Wednesday 7th February

The moon passing through the stelliferous night sky shines through the openings in our roof and wakes me quite early. After a while I decide to go and watch the sunrise over the distant ranges. A kangaroo bounces right past me. The magpies sing their curiously flutey melodies. 

Rick picks us up at 8 and we head off in the 4x4. We see grey and red kangaroos, Euros ( the name for wallabies in this part of Australia ) and plenty of Emus. Also merino sheep. Later on in the Blinman Gorge we're lucky to see the yellow footed rock wallabies with their stripy tails. We head off road on rough tracks to lookouts with stunning views of the Flinders Ranges. Red River Gums grow in the water courses, huge and ancient. We stop to see the 400 year old Yacca tree (see photo). Aborigines ( or Indigenous Australians as it's more pc to refer to them as) make spears from the tough stems.

We stop for morning tea by a spring and see bee eaters and more yellow footed rock wallabies sheltering in little caves in the hills. We find the most ancient fossils on the planet that David Attenborough has filmed at this very location. Then we visit Parachilna and the Prarie Hotel which serves emu and kangaroo (fortunately it's closed!). It's a station on the old Ghan railway, built by the Afghans with their camels in the 19th century. Some of the camels are now feral in the Northern Territories.

For lunch we go to Blinman ( population 18!). The most Wild West location you could imagine. "The Pub in the Scrub". The thermometer in the shade is recording 42 degrees. 

More dirt tracks and bumpiness takes us to old copper mines and we pick up some lumps of the green ore. We see eagles circling overhead. Then we're back at about 4 for a swim until the bush flies drive us away.