Ikara - Flinders Ranges | Adnyamathanha Country

As we pulled away from Melbourne on a day of steady rain we longed for some sunshine and warmer weather. Heading inland to the North of South Australia the skies turned a vivid blue, the sunsets long and spectacular and the stars glowed all the way to the horizon.

Here the landscape rises up with rugged, weathered peaks and rocky gorges that make up the Flinders Rangers. The wildlife is abundant with Emus roaming through the gorges and kangaroos likely to bound alongside you as you drive.

We camped inside the Parachilna Gorge and enjoyed a roaring camp fire each night after days spent hiking.

The Oodnadata track, a dirt road that follows the route of the original old Ghan Railway from Adelaide to Alice Springs, took us across to the Stuart highway. It is along these roads that you get a sense of the true expanse of Australia and the remoteness of being in the outback. You follow the fence line of Anna Creek Station the largest cattle station in Australia of 26 thousand square hectares. We also got to see Lake Eyre, a massive inland sea full of water after all the rain Australia has been experiencing.

On ward to Alice Springs. No other country speaks to my soul as much as Arrernte Country. It is referred to as the heart of Australia and I feel this very strongly. My first sight of Uluru brought tears to my eyes as I was overwhelmed with its beauty and strength.

However, it is the East and West McDonald ranges that gives this country it’s surprising beauty and I would describe the drive from Alice Springs to Hermansburg the most beautiful drive in Australia. Every 15km, or so, you can discover and explore a gorge with a hidden rock pool to cool off in. This follows the path of the Larapinta trail that runs for 223 km between the town of Alice Springs in the east and Mt Sonder in the west, that has been home to the local Aboriginal people for over 40,000 years.

Onward and upward would be the way to describe the next stage of our road trip from Alice Springs to Darwin. Karlu karlu (Devils marbles) rise out of what has been a pretty boring landscape. We arrive here at sunset and become mesmorised with the colour and form of these rocks. Formed over millions of years these rocks seem to have been piled on top of each other with purpose. We wander around the pathways and can feel how important this site must be to the Warumungu people. Many of the places were too sacred to photograph or walk around.

The landscape from here becomes filled with ant mounds and many areas are blackened by continuous burning, a practice to regenerate the land. The land of Kakadu is looked after by the Bininj people in the north of the park and Mungguy in the south.

The beauty of Kakadu is not just in the breathtaking landscape but in the feeling you are walking on the footprints of people who had a deep knowledge of country and how to live without taking from it. This land was abundant with food and resources and provided them with all their needs.

Stories written in rock ledges showed how they passed on this knowledge and their dreamings through generations. Meeting rangers who are working on the land of their ancestors speak of the country with such heart and pride. They welcome us and are generous with their knowledge and stories.

However, the vulnerability of the eco system is visible. Wild pigs are having a devastating effect on the vegetation around the waterways, introduced weed is growing rampant and we have been mining uranium directly next to the national park.

My hope is that we respect and learn from our first nations people and find ways to live with the land rather than off it.

NOTHING BUT BLUE SKIES