The Flinders Ranges

Day 1 | Tuesday 14 September
Arrive Glenelg
Our journey begins on Kaurna Country at Glenelg, a coastal suburb of Adelaide overlooking Gulf St Vincent. For thousands of years, the Adelaide Plains were home to the Kaurna people, whose Country extended across the coastal plain and surrounding districts. It was into this established landscape that British colonists arrived in 1836, beginning a period of rapid expansion northwards as pastoral and agricultural settlement spread into the landscapes we explore over the coming days. After settling into our hotel, we gather in the afternoon for an introductory walk to the Pioneer Memorial, where Chris introduces the establishment of the colony and the experiences of its early European settlers. On return to our hotel, we enjoy a welcome drink before dinner together overlooking the marina. Overnight Glenelg (D)

Day 2 | Wednesday 15 September
Barossa and Clare Valley
North of Adelaide, the Barossa and Clare Valleys developed distinctive rural identities during the 19th century, shaped by German-speaking Lutheran settlement and viticulture in the Barossa, and by pastoral estates, farming and winegrowing further north around Clare. Leaving Glenelg behind today, we first travel through the Barossa, stopping at historic Seppeltsfield for morning tea and a walk through the winery grounds. Continuing north, we then arrive at Anlaby House, founded in 1839 and among South Australia’s oldest pastoral properties. Here we tour the homestead and heritage-listed gardens, while tracing the development of its merino flock from sheep driven overland from New South Wales by Frederick Dutton. After lunch together at the property, we continue deeper into the Clare Valley to Bungaree Station – a working sheep farm extending across 80,000 acres. Our accommodation is in the station’s heritage-listed cottages, with private bedrooms and shared bathroom and living facilities within each cottage. On arrival, there is time to settle in and explore the historic property before we gather for dinner. Overnight Bungaree Station (B, L, D)

Day 3 | Thursday 16 September
Mintaro
By the mid-19th century, the copper boom was reshaping South Australia’s Mid North, creating new transport routes between the Burra mines and the coast and drawing settlements into their path. One of these was Mintaro, established in 1849 on the Gulf Road as a staging point for the bullock and mule teams carrying copper westwards, before slate quarrying gave the village a more permanent footing. Following a morning walk through Bungaree Station, we travel to Mintaro to explore its remarkably intact 19th-century streetscape and historic slate quarry. Lunch is then enjoyed at the Magpie & Stump Hotel, before we continue to Martindale Hall – built in 1879 for pastoralist Edmund Bowman and an imposing expression of the wealth generated by the district’s great estates. Our final visit is Sevenhill, where Jesuits first planted vines in 1851 to produce sacramental wine, a tradition that continues alongside estate-grown Riesling, Shiraz and Cabernet Sauvignon. Following a tour and tasting, we return to Bungaree for dinner at the station. Overnight Bungaree Station (B, L, D)

Day 4 | Friday 17 September
Into the Flinders Ranges
Beyond the Clare Valley, the favourable conditions that had supported intensive farming and viticulture begin to fall away, and the history of European settlement becomes increasingly shaped by an arid climate. This transition is especially clear at Kanyaka Station, established for cattle in 1852 and later supporting a substantial pastoral community before repeated drought and stock losses forced its abandonment. As we continue north today, we stop to explore the surviving stone ruins of Kanyaka’s homestead and station buildings, followed by lunch together in the nearby township of Hawker. Beyond Hawker, the folded ridges of the Flinders Ranges bring a different history into focus, shaped by geology and the long presence of the Adnyamathanha people. At Arkaroo Rock, we examine ochre and charcoal paintings within a sheltered overhang that depict aspects of the Adnyamathanha creation stories. From here, we continue to Wilpena Pound Resort, our base for the next three nights, and in the early evening gather at Stokes Hill for drinks and nibbles as the setting sun catches the surrounding ranges. Dinner back at the resort concludes the day. Overnight Flinders Ranges (B, L, D)

Day 5 | Saturday 18 September
Wilpena Pound and Brachina Gorge
At the heart of the Flinders Ranges, Wilpena Pound forms a vast natural amphitheatre enclosed by ridges of ancient sedimentary rock. Known to the Adnyamathanha people as Ikara, meaning ‘meeting place’, the Pound is best understood from above, and we begin the day with a 30-minute scenic flight tracing its great enclosing ridges and revealing the full scale and structure of the landscape. The perspective then shifts from the great form of the Pound to the geological record preserved within the ranges, as we travel into Brachina Gorge where exposed strata reveal around 130 million years of Earth’s history. On a walking tour, we examine the sequence of rock layers and the evidence they preserve of changing environments and early life, before pausing for a picnic lunch at a lookout. The gorge is also an important refuge for the Yellow-footed Rock-wallaby and, in the 19th century, provided a practical passage through the ranges for bullock teams and pastoral traffic. We return to Wilpena Pound Resort in the mid-afternoon, with time at leisure before gathering again for dinner. Overnight Flinders Ranges (B, L, D)

Day 6 | Sunday 19 September
Ikara on Foot
Having viewed the Pound from above, we now enter Ikara on foot, gaining a closer sense of the landform and the environment enclosed by its great ring of ridges. Our morning walk follows Wilpena Creek through river red gum woodland and into the interior of the Pound, where the scale and structure seen from the air yesterday can be understood at ground level. After a break for lunch, we then turn to the area’s more recent history, walking to Wilpena Homestead and through the historic station precinct, which recalls the pastoral use of this country from the 19th century. Nearby stands the Cazneaux Tree, a river red gum immortalised by photographer Harold Cazneaux in his 1937 work Spirit of Endurance – one of the best-known images of the Flinders Ranges. An afternoon at leisure follows, with dinner together at the resort this evening. Overnight Flinders Ranges (B, D)

