Wilpena Pound, Flinders Ranges, South Australia

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One of South Australia’s most spectacular natural attractions is Wilpena Pound, a natural amphitheatre of mountains in the heart of the Flinders Ranges National Park. It is 429 kilometres (267 mi) north of Adelaide. The Pound is actually two ranges of mountains which almost completely encircles the gently sloping interior. Wilpena Gap is a gorge in the eastern range and most of the inside of the Pound drains through the Gap. A high saddle in the south-western range, Bridle Gap, is believed to be the only other place where a skilled horseman might enter the Pound. During the early 20th century attempts were made to farm the Pound but these failed. The tourism potential was first recognised in 1945. Today a resort caters for tourists and has many modern facilities. A bus takes passengers to a point near the Pound and a seven kilometre return walk will get you into the Pound itself. There are also scenic flights available which take passengers over the Pound. The only way to get a photo of the whole Pound is from an aircraft so I’m using a free-to-use photo from Wikimedia. The link is: Iain Whyte (Iainwhyte) (Own work TheWell) [CC BY-SA 2.5 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5)], via Wikimedia Commons