Sacred Earth Safaris

Please make your way into Ade­laide city for your pick up at either the Ibis Ade­laide on Gren­fell Street or Hilton Hotel in Vic­to­ria Square (your choice of pick up loca­tion) at 1pm. 

This first leg of our South Aus­tralian Out­back adven­ture, takes us to Port Augus­ta, sit­u­at­ed at the head of the Spencer Gulf and known as the ​“Cross­roads of Aus­tralia” and Gate­way to the Flinders Ranges, the out­back and Spencer Gulf. 

After spend­ing the after­noon get­ting to know each oth­er, we’ll enjoy our first din­ner togeth­er as a group, in the hotel restaurant. 

Overnight accom­mo­da­tion- Stand­pipe Motor Inn- motel room with en-suite, Port Augusta 

Day 1- Mon­day 26^th Sept (B,L,D)

We’ll depart the hotel after break­fast, for the near­by Aus­tralian Arid Lands Botan­ic Gar­den, where you have some free time to take a wan­der around or one of the walks.. To the unini­ti­at­ed, Australia’s arid heart might seem bar­ren and life­less. In fact the oppo­site is true. The arid lands are home to thou­sands of high­ly evolved plant com­mu­ni­ties that are spe­cial­ly adapt­ed to thrive in an envi­ron­ment where tem­per­a­tures are extreme and drought can last for decades. Australia’s arid zone ecosys­tems are frag­ile and com­plex and they are found nowhere else on earth. The gar­dens are home to many species of birds, with 150 dif­fer­ent species record­ed. Birds can be spot­ted all over the gar­den but there are also 2 bird hides available. 

We’ll now make our way into the Ikara- Flinders Ranges, known for their unique beau­ty, indige­nous his­to­ry, ancient geo­log­i­cal for­ma­tions, rich colours and tex­tures and abun­dant wildlife. The Flinders Ranges are home to a huge array of plant species, birds, rep­tiles and mam­mals and the vibrant colours of the 800 mil­lion-year-old quartzite and lime­stone out­crop that is the Flinders, are tru­ly spectacular. 

En- route we take a look around the Kanya­ka Ruins, just south of Hawk­er. The ruined farm­house is all that remains of a farm­ers dream to pro­vide for his fam­i­ly in this unfor­giv­ing land­scape. It’s a harsh reminder of the hard­ships the first Euro­pean set­tlers endured. 

Our accom­mo­da­tion for the next 3 nights is at the Ikara Safari Camp. We’re sur­round­ed by nature, with views of the ranges and clear skies, which are per­fect for night pho­tog­ra­phy. You might even be able to shoot the stars from right out­side your tent- Andrew is always there for those spe­cial tips ! 

Overnight accom­mo­da­tion — Lux­u­ry Safari tent with en-suite, reverse cycle air con­di­tion­ing, pow­er points, tea/​coffee, view of the ranges and it’s own pri­vate deck and fire pit, (no TV though), at the Ikara Safari Camp at Wilpe­na Pound Resort (3 night stay) 

Day 2 — Tues­day 27^th Sept (B,L,D)

This morn­ing you have the option of tak­ing a walk to the Wilpe­na Pound look­out or take a scenic flight. Walk along the beau­ti­ful Wilpe­na Creek, framed by huge riv­er red gums, into Wilpe­na Pound. Walk­ing on to the Old Hills Home­stead, you can learn about the hard­ships the Hills fam­i­ly had to face at the turn of the cen­tu­ry with the option of walk­ing up to the Wan­gara look­out to see the mys­ti­cal heart of the Flinders Ranges with stun­ning views over Wilpe­na Pound. There is a shut­tle avail­able to short­en the walk, that can take you up and back again (extra cost- approx. $5 each way). 

Flights are extra cost ($196pp for 20 mins, $231pp for 30 mins and $347pp for 1 hour) but we can book them for you, so every­one flies together 

After lunch we depart for an after­noon of explor­ing. We take the Moralana Scenic Dri­ve, which con­nects the Wilpe­na and Leigh Creek Roads and is known as one of the best dri­ves through the Flinders Ranges. We’ll see stun­ning scenery fea­tur­ing the south­ern wall of Wilpe­na Pound, Black Gap Look­out, red Range, Elder Range and more. 

