Arkaroola — another world

With such a moon my last night at Alpana, I knew there’d not be much to see from Arkaroola’s three observatories.

Getting to Arkaroola from Blinman means 152 km of dirt road. I’d say that it had been brushed up for the long weekend as it was in good condition, if unpleasantly corrugated at times, such as after Wearing Gorge.

I was deliberately driving slowly, but quite a few convoys of 4WDs flew towards and past me, their following dust clouds betraying their approach.

The road to the Vulkathunha-Gammon Ranges National Park often goes through properties, and the first flock of sheep I saw looked absolutely incongruous.  They were unfamiliar, black-faced, and I had to look twice to see if they were sheep or goats. 

What do they eat?

The soil became red again, with distant views of the Flinders I was leaving behind.

I stopped in the middle of the road for this emu and her stripey chick.

About 50 km from Arkaroola, I also stopped to check on a car, pulled over, with luggage being removed. 

‘A puncture,’ the bloke said. It was a rental car, so who knows what state the spare would be in if he could swap it? I took his details to pass on to Arkaroola, where they were booked in. 

Too many kilometres later, I realised I should have checked that they had enough drinking water, in case they were there for some hours.

I saw them later at Arkaroola, where the tyre he had managed to change had been fixed.

Arkaroola Village is a strange place, sitting as it does in the midst of the most rugged and harsh ranges you could imagine. It could well be on the moon, it is so different from anywhere else I’ve been.

It is part of the Arkaroola Wilderness Sanctuary, but doesn’t feel like that.

It is an odd cross between a resort, with lots of accommodation and a huge licensed dining area, and a mining town (copper), with much leftover machinery from various times, and with mechanical services on hand.

It has phone reception… and fuel, at $2.45 a litre for diesel. This will be by far the most expensive yet, but as I said before, out here fuel supply is sporadic and essential, so it comes first, at whatever cost.

And of course, my timing is impeccable, and the observatories are not open, due to the full moon.

The toilets are out of order; the smell is unpleasant as workmen dig and try to fix them, but there are emus wandering through the camp and I have great views of Griselda’s Hill, which I vow to walk tomorrow.