Frommer's Australia from $50 a Day 13th Edition - To Parent Directory

OUTBACK SOUTH AUSTRALIA 519
Willoughby Lighthouse (an attraction in itself), and about 30km (19 miles) from
Penneshaw. One wall is all glass, and there’s a veranda outside with terrific ocean
views. King George Whiting is a specialty, as are the desserts (the sticky date pudding
is mouthwatering). Forty-five-minute tours of the lighthouse leave from the
lighthouse office at 10, 11am, 12:30, and 2pm daily. They cost A$6 (US$3.90)
for adults, A$4.50 (US$2.90) for children, and A$17 (US$11) for a family.
Cape Willoughby. & 08/8553 1333. Reservations necessary. Main courses A$20–A$27 (US$13–US$18).
MC, V. Open 10am–4pm for coffee and cakes; 12.30–2.30pm for lunch.
4 Outback South Australia
South Australia is the driest state in Australia. This is well borne out once you
leave behind the parklands of Adelaide and head into the interior. The Outback
is as harsh as it is beautiful. Much of it is made up of stony desert, saltpans, and
sand hills, roamed by kangaroos and wild goats. After spring rains, though, the
area can burst alive with wildflowers.
It was always difficult to travel through these parts, and even today there are
only four main routes that traverse it. One of them, the Birdsville Track, is
famed in Outback history as the trail along which stockmen once drove their
herds of cattle south from Queensland. Another, the Strzelecki Track, runs
through remote sand dune country to Innaminka and on to Coopers Creek.
Both of these tracks cut through the “dog fence”—a 5,600km (3,472-mile) long
barrier designed to keep dingoes out of the pastoral lands to the south.
If you follow the Stuart Highway, or the Oodnadatta Track, you’ll pass the
mining towns of Coober Pedy, Andamooka, and Mintabie, where people from
all over the world have turned themselves loose in the maddening search for
opal. Out here, too, are national parks, such as the daunting Simpson Desert
Conservation Park, with its seemingly endless blood-red sand dunes and spinifex
plains; and Lake Eyre National Park, with its dried-up salt pan that, during the
rare event of a flood, is a temporary home to thousands of water birds.
THE FLINDERS RANGES NATIONAL PARK
460km (285 miles) N of Adelaide
The dramatic craggy peaks and ridges that make up the Flinders Ranges rise out
of the South Australian desert. The colors of the rock vary from deep red to
orange, with sedimentary lines visible as they run down the sides of cliffs. Much
of the greenery around here is stunted arid land vegetation. Ever since the introduction
of a devastating rabbit virus in 1996, and with the continued culling of
hundreds of thousands of wild goats, shoots and saplings that for decades were
nibbled away before they grew up have started to turn what was once bare land
back into bush. The most remarkable attraction is Wilpena Pound, a natural
circle of cliff faces that form a gigantic depression on top of a mountainous
ledge. The wind whipping over the cliff edges can produce some exhilarating
white-knuckle turbulence if you fly over it in a light aircraft. Kangaroos and
Tips An Outback Travel Warning
If you intend to drive through the Outback, take care. Distances between
points of interest can be vast; water, petrol, food, and accommodations
are far apart. Always travel with a good map and plenty of advice. If you
plan to travel off-road, a 4WD vehicle is a must.