To take us back to Wilpe­na Pound, we trav­el through the Brachi­na Gorge Geo­log­i­cal Trail, a trail that pass­es through 130 mil­lion years of earth his­to­ry, includ­ing mete­orite debris, stro­ma­to­lites and fos­silized plant and ani­mal life. It offers an insight into past cli­mates, the for­ma­tion of the ranges and the evo­lu­tion of ear­ly forms of life. It’s also an impor­tant refuge for the rare and endan­gered Yel­low-foot­ed Rock-wallaby. 

This leads us through the Hey­sen Ranges into Bun­yeroo Val­ley and Gorge, where we stop for late after­noon and sun­set pho­tos at the spec­tac­u­lar Razor­back Lookout. 

Overnight accom­mo­da­tion- Ikara Safari Camp at Wilpe­na Pound Resort. 

Day 3 — Wednes­day 28^th Sept (B,L,D)

This morn­ing we’ll take a walk to the Old Wilpe­na Sta­tion, one of the most sceni­cal­ly spec­tac­u­lar pas­toral set­tle­ments in South Aus­tralia. A work­ing sta­tion for 135 years, Old Wilpe­na Sta­tion slipped into retire­ment in 1985 and is now a tran­quil archive of pas­toral his­to­ry. Once we reach Old Wilpe­na Sta­tion, there are plen­ty of pho­tog­ra­phy oppor­tu­ni­ties, includ­ing a vari­ety of old sta­tion build­ings, the ceme­tery and relics of sta­tion life. The walk is an easy to mod­er­ate 2km walk with some uneven ground. 

Alter­na­tive­ly, you may like to join the 2 hour Yura Udnyu tour with an expe­ri­enced Yura guide, for an extra $47 per per­son. Yura” is the name for Adnya­math­anha peo­ple and ​“Udnyu” means white, so this tour includes the inter­twin­ing his­to­ries of both cul­tures. Along the way, guests learn about the diver­si­ty of the land, native ani­mals, native bush-tuck­er which changes with the sea­son, and Yura cul­ture and his­to­ry. **please note this tour is a pub­lic tour, so there will be oth­er peo­ple on the tour who are not from our group** 

There is some free time this after­noon for you to pur­sue your own pho­tog­ra­phy inter­ests, by tak­ing a walk, stay­ing on longer at Old Wilpe­na Sta­tion or sim­ply relax­ing and enjoy­ing the views and envi­ron­ment at the safari camp. Late this after­noon, we’ll trav­el to the near­by Cazneaux Tree, an old majes­tic riv­er red gum that was made famous by the artist Harold Cazneaux. His inter­na­tion­al­ly rec­og­nized pho­to, tak­en in 1937, was named the ​“The spir­it of endurance”. Cazneaux regard­ed it as his most Aus­tralian picture. 

Overnight accom­mo­da­tion- Ikara Safari Camp at Wilpe­na Pound Resort. 

Day 4 — Thurs­day 29^th Sept (B,L,D)

This morn­ing we depart Wilpe­na and dri­ve to the his­toric min­ing town of Blin­man. After a short break, we dri­ve the back road into the Gam­mon Ranges, head­ing towards Arka­roola Wilder­ness Sanc­tu­ary. The pri­vate­ly owned sanc­tu­ary was found­ed in 1969 by Reg Sprigg, Biol­o­gist, Oceanog­ra­ph­er, Con­ser­va­tion­ist, sci­en­tist and pio­neer of eco-tourism. 

Many min­er­als are found on Arka­roola, includ­ing gold, sap­phires, rubies, amethyst, sev­er­al forms of quartz, urani­nite and mala­chite (among oth­ers) and evi­dence of ear­ly min­ing is scat­tered about Arka­roola and the Gam­mon Ranges. 

