Flinders Ranges & Outback - Great Australian Road Trips

On the Water
Cruising with the dolphins around Port Augusta and
boating with the pelicans at Innamincka can provide
you with genuine insights into the waterways, flora
and fauna in the region. A trip on the water adds a
great dimension to your holiday experience. Check
out page 86 for tour operators who can take you on
a water-based tour.
Delicious Food and Wine
Food and wine-lovers will not have to look very
hard to enjoy regional fare in the Flinders Ranges
and Outback. Food and wine production is primarily
concentrated in the southern Flinders Ranges.
Keep your eye out for quandong pies and saltbush
lamb at bush bakeries and enjoy great regional
dishes at welcoming country pubs, cafés and
restaurants. Tastes of the Outback is a 10 day
regional event in April celebrating food, wine and
Outback entertainment.
Come Fly With Us
Drive or walk over the mountains and plains one
day and fly over them the next! There is no better
way to put the magnificent Ranges and the vast
Outback into glorious perspective than by taking
to the air. Scenic flights operate in both the Flinders
Ranges and the Outback. Check out page 86
for tour operators who can take you to some
of Australia’s most unspoilt natural landscapes.
4 www.southaustralia.com
NATIONAL TOURISM
ACCREDITATION PROGRAM
Keep your holiday ticking along nicely
South Australian Tourism businesses, which meet
the standards of the National Tourism Accreditation
Program are able to display this accreditation tick. For
‘peace of mind’ look for the tick as your assurance of:
www.tourismaccreditation.com.au
From left to right: Trail riding, Rawnsley Park Station;
Flying over Wilpena Pound, Flinders Ranges National Park;
Dickinsonia fossil; Brachina Gorge Track, Flinders Ranges.
IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF TIME
The Australian continent, as we know it, did not exist 120 million years ago!
The present landmass was attached to Antarctica and lay about 70 degrees
south, close to the southern polar circle. The Flinders Ranges and Outback
offers a genuine glimpse of this timeless land.
FLINDERS RANGES
The central part of the Flinders Ranges is one
of the oldest landscapes on earth. In it, you can
discover 600 million years of earth’s history
including the evolution of early life-forms.
These very first animals were mostly round,
disc-shaped forms similar to jellyfish, but
some resembled worms and arthropods.
Their discovery led scientists to name a new
‘time slice’ in earth’s history - the Ediacaran
Period. This period is formally recognised by
the “golden spike”, a global reference point,
in Brachina Gorge.
The first modern animals – complex active
organisms like crabs, starfish and worms
– evolved about 30 million years after the
Ediacaran life forms, during what paleantologists
call “the Cambrian Explosion”. These are the
kinds of animals we see on the sea floor today.
You can also find fossils of the first of these
advanced animals in one of Austrlaia’s richest
fossil sites. Explore the 20km self-guided driving
Brachina Gorge Geological Trail from east to
west starting at the Brachina Gorge/Blinman
Road junction. See the map on page 41 (ref C5).
COOBER PEDY
It’s hard to imagine today, but most of Australia
was underwater 120 million years ago. A vast
shallow inland sea stretched from what’s now
the Gulf of Carpentaria, across Queensland,
northern New South Wales, northern South
Australia and up into north western Western
Australia. Coober Pedy was on the southern
edge of this sea and close to the shore.
The climate was freezing, with water
temperatures as low as –1˚C. Icebergs would
have been present and the area endured months
of polar darkness each year. Animals of the time
included dinosaurs, pterosaurs (pterodactyls)
and giant marine lizards.
Fossils found around this region of marine
animals are common including clams (bivalves),
snails and giant marine reptiles such as
ichthyosaurs (or “fish lizards”), up to seven
metres long, and plesiosaurs that were longnecked
aquatic predators looking something like
the famous Loch Ness monster. See some of
these amazing fossils first-hand at Umoona Opal
Mine and Museum in Coober Pedy. See page 72
for more information.
SA MUSEUM
For an excellent introduction to the fossils of
our region and the oldest landscape on earth,
visit the Origin Energy Fossil Gallery at the SA
Museum in Adelaide.
Visit www.samuseum.sa.gov.au or call
(08) 8207 7500.
SOUTH AUSTRALIAN
FOSSIL DISCOVERY TRAIL RAIL
Travelling by car?
Then follow the Fossil Discovery
Trail through the Flinders Ranges
and Outback of South Australia
and you will connect with our
ancient landscapes in a new way.
For more information contact
the Wadlata Outback Centre
on 1800 633 060.
www.flindersoutback.com 5