What did you do for the Queen's Birthday?

In South Australia, the Queen's birthday is the second Monday in June (for some reason, it is celebrated at the end of September in Western Australia). For us, it was a long weekend and a chance to get out of town and into the out-of-doors. We grabbed some dinner from the Central Market, walked over to the bus station, loaded our backpacks, got on the bus with 40 other people from the Adelaide Bushwalking Club, and headed to the central Flinders Ranges. We arrived at the Wilpena caravan park around 1 AM, quickly set up camp, and went to bed. The next morning, we broke into groups, and headed out for the weekend to go backpacking.


Wilpena Pound is an interesting geologic feature that sort of looks like an elongated saucer. As Dave explains it, after the sedimentary rocks had been deposited essentially flat, they were squished in one direction, reshaping the rocks into parallel folds. The Pound was a syncline, which means that the rocks on either side slant down toward the middle in an arch. Later deformation pushed up the ends of the Pound to make this unusual bathtub-like shape. Early European settlers called it a ‘pound’ because it was a handy place to keep livestock. All they had to do was close off the one entrance, and there’s really no way for an animal like a horse to get out.


There were several walk choices for the long weekend, so Dave and I decided that we would do a walk which included having a base camp in the middle of Wilpena Pound. This trip allowed us to climb two peaks, and also to explore the Edeowie Gorge, which seemed to us to be many of the highlights of the Pound. Also, we thought it might be a good idea to limit the amount of time we spent carrying full packs since we only have our trail runners with us, and not sturdy hiking boots. When you go bushwalking, you usually have to carry all of your water because there really aren’t any reliable streams in the desert. That meant our packs were heavier than normal, so we thought it would be nice not to spend the entire weekend with full packs on our backs.

Of course, a number of other people also thought that this trip sounded like a good idea, so we had a fairly large group. At first, we were thinking that it would sort of spoil our weekend in the wilderness. But, we decided that it was silly to let something like that ruin our time there, so instead, we decided we’d enjoy ourselves no matter what happened with the group. And, indeed, we did. We met Liz and Steve, a wonderful couple from Oregon. (Liz is originally Australian, but she had lived in Oregon for the last three decades). They had recently moved (or moved back) to Australia to learn a little bit about Liz’s own country. We really enjoyed talking and walking with them.


The other people were good value as well, mostly because they provided a lot of entertainment. I know that sounds really bad, but let me explain. One woman (I think this may have been one of her first bushwalks ever) had recently purchased a dehydrator and a vacuum sealer. She had spent the entire week before the bushwalk dehydrating and vacuum sealing all of her food. And, I mean ALL of her food. The first day, she pulled out a sealed bag filled with shredded carrots and lettuce. Then, for dinner the first night, she had a steak and a dehydrated baked potato. (For some reason, she had separated the inside of the potato from the skin.) It was the first and probably will be the only time I meet someone who brings a streak backpacking! At lunch the next day, she pulled out her sealed potato chips (why she felt the need to vacuum pack potato chips, I will never know.) It was really hilarious. And, I can’t imagine how much plastic waste she must have been carrying with her by the end of the trip.


Another couple (who were probably also fairly new to backpacking) would use their stove at lunch time to make things like soup and macaroni and cheese. Another woman didn’t bring a stove at all, but instead ate tomatoes, avocadoes and dehydrated bread for the whole trip.
It felt a little bit strange to be riding on a coach up to the Flinders to go backpacking (bushwalking, as they call it here). It was also a bit strange, because we were definitely the only people on the bus under 30.

After exploring around the Pound for a couple days, we woke up in the dark at 5:30 on the last morning to climb St. Mary Peak, the highest peak in the Flinders (at a whopping 1171 m). St. Mary Peak is actually not a long or dangerous walk, but we needed to be back to catch the bus by 11 AM, so we were off walking in the cold and dark. As we climbed upwards, the sun peaked over the top of the far wall of the Pound. After a quick jaunt to the peak for amazing views in every direction and a soaring wedge-tailed eagle for company, we meandered down through the trees to the waiting bus. On the way back to Adelaide we reflected—a regrettably quick trip to one of the classic spots (probably the classic spot) in the Flinders, but it had been beautiful and relaxing, with some hilarious spectacle to boot.