Arka­roola is also famous for it’s clear night skies and offers some of the best view­ing con­di­tions in Australia. 

This after­noon you’ll take Arkaroola’s famous Ridgetop tour- an unfor­get­table encounter with the time­less ter­rain and unique nat­ur­al beau­ty of Arka­roola Wilder­ness Sanc­tu­ary. Learn from your Arka­roola guides about Arka­roolas 1600 mil­lion year old geo­log­i­cal his­to­ry as they nav­i­gate the steep slopes and hair rais­ing ascents of the Ridgetop Track. Inspir­ing images of red gran­ite moun­tains and gold­en spinifex cov­ered hill­sides give way to a breath-tak­ing view across the Freel­ing Heights, Lake From and the desert beyond. Take in the 360 degree panora­ma as you enjoy after­noon tea at Sillers Look­out- a lofty pin­na­cle at the end of the track. 

After din­ner, you have the option of tak­ing the Explore the Cos­mos obser­va­to­ry expe­ri­ence (extra $60 pp). You’ll be seat­ed indoors, in a relax­ing space to view the won­ders of our solar sys­tem and beyond into deep space. See the stars and plan­ets from a whole new per­spec­tive, up-close and per­son­al and on the big screen ! 

Overnight accom­mo­da­tion- basic rooms with en-suites, Arka­roola Wilder­ness Sanc­tu­ary. The rooms each have a dou­ble and sin­gle bed, small en-suite and heat­ing / air-con. They do not have a TV, fridge or tea / cof­fee, though a fridge and tea/​cof­fee are avail­able in the com­mu­nial kitchen. There is a large com­mu­nial lounge / seat­ing area for guests to socialise. 

Day 5 — Fri­day 30^th Sept (B,L,D)

Today we trav­el west to Leigh Creek and then north Towards Mar­ree. En-route we vis­it the Lyn­hurst Ochre Pits and Fari­na, one of the towns set­tled ear­ly in the peri­od of the ​‘open­ing of the out­back’ by Euro­pean set­tlers. Explore the ruins, many of which have been sta­bilised and researched and imag­ine in your mind’s eye the life they may have lived and the hard­ships they endured. 

Our accom­mo­da­tion tonight is in Mar­ree, which is sit­u­at­ed at the cross­roads of the Ood­na­dat­ta and Birdsville Tracks. The town also has a rich Abo­rig­i­nal, Afghan and Euro­pean heritage. 

After check­ing into our accom­mo­da­tion, you have some free time to vis­it the Tom Kruse Muse­um (in our hotel) and take a look around the town, includ­ing Tom’s old truck and the Afghan mosque. 

Overnight accom­mo­da­tion – motel room with en-suite, Mar­ree Pub Hotel 

Day 6 — Sat­ur­day 1^st Octo­ber (B,L,D)

This morn­ing we join we join the 615km unsealed Ood­na­dat­ta Track as head towards William Creek. The Ood­na­dat­ta Track fol­lows the Old Ghan Rail­way line and the Over­land Tele­graph, after it was orig­i­nal­ly mapped by the explor­er, John McDouall Stu­art. The track fol­lows an old Abo­rig­i­nal trad­ing route through semi-desert coun­try with arte­sian springs and water­holes along the way. The Ood­na­dat­ta Track is lit­tered with ruins of old town sites, sta­tion ruins, homes, cairns and rem­nants of the old rail­way line, the short-lived gold rush and the Over­land Tele­graph Line 

We stop sev­er­al times en-route, includ­ing the nat­ur­al arte­sian springs with­in Wab­ma Kadar­bu Mound Springs Con­ser­va­tion Park. The Blanche Cup and The Bub­bler mound springs are cre­at­ed from water deep with­in the Great Arte­sian Basin which fil­ters to the sur­face form­ing mounds and bub­bling ponds. 

We also stop at the Lake Eyre South look­out and pass the famous din­go fence. 