Day 7 | Monday 20 September
Dingley Dell, Blinman and Wadna
Set along Oraparinna Creek within Ikara-Flinders Ranges National Park, Dingley Dell is a small bush campsite surrounded by the rugged country of the northern ranges. Its creekline setting provides the backdrop for our morning with Adnyamathanha guide Kristian Coulthard, who draws on his cultural knowledge and family history as we explore the area. From here, the focus shifts to the mining history of the northern Flinders as we continue to Blinman, where copper was discovered in the mid-19th century. A guided tour takes us underground into the former mine, following its tunnels and workings to see how copper was extracted and how miners worked beneath the ranges. We then join Kristian and his family at Wadna, their Aboriginal-owned cultural centre near Blinman, for lunch and a further introduction to Adnyamathanha culture and contemporary connections to Country. Later in the afternoon, we continue north through the ranges towards Arkaroola, with stops along the way as the landscape becomes progressively more rugged and remote. We arrive at Arkaroola Wilderness Resort, our base for the next two nights, before dinner together this evening. Overnight Arkaroola (B, L, D)

Day 8 | Tuesday 21 September
Acacia Ridge and the Ridgetop Track
Arkaroola occupies one of the most geologically complex parts of the northern Flinders Ranges, where rocks dating back almost two billion years are exposed across a rugged landscape of granite peaks, steep ridges and narrow gorges. Beginning on foot, we follow Acacia Ridge, where exposed rock and sparse vegetation bring the character of the reserve into closer focus. After returning to the resort for a break for lunch, we change perspective in the afternoon, boarding specially designed open-top 4WD vehicles for Arkaroola’s Ridgetop Tour. The route climbs steep tracks through the ranges to elevated viewpoints, with sweeping views across the surrounding peaks towards Lake Frome and the desert plains beyond. Back at the resort, we gather for dinner before turning our attention skywards on an astronomy tour within Arkaroola’s International Dark Sky Sanctuary (weather permitting), where exceptionally low light pollution provide some of the finest stargazing in the Southern Hemisphere. Overnight Arkaroola (B, D)

Day 9 | Wednesday 22 September
Iga Warta and Red Gorge
Across the northern Flinders Ranges, ochre deposits have long held cultural and ceremonial significance for Adnyamathanha people, with different colours carrying particular meanings and uses. Leaving Arkaroola today, we begin our journey south and travel first to Iga Warta – an Adnyamathanha-owned cultural centre where these traditions are interpreted on Country. Here, a Traditional Owner leads us to the ochre pits and explains the meaning, significance and traditional uses of the different coloured ochres found in the landscape. Following our tour, we remain at Iga Warta for a barbecue lunch before continuing south to Red Gorge, an important rock-art site along Deception Creek containing one of the region’s largest concentrations of Aboriginal petroglyphs and engravings, with hundreds of motifs preserved across the rock surfaces. We then travel on to Parachilna, where the ranges give way to the broad plains of the outback. On arrival, we settle into our remote lodge-style accommodation before gathering for sundowner drinks and nibbles, looking back towards the Flinders Ranges as the light changes across the landscape. Dinner together at the lodge concludes the day. Overnight Parachilna (B, L, D)

Day 10 | Thursday 23 September
Nilpena and the Ediacaran Fossils
More than half a billion years ago, the western Flinders Ranges lay beneath a shallow sea inhabited by some of the earliest complex organisms known in the fossil record. Their impressions were preserved in fine-grained sandstone, creating one of the world’s most significant records of Ediacaran life and an important window into the period when complex multicellular organisms began to diversify. Today we travel from Parachilna to Nilpena Ediacara National Park, where the remarkable story of the fossil site began almost by chance. In 1985, pastoralist Ross Fargher traced sandstone slabs from his station woolshed back into the surrounding hills, where fossils were soon identified among the same rock formations, revealing the extraordinary extent of Nilpena’s fossil beds. Our guided visit traces this story across the exposed fields, before continuing to the station’s restored blacksmith’s shop where specialised lighting and audio-visual interpretation bring the Ediacaran organisms into sharper focus. After lunch together, we continue our exploration of the wider Nilpena landscape before returning to Parachilna in the late afternoon. Dinner together concludes our final evening in the Flinders Ranges. Overnight Parachilna (B, L, D)

Day 11 | Friday 24 September
From the Flinders to Adelaide
Across regional Australia, disused grain silos have been transformed into monumental public artworks, turning the infrastructure of rural industry into canvases for stories of place, community and identity. In many ways, they offer a contemporary expression of ideas we have encountered throughout the tour – the relationship between people, landscape and the industries that have shaped life across inland South Australia. Departing Parachilna today for the journey south to Adelaide, we stop for lunch at Stone Hut before continuing to Wirrabara. Here, a striking silo mural by Australian artist Sam Bates draws together the town’s forestry heritage with the flora and fauna of the Southern Flinders Ranges. From Wirrabara, we make the final journey to Adelaide, arriving in the late afternoon with time to settle into our hotel. In the evening, we gather for a farewell dinner, bringing our exploration of South Australia’s landscapes and the many histories embedded within them to a close. Overnight Adelaide (B, D)

Day 12 | Saturday 25 September
Depart Adelaide
The tour concludes after breakfast in the hotel. (B)