me, numerous times, how much I would have hated it up there and how glad he was that I didn't come. He's right, I would have loathed every step.

I did, however, award myself with super positive girlfriend points. As agreed, I stayed back in search for some new jobs for us. Back when we first got to South Australia, we drove into a little town called Tailem Bend. When we visited the Post Office, we found ourselves having a rather lengthy chat with the lady at the PO who proceeded to tell us that when we do the Birdsville Track, we should stop in at the Mungerannie Roadhouse and say hello to her brother, Phil. Now, if there's one thing I learnt from living in Sales & Marketing Land for 5 years it's that the information Maxine gave us was a serious lead. So, I gave Phil a call and explained to him that I got his details from his sister (who said to say hello, by the way) and enquired as to whether he had any work available for us. From Phil's reaction, anyone would have thought he won the lottery (way to big note ourselves I know). To cut a long story short, WE HAVE WORK and it is perfect for what we are looking for. Starting from the 11th of April for 3 - 4 weeks (to cover Easter & School Holidays), Tom and I will be working alongside Phil & his wife Pam at their Roadhouse. We will be working in the kitchen, behind the bar, cleaning and general maintenance. Now, for those of you who don't know how remote this place is - the closest town is 260kms away so, understandably it would be rather difficult for them to find short term workers. The best bit is... Tom's got a fantastic package... (hehe sorry I just had to add that in there). We've both got fantastic packages!! Food, Board, Facilities plus a very friendly amount of cash. Yippeeeeeeee... I told you Tom had a great package ;)


So now, we have three weeks to kill until we're due at the Mungs. We've decided, as we'll be travelling so far inland to go to work... we may as well do our inland stint. Hold onto your seats Ladies & Gents... Tom and Amy are off to Alice Springs via Ayers Rock and Coober Pedy. We'll just have to be very cautious of what the roads are doing but all should be good. We're very excited about both the red centre and working at an extremely typical outback Australian Pub.... what an experience!!

Stay tuned.

Crumbed chicken & salad sandwich...

Tom made lentil burgers, and they were surprisingly good too.

P.S. That was a reference to the lentils not his cooking abilities.