Our accom­mo­da­tion for the next 2 nights is at William Creek, the small­est set­tle­ment in South Aus­tralia with a pop­u­la­tion of 3 humans and a dog ! It’s locat­ed 165km’s from the near­est town and sits in the largest cat­tle sta­tion in the world (Anna Creek-approx­i­mate­ly the size of England). 

Overnight accom­mo­da­tion – basic motel style don­ga room with en-suite, TV, tea/​cof­fee and fridge at William Creek Pub Hotel, mid­dle of nowhere, Out­back South Aus­tralia (2 night stay) 

Day 7 — Sun­day 2^nd Octo­ber (B,L,D) day­light sav­ings starts this morn­ing, where you need to put clocks for­ward by 1 hour, at 2am to 3am 

This morn­ing you have the oppor­tu­ni­ty for scenic flights over Kati Than­da- Lake Eyre, Australia’s low­est point, the largest inland lake in Aus­tralia and the largest salt lake in the world ! The Lake con­tains 400 mil­lion tonnes of salt and is 15 metres below sea lev­el. Don­ald Camp­bell set a land speed world record of 649 kmh in his tur­bine car ​“Blue­bird” on its dry bed back in 1964. 

Flights are extra cost (approx. $300 pp for 1 hour) but we can book them for you, so every­one flies together 

On the flight enjoy the visu­al extrem­i­ties of Lake Eyre that will return you both visu­al­ly impact­ed and edu­ca­tion­al­ly enriched. The only way to get the full impact of the lake is from the air. See pre­his­toric riv­er sys­tems graph­ic pat­terns where they enter the lake and form a mag­nif­i­cent art form. Flights include fly­ing to Belt Bay, the low­est point in Australia. 

Then you’ll get to see Lake Eyre from the ground, as we depart for Hal­li­gan Bay at Lake Eyre North. We have plen­ty of time here for a good look at the mag­nif­i­cent lake with it’s incred­i­ble colours and patterns. 

Back to William Creek and after din­ner, con­di­tions per­mit­ting, you may like to try your hand at star photography. 

Overnight accom­mo­da­tion — William Creek Pub Hotel Day 8 — Mon­day 3^rd Octo­ber (B,L,D)

We con­tin­ue to Ood­na­dat­ta today, along the Ood­na­dat­ta Track, call­ing in to explore the Alge­buck­i­na Bridge his­toric site en-route. 

Ood­na­dat­ta is famous for it’s icon­ic pink road­house, where we’ll have lunch. The town was orig­i­nal­ly cre­at­ed when the Over­land Tele­graph Line was laid and then became the north­ern ter­mi­nus for the Cen­tral Aus­tralia Railway. 

Our next stop is the Paint­ed Desert (Arckaringa Hills), an ancient Inland Sea bed where the hills are the result of rain, weath­er and ero­sion. The slopes and shapes include many dif­fer­ent colours and shades of orange, yel­low and white- hence the name ​“Paint­ed Desert”. 

Our des­ti­na­tion today is the opal cap­i­tal of the world, Coober Pedy, where we’ll spend the next 2 nights. Coober Pedy is as famous for it’s under­ground homes as it is for it’s opals and 50% of the pop­u­la­tion live under­ground (in homes called ​“dugouts”), as well as using under­ground shops and churches. 

To reach Coober Pedy, we trav­el through the Moon Plain, rich in fos­sil deposits, evi­dence of the inland sea that cov­ered this region 120 mil­lion years ago and offer­ing a vast expanse of rocky plains unlike any­where else. The strange lunar land­scape has been used for many Hol­ly­wood movies includ­ing Mad Max Beyond the Thun­der­dome, Pitch Black, Red Plan­et and Priscil­la Queen of the Desert. 

Overnight accom­mo­da­tion- Desert Cave Hotel ‑motel room with en-suite, Coober Pedy (2 night stay) 

Please note that the hotel can­not guar­an­tee every­one will have an under­ground room, but they will try their best. Guests can also request an above- ground room if preferred. 

