MOUNTAIN TO THE SEA

From the Flinders Ranges to the River Murray Mouth and the Southern Ocean.

Rolling valleys sprinkled with the dark green spears of native pines and steep slopes peppered with prickly, cushion like tussocks of yellow triodia climbing towards red rock flanks of the surrounding crags typifies what many consider to be Australia’s best arid mountain range. The Flinders Ranges stretch for over 1 200 kilometres from the edge of St Vincent’s Gulf just north of Adelaide, the gracious capital of South Australia, to the horseshoe ring of great salt lakes where the last outlier of the range was named Mt Hopeless by a frustrated pioneer explorer.

Small towns frozen in time, vast sheep stations, ruins of failed settlements, caves and rock walls filled with the painted and etched art works of the original Aboriginal inhabitants, hundreds of kilometres of hiking trails, untrammelled wilderness, bountiful pockets of wildlife, quartzite ridges and jagged peaks that are now just the eroded stumps of a once mighty range, rivers of rocks and sand subject to flash floods in the summer cloudbursts and deep cool gorges are just some of the varied delights of this range reaching into the classical Outback. Its pre Cambrian origins 750 million years ago make for a fascinating journey through geological time with the Ediacaran fossils recognised as one of the world’s oldest marine fauna.

Descendants of the traditional Aboriginal Adnyamathanha still live in the ranges. A few small groups have taken to sharing their knowledge and culture with the growing number of visitors. They will tell you about the Dreaming songlines of the great ancestor beings such as the giant snake, the Arkaroo who formed many of the features of the land, or explain the many wild food and medicine plants. This all forms part of a fascinating insight that places a different perspective on experiencing the essence of the Flinders Ranges.

It is a dramatic contrast to head south into the dunescapes, ocean beaches and lagoon wetlands of the Coorong, home to the Ngarrindjeri Aboriginals. This was a land of great bounty rich with plant, marine, bird and animal life that sustained one of Australia’s densest Aboriginal populations in a state of affluence. Myriad little bays and backwaters filled with water birds are protected by a narrow dunal barrier that stretches some 120 kilometres south from the Murray River mouth holding back the incessant pounding of the Southern Ocean breakers. The Coorong is a place of ever-changing moods and in all seasons is subject to spectacular environmental light shows such as black rainsqualls streaming across the green water channel, molten sun sinking over golden water and the stark dunes colouring everything in changing shades of orange and pink. Wedged shape squadrons of regal pelicans soaring effortlessly over their domain epitomise the spiritual quality accentuated by the gleaming shell midden mounds that testify to a bountiful Aboriginal occupation.

Today the descendants of the Ngarrindjeri are still strongly connected to these lands and waterways and a number of small family enterprises are now sharing the magic of land and culture with visitors. You can follow the path of Ngurrunderi, the great ancestral hero who formed this landscape and set the rules for life, right along the Coorong, the great lakes and the Murray mouth to nearby Kangaroo Island, his last earthly resting place before taking up his position in the star studded milky way.

Kangaroo Island once the home of the vanished Aboriginal Kartan culture is today regarded as one of Australia’s best wildlife havens. Named after its largest terrestrial macrapod the Kangaroo Island kangaroo, the island offers a total range of very viewable bird and animal life. Koalas introduced from the mainland are now abundant and, along with the wallabies, emus, large goanna lizards, Australian sea lions, fairy penguins, the spiny echidna and its even stranger relative the duck billed platypus, offer the visitor a total range of Australia’s unique wildlife. The surrounding rugged coastline, golden beaches and the rich and varied plant communities all create a very special sense of place.

Your journey from the arid mountainscapes of the Flinders Ranges to the cultural riches of the Coorong ending in a relaxing conclusion on Kangaroo Island provides you with a blend of the very best elements and features these three fascinating environments offer. For a large part you are off the beaten track to see the aspects which make Australia such a unique and enigmatic destination with the added bonus of an Aboriginal perspective to add a new dimension to the experience. Diverse Travel knows what are the very best elements these special places have to offer and has created a range of itinerary options which will connect you to an unforgettable experience.

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