Day 12 - Off to Alpana Station 29/09/15

The Flinders Ranges is fast becoming known to us as the land of the Emus...they are everywhere! I think we have seen hundreds of them. They are everywhere sometimes in mobs as large as 50. There is also lots of black Kites everywhere, they are after the grasshoppers and sadly when they are around the Wedge Tailed Eagles are not which has been very unfortunate because there is nothing more exciting than seeing the Wedgie in the wild.

Today we packed up and said goodbye to Wilpena Pound to our next destination Alpana Station. Alpana Station is a family owned and operated sheep station which is on 60,000 acres and owned by the same family since 1878. The shear size of this station is amazing, it hard to believe how much land they farm on. They are currently farming 3,000 Merino sheep which get sheared once a year in October.

After setting up camp we were lucky enough to go on a tag along tour with the owner Sally around the property. We only drove across one paddock which is 5,000 acres. Along the way we got to go in and have a look at the shearing shed and she explained how many shearers they have come in, 5, and the process of the shearing and what happens to the wool after its off the sheep. Most Australian wool is sold over to the Asian countries who ironically make jumpers out of and sell back to the Australian market.

During this tour we were taken to the waterfalls & springs they have in their property. We saw a Wedge Tailed Eagle nest which hasn't been used since 2009 and Sally is hoping they will come back and use it one day. This was by far my most interesting and favourite drive of the trip. To be able to drive around the property & have Sally on the radio fielding all our questions about life on the land & what we were seeing was truly great. We also saw some wildlife, lizards, emus (of course) & three different types of Kangaroos. I have always thought the Red Kangaroo was a beastly impressive site until I saw a Euro Kangaroo, this is one lean solid mean muscled kangaroo, I would not want to meet him in a dark alley. And of course we saw the Eastern Grey.

After the tour we all quickly went back to our campers to grab some drinks and nibbles and headed up to Sunset Hill. Wow what an amazing sunset. The Australian Outback really does put on a spectacular show. 

We are lucky that we have had John & Caitie put together this amazing trip, as a little thank you from the group we took up a collection and Matt made a fake cheque and presented it to John as a thank you, we donated $200 towards Johns Ride for Cancer cause which he is doing next year. Of course the real cash was handed over on return to camp.

Back at camp the Victorian men, Matt, Jacko, Adam & Clarkey decided they would show the interstaters what a real fire looked like and I think you could have seen it from the space station. Very warm and impressive fire. 

We have been having some really hot day 28, 29 degrees and heading towards 38 but the nights are chilly so the fires are greatly appreciated. Tonight we were also lucky to see the most amazing moon rising.

Today's blog was written by Di :)