Day 9 — Tues­day 4^th Octo­ber (B,D)

This morn­ing you’ll take a 2 hour tour of Coober Pedy with a guide from the Umoona Opal Mine. The tour will include the under­ground church­es and oth­er points of inter­est. After the tour, it’s back to Umoona, where you’ll watch the award win­ning doc­u­men­tary ​“The Sto­ry of Opal” and present a hands-on demon­stra­tion, explain­ing the dif­fer­ent types of opal. Then we’ll get tak­en into the under­gound homes and deep into the orig­i­nal opal mine. 

Then you have some free time to take a look around the town your­self or pur­sue your own interests. 

Late this after­noon, we make our way out of town to the near­by Break­aways Reserve, offer­ing a strik­ing & unique exam­ple of arid scenery. From the flat — topped mesas to the stony gib­ber desert, rem­nants of mil­lions of years pro­vide a wealth of geo­log­i­cal inter­ests and breath­tak­ing views. There are two look­out points which high­light the open spaces and colour­ful envi­ron­ment, leav­ing an impres­sion of the long gone inland sea that our ear­ly explor­ers dreamt of. As the day goes by, the pass­ing of the sun changes the desert colours, cre­at­ing pho­to­genic scenes that appear sur­re­al. This is a fan­tas­tic place for sun­set photography. 

Overnight accom­mo­da­tion- Desert Cave Hotel- motel room with en-suite, Coober Pedy 

Day 10 — Wednes­day 5^th Octo­ber (B,L,D)

Today we make our way back to Port Augus­ta and it will take us all day to get there. En-route we’ll stop for lunch and have a look at the salt lakes in the region includ­ing Lake Hart. 

We also take a look around the Her­itage Muse­um and Mis­sile Park at Woomera, which holds a spe­cial place in Aus­tralian Nation­al her­itage as it was the 4^th coun­try in the world to launch it’s own satel­lite- after the US, Rus­sia and France. The Woomera Rock­et Range was estab­lished in 1947 as a joint British / Aus­tralian project for devel­op­ing and test­ing exper­i­men­tal rock­ets, weapons and mis­siles. Nowa­days the Woomera Pro­hib­it­ed Area (WPA) is the largest land test­ing range in the world. 

Overnight accom­mo­da­tion- Stand­pipe Motor Inn- motel room with en-suite, Port Augusta 

Depar­ture day- Thurs­day 6^th Octo­ber (B)

This morn­ing we trav­el back to Ade­laide. We’ll arrive at approx­i­mate­ly 12 noon and we can drop you off in the city (at the Hilton or Ibis only due to lim­it­ed coach park­ing in Adelaide !). 

END OF TOUR 

Your tour starts with a flight from Ade­laide into Port Lin­coln at 4pm. So you have the choice to arrive into Ade­laide this morn­ing or arrive the day before and stay an extra night or two in Adelaide. 

If you arrive this morn­ing, there are a range of eater­ies in the air­port ter­mi­nal itself and the Atu­ra Air­port Hotel also has a cou­ple of eater­ies and bars. Lug­gage lock­ers are avail­able for hire on the ground floor of the mul­ti storey car park. 

If you arrive a day or two ear­li­er, please make your way to Ade­laide Air­port by 3pm to meet Andrew for our group check in. Your flight to Port Lin­coln lasts approx­i­mate­ly 45 min­utes and upon arrival into Port Lin­coln, you’ll be col­lect­ed by Sacred Earth Safaris. 

On the way to our hotel, we’ll take a detour to Win­ters Hill Look­out, for panoram­ic views over Port Lincoln. 

Tonight we’ll have our first group din­ner at a local restaurant. 

