Willow Springs to Farina: day 4

To reach Farina we travelled through time along Brachina Gorge.
"Considered ‘a corridor through time’, Brachina Gorge is a window into 650 million years of the earth’s history, providing geologists with crucial information about a time long before sure-footed wallabies made their homes among the tortured rocks."http://www.raa.com.au/travel/blog/295

Walking along a dry river bed we could see were wallabies had been digging for water, a few inches below the surface. We also saw what looked like fossils in the rock.

The river gum here has one of the largest trunks I have ever seen. Magnificent.

It amazes me how you can see how the rocks have been pushed and lifted out of the earth by fearsome forces millions of years ago. Just love this place.

 The cars are dwarfed by the towering cliffs and by time itself.

The ABC Range.

  We arrived at the Prairie Roadhouse at Parachilna in time for morning tea and playtime with the local dog.                                                                             Lots of fun.

There was even a display of fossils to look at.






                                                   

Ruins near Cottage Creek.

A quick stop at the Lyndhurst Pub for lunch and another photo stop at the ochre cliffs and then we were off to Farina for the night.

 Situated near the old Ghan railway track , Farina was meant to be the wheat capitol of South Australia and was proclaimed a town in 1878. But after a few years of good rainfall, drought set in and the town was eventually deserted in the 1960's. It is being lovingly restored by a dedicated group of people. There is a lovely camping ground and we had the tents set up with plenty of time to explore the town

 Back at the tents galahs were nosily flying around keeping an eye on things, I think some of may have nested in a hole in the tree above our tent. We even had a small flock of budgies fly in and out again. And the glow from the setting sun brought out colours of silver and burnished copper from the gum trees.

 Day three and we did the Skytrek self guided tour of Willow Springs:

It is "one of the Flinders Ranges most popular and exhilarating 4WD journeys:
	taking you through majestic river gum lined creeks groves of native pines and black oak over bluebush plains through rugged mountain valleys ascending a mountain range
	With the aid of a self guiding map experience the unique and outstanding features such as
	aboriginal etchings natural springs modern and historic pastoral points of interest ( windmills, mustering yards, shepherd's hut ) large variety of flora and fauna" geological features (http://www.skytrekwillowsprings.com.au/skytrek.htm) We saw aboriginal rock carvings that were thousands of years old, plenty of flowers ,dry creek beds with river gums growing in and around them, and so much more beside. The views were stunning and varied. The photos can all speak for themselves.  The cars sit in front of the Little Bunkers. An eagle's nest was spotted in a river gum.  Our lunch stop was in a dry creek bed with magnificent gums all around.  Rusty dingo traps hang from a tree.   Brendan's Gate.    There were  some steep hills to climb and the road was dry and dusty. All worth it at the end  And then there were ochre cliffs with glorious shades of red and yellow. The gold of the acacias contrasted nicely with the earthy colours. . Waterholes nestled under towering cliffs. And then there was one last climb  before the end was in sight. And down below was the camping ground and our tent looking very small.