Remember that a click on the photos gives you a much larger and better picture.
Some people liked the photo of Aroona valley but could not gauge the scale. To Clarify, the valley and is about 12 Km long, the bluff is probably 5 Km away. The mountains in the far distance maybe 40 Km away.
While at the Blinman Pub yesterday we bought a Tawny port that came in a typical bush container.
We enjoyed some last night with a custard tart from the Blinman Bakery, both were very enjoyable. Maybe the port helped us with the cryptic crosswords, as we got 3 Age cryptics out completely.
Last night while we were warming by our fire, the clouds opened up enough for the sun to strike the mountain opposite the campground. At Deen’s suggestion I braved the chill and put the drone up to capture this photo. The sky also shows how stormy it has been.
It rained overnight and the wind was still icy in the morning, but the rain cleared so we went to Apealinna ruins. This was a cattle run started 1856 by Joseph Wills who managed to get everyone offside as his boundaries were disputed. He didn’t fit in with the graziers and landed gentry in the area. He carried on a dispute for 13 years and managed to get imprisoned for 4 years for shooting a shepherd on trumped up evidence. His gun was dusty, the bullet could not have reached the shepherd and the shepherd was uninjured. Such was the pull of those who opposed his claims.
The rock work building his cottage was fairly rough with untrimmed rocks of many different sizes held together with mud, but it is still standing after 162 years. In 1859 copper was discovered and mining started. As Wills had the only permanent water the miners built a small settlement on the opposite side of the creek, which upset Wills no end. More furious letter writing was to no avail, as the mining company had contacts in government and managed to have 5 square miles excised from Wills lease, and made public land, it sounds really unfair. The mine Managers house was professionally built and is nearly intact except for the thatched roof. The rock work is much more even and rocks were trimmed to fit. The mortar had lime in it to strengthen the mud. It was a 3 room house.
Some small one room miners huts were nearby, but nearly all broken down and of very rough construction. In 1871 Wills and his wife and 3 children left the property as they were behind in their rent only having just survived the bad 1860s drought.
There are two picnic tables near the ruins so we parked the car near one table as a wind break and cooked some sausages to be had in rolls for lunch. We used Deen’s portable fire BBQ to cook the sausages and it worked very well. You can tell it is cold as we well rugged up, but we enjoyed ourselves.
On the way to Appealinna we stopped at Hucks Lookout for a magnificent view of the ranges.
We saw similar, but less spectacular, views on the drive back from Blinman yesterday on Flinders Ranges Road.
Sadly tomorrow is our last day in the Flinders, I head north and Deen heads south.
Stunning scenery, Russ. Wonderful photos. There is so much colour in the scrubby trees in that last shot. Can you tell me what the trees might be?
David I think they are some sort of bush about 5-8′ high, we need Lynton here to do the ID. Most of the trees are either Mallee gums or native pine, I think Cyprus Pine. The ones in the foreground of the photo of the mountain catching the sun are Cyprus Pines which also cover the campground.