The Flinders Ranges is South Australia’s largest mountain range. With impressive mountain scenery and a huge amount of wildlife and flora, the Flinders Ranges is a must visit in the Australian Outback.
It was very interesting to see the scenery changing from lush and green do dry and empty. People have warned us on the start of our road trip about long and boring drives, I have to say till now I love it! The roads are long, but definitely not boring. We have spotted so many kangaroos, wallabies, emus, parrots and eagles along the way and the scenery is really different and interesting.
When we arrived in the Flinders Ranges, we decided to treat ourselves and stay at the Wilpena Pound Resort for $23 for a night on a unpowered campsite so we could take a shower and enjoy the pool. It was a long drive and we arrived around 6 pm at the campground. Luckily the pool was open till 10 pm. I think the Wilpena Pound Resort can get really busy during the winter, the high season. As we were traveling in Autumn, we had basically the whole camp ground for ourselves. At the front desk you can get the different walking trails and information about the park, which was very helpful.
The next morning we woke up around 6 am, as were were planning to hike to the top of the Flinders Range, St. Mary’s peak. As the Flinders Ranges are in the middle of the dessert, the temperature can go up till 38 degrees during the day. The next morning we decided not to take the risk to try the long hike with these temperatures (36 degrees), so we decided to do the shorter but steep hike of 4 hours up to Mount Ohlssen Bagge.
After a long and steep climb we reached the top of Mount Ohlssen Bagge. The view over the Wilpena Pound was amazing! We didn’t spend a lot of time at the top as it was already getting really hot and the millions of flies around us were too annoying!
When we arrived back on the campsite we went straight to the pool to cool down. We really needed it! The walk up too Mount Ohlssen Bagge was not too difficult, it was just very hot which made it exhausting. After an afternoon relaxing at the pool and cooking food, we went to the view point Stokes Hill to watch the sunset. As the sun was going down, we saw so many kangaroos and emus and the sunset was amazing over the mountain range. Definitely a must do when you are in the Flinders Ranges! Just be careful with driving back to the campsite as the kangaroos are on the road everywhere.