Overnight accom­mo­da­tion- motel room with en-suite, Lin­coln Motel, which is sit­u­at­ed right next to the beach ! (2 night stay) 

Day 2 — Wednes­day 1^st March (B,L,D)

Today we head south through the city towards the entrance of the ​“Whalers Way”, a 14km unsealed track along one of the most spec­tac­u­lar stretch­es of coast­line in SA, which takes us to the very tip of Eyre Penin­su­la. The coast is inun­dat­ed with a series of nat­ur­al crevass­es, giant fis­sures in the rocky coast­line which have cre­at­ed deep bays, chasms and caves into which the sea surges back and forth. Cape Wiles is a 100 metre high cliff face above the swirling sea, with pil­lars of rock and an island offer­ing con­tin­u­ing resis­tance to the South­ern Ocean. Fur seals can often be seen here (a zoom lens is handy !). 

Overnight accom­mo­da­tion- motel room with en-suite, Lin­coln Motel 

Day 3 — Thurs­day 2^nd March (B,L,D)

Depart­ing Port Lin­coln, we now head along the Flinders Hwy on the west coast of the Eyre Penin­su­la. Our first stop along this stun­ning ocean dri­ve is at the Leo Cum­mings mon­u­ment look­out, for views of Point Drum­mond and the cliffs of Sheringa. The crag­gy pin­na­cle oppo­site the look­out is home to a fam­i­ly of osprey. 

We dri­ve past Lake New­land Con­ser­va­tion park to Talia Beach and Talia Caves. The Wool­shed is a large cav­ern carved into the gran­ite cliffs and is accessed by a walk­way and wood­en steps. The cave has a hon­ey­combed ceil­ing and dark crevices with blow­holes near­by. We also explore The Tub and enjoy the dra­mat­ic views to the south of the beach. 

Turn­ing off the main high­way, we stop at Mur­phys Haystacks. Made up of pink Hilta­ba gran­ite, the haystacks have stood on top of the earth in their present form for near­ly 34,000 years. They’re very photogenic ! 

Overnight accom­mo­da­tion- motel room with en-suite, Streaky Bay (2 night stay) 

Day 4 — Fri­day 3^rd March (B,L,D)

This morn­ing we have a very spe­cial expe­ri­ence- a swim with sea lions and pos­si­bly dol­phins. Unfed, untrained, total­ly wild, a place where the Lions of the sea and their close friends, bot­tlenose dol­phins, will choose to inter­act with you on their own terms. 

The ​“call of the wild” echoes around you as you are lit­er­al­ly wel­comed into a water world of pure mag­ic by the very things that live in the sea. 

The expe­ri­ence takes place at Baird Bay, about an hour south of Streaky Bay and you have the option of swim­ming OR being an observ­er of the boat- hav­ing the oppor­tu­ni­ty to take pho­tos from the boat but not actu­al­ly swim­ming. If you choose to be an observ­er, rather than swim, please remove $30 from the quot­ed price. 

As an alter­na­tive for those that don’t want to swim or observe, we can vis­it the near­by Point Labatt, where a high cliff top look­out allows us to view a sea-lion colony 50m below. If you choose to do this, remove $200 from the tour price. On the way back to Streaky Bay, we take the West­all Way loop dri­ve , where we can enjoy a vari­ety of land­forms and seascapes, includ­ing rugged lime­stone cliffs, strik­ing gran­ite boul­ders cov­ered in gold­en lichens and seclud­ed gran­ite pools. 

Overnight accom­mo­da­tion- motel room with en-suite, Streaky Bay 

Day 5 — Sat­ur­day 4^th March (B,L,D)

This morn­ing we con­tin­ue north to Ceduna, the major region­al busi­ness cen­tre of the Far West Coast of Eyre Penin­su­la. Ceduna is also the start of the longest golf course in the world, span­ning 1,365 kms to Kal­go­or­lie, with one hole in each par­tic­i­pat­ing town or road­house along the way. 

After a short break, we con­tin­ue west along the Eyre High­way, through Penong, with dozens of wind­mills scat­tered around the town. We’re now trav­el­ling along the Nullar­bor Plain, the world’s largest semi-arid karst (cave) land­scape. Most of the park’s land­scape is flat except where the sur­face has col­lapsed into sink­holes reveal­ing large under­ground caverns. 

We reach our accom­mo­da­tion but take a slight detour, hit­ting the dirt, to the near­by Mur­raw­in­jin­nie caves – a group of three caves we can explore and photograph. 

