Heading into the Aroona Valley, I can feel the Ranges becoming more real as it narrows.
Spectacular colours, and millions of those hardy pines growing wherever they can.
No wonder that in 1851 Frederick Hayward chose here for his selection, plus there are springs here, one close to the ruins of his stone house on a small ridge. It is near what is now the edge of the Ikara/Flinders National Park. Great views, and water, so precious in this environment.
He ran sheep, lots of them, only staying 11 years before returning to England, having made his fortune from their wool.
Naturally, as an old owner builder and Owner Builder writer, I was fascinated by the ‘pine and pug’ restored buildings nearby, which Eddie Pumpa had built in 1925 and where Hans Heysen the painter sometimes stayed.
The restorers have left small areas of the ‘pug’ used to seal the walls, both inside and out. The pines were used whole, as back in the NSW west this is known as the most terrnite-resistant way to use them. The pug was made from the local clay and sand.
As always, good owner-builders use what’s around them: stones, pines and dirt.
The fields of these pretty wildflowers I have been seeing absolutely everywhere now fill me with as much despair as did the feral goats. A walker has identified them, dismissively, as onion weed; not native wildflowers at all, but an incredibly pervasive, invasive feral plant.
There is often a dash of purple from the introduced Paterson’s Curse, which I did know, and have also seen widely spread on this trip.
I have not had the heart to ask what is the green plant that covers everywhere that is usually brown or orange or white bare ground as I assume it is a feral weed.
Oh dear…