Red earth in Flinders Ranges, South Australia

Tweet

While we were in South Australia, we travelled north from Adelaide to the Flinders Range which is basically in the ‘outback’. The soil there is mostly red but the dirt roads are limestone based and generally very good. We parked our caravan at Willow Springs Station for two nights. Many of the stations in this region offer tourist accommodation of one sort or another. It is a good way of supplementing their income. We were given a six-page leaflet about the station and I thought I’d share some of the information it contained. The station consists of 70,000 acres (28,300 hectares)(283 square kilometres)(109 square miles) and carries 1 sheep to 16 acres (40 large suburban (Australian) house blocks. Maximum carrying capacity is 4,500 sheep and up to 40 breeding cows. Water comes from bores, wells and springs; some of which are equipped with windmills. Rainwater is also collected off rooves of buildings. Power comes from two diesel solar generators. Average rainfull is 12 inches with a record of 32 inches in 1972 and 3 inches in 2002. We drove to Stokes Lookout and had a magnificent 360° view over the station. It was blowing a gale at the lookout so we didn’t worry about wine and nibbles although we did watch the sun set. I wondered how the early explorers kept their bearings when the country seemed to consist only of these incredible ‘dunes’ of red earth.