Overnight accom­mo­da­tion- Motel room with en-suite on the Nullarbor. 

Day 6 — Sun­day 5^th March (B,L)

This morn­ing we vis­it Head of Bight, where we view the sheer Bun­da Cliffs, where Aus­tralia dra­mat­i­cal­ly drops into the ocean. The Bun­da Cliffs are a mag­nif­i­cent sight in them­selves and stretch in an unbro­ken line for 200 kilo­me­tres to the West­ern Aus­tralian bor­der. Con­tin­u­ing west, we stop sev­er­al times at fan­tas­tic coastal lookouts. 

We then turn off again, onto the unsealed old Eyre High­way, and dri­ve to the ruins of Koon­al­da Home­stead, one of a num­ber of impor­tant way sta­tions along the old road, years ago, pro­vid­ing a rare piece of civil­i­sa­tion, fuel and emer­gency ser­vices. After a look around the ruins, we dri­ve north to Her­itage list­ed Koon­al­da Cave, a huge sink­hole with a cave and under­ground stream sys­tem at the bot­tom. The site was impor­tant to the local Abo­rig­i­nal peo­ple and much evi­dence of their vis­i­ta­tion has been found. After view­ing the cave from the top, we dri­ve south again and re-join the main high­way. We now cross the bor­der into West­ern Aus­tralia, put our watch­es back and con­tin­ue to our accommodation. 

We check in and then fin­ish the day at the ruins of the Eucla tele­graph sta­tion, which is being swal­lowed up by the Deliss­er sand dunes. 

We can also take a walk to the beach and old jet­ty (very photogenic). 

Overnight accom­mo­da­tion- room with en-suite at Eucla 

Day 7- Mon­day 6^th March (L)

Back on the road again this morn­ing, we pass through Mundra­bil­la and Madu­ra, stop­ping en-route at the Madu­ra Pass Look­out, for sweep­ing views of Madu­ra Pass and the Roe Plains. 

We pass through Cai­gu­na and enter the longest straight stretch of road in Aus­tralia, which is 146.6km.

Just out­side Cai­gu­na, we stop at the Blow­hole, formed by chem­i­cal and phys­i­cal weath­er­ing process­es that erode the lime­stone bedrock com­mon in this part of Aus­tralia. The name blow hole refers to the fact that these nat­ur­al fea­tures breathe air in and out as high and low pres­sure weath­er sys­tems pass across the Nullarbor. 

Our des­ti­na­tion this after­noon is Bal­lado­nia, a thriv­ing and pros­per­ous wool pro­duc­ing area which made world­wide head­lines in 1979 when fiery pieces of a way­ward NASA space sta­tion called Sky­lab, land­ed around the grounds of the hotel ! The hotel muse­um hous­es doc­u­ments from NASA, a recre­ation of actu­al events, pho­tos and relat­ed ephemera as well as infor­ma­tion on Bal­lado­nia’s ear­ly pio­neer­ing days, Abo­rig­i­nal her­itage and the con­struc­tion of the Eyre Highway. 

We arrive mid-after­noon so you have some time to relax and take a look at the muse­um before dinner. 

Overnight accom­mo­da­tion- Bal­lado­nia, motel room with en-suite 

Day 8 — Tues­day 7^th March (L,D)

This morn­ing we leave the Eyre High­way and make our way south on the unsealed Par­man­go Road, to Cape Le Grand, one of WA’s best known and most spec­tac­u­lar Nation­al Parks. The scenery ranges from wild coastal scenery, stun­ning beach­es and rugged gran­ite peaks to sweep­ing heath­lands, which are home to a range of ani­mals and flowers. 

En-route we stop at the Der­alinya Home­stead ruins. 

At Cape Le Grand, we vis­it This­tle Cove, a beau­ti­ful bay with a spec­tac­u­lar coastal out­look and a ​‘whistling’ rock, and you can take an option­al, easy walk along the coast to Lucky Bay. Keep an eye out for dol­phins as you look out over the Recher­ché Arch­i­pel­ago islands. 

