Arkaroola

[ZenGum]

I went hiking in Arkaroola, in the Northern Flinders Ranges, South Australia.

After a day and a half of hiking through country like this:



I came to the wonderfully named Nooldoonooldoona Waterhole, where the water was good to drink (but I filtered it anyway):



But water is life, and it was dry as a dead dingo's donger up there, so I shortened my hike and came home earlier, which meant that I got to see this on the way home:

[Griff]

Tough but stunningly beautiful country Zen. How far between watering holes?

[ZenGum]

In one case, just a few kilometres, two or three, but the first one was about 12 with all the winding following the river. With the late start from the trailhead I wasn't going to get there until after lunch on day two so I had to start with about 6 litres (6 kilograms, 12lbs) of water.
There was an option to do an extra four days via two other waterholes, but they would have been 12 to 15km days with a full load of water. That just wouldn't have been fun. I might go again at the end of the next good rainy season they get.

[monster]

Stunning pics, Zen.

[xoxoxoBruce]

River? Not potable? The first picture looks like ankle twisting terrain, were you following a trail with smoother walking?

[Pico and ME]

Looks a lot like Arizona. I'm fascinated by the desert landscape. Any more pics?

[ZenGum]

Originally Posted by xoxoxoBruce

River? Not potable? The first picture looks like ankle twisting terrain, were you following a trail with smoother walking?

I guess I should have said "... following the river bed..." I guess it's potable if you're a rock-monster:



That is how it is for 99% of its length; it is the end of the dry season for that area, and we've had a 10-year dry period as well. It would be a fantastic place if there was regular water.

As it was, I had to do plenty of research to plan for the water situation. As well as getting guidebooks and talking to locals, I even dug out some books about the traditional Aboriginal culture in the area, because I know many Aboriginal songs/stories are verbal maps of the land with important resources mentioned. I was following a story of Arkaroo, the great serpent who drank Lake Frome (a nearby salt lake) dry and crawled back into the mountains, creating Arkaroola creek and leaving a chain of waterholes as he went. I drank from these waterholes.

But as well as no water, there are no paths (now you see why I took the emergency beacon). What you see in those pics is all I had to walk on. I have good stout boots with high ankles, tied tightly. Mind you, they are less than 6 weeks old and already the tread is breaking off the soles so I am not too happy about them.

[casimendocina]

Originally Posted by monster

Stunning pics, Zen.

I'll second that.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Originally Posted by ZenGum

I have good stout boots with high ankles, tied tightly.

Wouldn't be much help against Arkaroo.
Is there much in the way of fauna, like small critters, snakes, birds, reptiles, scurrying about the bush?
Thanks for the tour, by the way.

[glatt]

Beautiful country. I don't envy you, carrying that much water.

[ZenGum]

On three occasions I came across stumpy-tailed lizards sunning themselves on the rocks, and could easily have clubbed and eaten them had I wanted too. (Not my photo).



I also saw an echidna which was also catchable if necessary (but a real prick to skin). (Not my photo).



There were plenty of kangaroos (you know what they look like) and an emu (my photo):



And lots of birds, including the wedge-tailed eagle (not my photo):



Although more important birds were the white cockatoos because, as seed eaters, they need to drink regularly, so their behaviour is a good guide to water supplies.

[casimendocina]

Any ideas what stumpy tailed lizard and echidna taste like?

Hey Zen, could you put an arrow on the photo indicating where the emu is? I'm fairly good at emu identification and couldn't quite spot it...then again, stronger magnification on the glasses (or actually putting them on in the first place) might do the trick.

[ZenGum]

Casi, try refreshing the page, the first "emu" photo was somehow the wrong one, and didn't actually have an emu in it. Of course, I could just highlight the emu and make you look like a .... well ...

As for the taste, I've heard of Aboriginals eating echidna so it must be ok, and the stumpy's tail is a fat reservoir so it might be pretty tasty too.

[casimendocina]

Cheers. Chivalry is obviously not dead.

[TheMercenary]

Beautiful pics and a great narration. Given the scarcity of water I would be a bit worried that something larger or more dangerous might be hanging about those water holes. Is that a worry? You guys have all the nasty poison things down there so I guess you really have to know your back country. Thanks for the show. Any more pics?