Lucky Bay is famed as hav­ing one of the most beau­ti­ful beach­es in Aus­tralia. Here we can swim and snorkel or take a walk. Keep an eye out for kan­ga­roos on the beach ! 

Late after­noon we dri­ve onto Esper­ance and make our way to our accommodation. 

Overnight accom­mo­da­tion- Esper­ance, motel room with en-suite 

Day 9 — Wednes­day 8^th March (B,L,D)

This morn­ing we take the Esper­ance Great Ocean Dri­ve, which is a 38km scenic dri­ve fol­low­ing the coast­line and includ­ing high­lights such as Rotary Look­out, Twi­light Beach, Obser­va­to­ry Point, the Wind Farm and Pink Lake. 

Then we dri­ve to Albany which will take the rest of the day. The King George Sound at Albany was the site of WA’s first Euro­pean set­tle­ment and on the fore­shore is a full scale repli­ca of the Brig Ami­ty, which brought the first set­tlers and con­victs into Albany in 1826. 

We arrive into Albany and then up to the Anzac Memo­r­i­al, which also offers views. 

Overnight accom­mo­da­tion- Albany, Dog Rock Motel, motel room with en-suite. 

Day 10 — Thurs­day 9^th March (B,L,D)

We head fur­ther west today, dri­ving to Den­mark and a lit­tle lat­er we come to the stun­ning Greens Pool, a beach and swim­ming area at the east­ern end of William Bay Nation­al Park. It’s almost com­plete­ly shel­tered from the waves of the Great South­ern Ocean by the round­ed rock boul­ders typ­i­cal to this area and from the car park we can also take a 10 minute walk to Ele­phant Rocks, which look exact­ly like a herd of ele­phants, pad­dling in the shal­low waters. 

Fur­ther along the coastal dri­ve is the tree-cloaked Wal­pole-Nor­nalup Nation­al Park, home to tin­gle forests, which occur nowhere else in the world. Here we take The Val­ley of the Giants – Tree Top Walk, fea­tur­ing a stun­ning walk­way posi­tioned 40 metres above the ground amid the dizzy­ing heights of the tin­gle for­est canopy. Expe­ri­ence walk­ing in the Tree Top canopies of tall kar­ri trees with views over core wilder­ness and then ven­ture to the Ancient Empire of 400 year old red tin­gle trees along a board­walk that mean­ders across the for­est floor. 

The trail fol­lows the sto­ry of the lost era of Gondwana. 

Our next stop is inland, to Pem­ber­ton, the clos­est town to the Glouces­ter Nation­al Park, home of the Glouces­ter Tree. 

Overnight accom­mo­da­tion- Pem­ber­ton, motel room with en-suite 

Day 11 — Fri­day 10^th March (B,L,D)

Today starts with a vis­it to the Glouces­ter Tree, which is one of only 3 remain­ing tall Kar­ri trees that were made into look­outs dur­ing the 1930’s and 1940’s. This was a way of spot­ting fires in the tall Kar­ri for­est and this tree was named after the then Gov­er­nor-Gen­er­al of Aus­tralia, His Roy­al High­ness the Duke of Glouces­ter, who was vis­it­ing Pem­ber­ton at the time. Today, vis­i­tors can climb up the 61m to see one of the most spec­tac­u­lar views of the Kar­ri forest. 

We con­tin­ue to near­by Greater Beedelup Nation­al Park, where we take a short walk to the beau­ti­ful Beedelup Falls. 

The final leg of our trip takes us into Bus­sel­ton, where you have some free time if you’d like to walk along the jet­ty (or take the train- addi­tion­al cost). 

Mak­ing our way into Perth now, our final din­ner tonight will be served at the hotel and this is a great chance to rem­i­nisce over our adven­tures from the past 11 days. 

Overnight accom­mo­da­tion- Hotel room with en-suite in Perth 

Day 12 — Sat­ur­day 11^th March (Depar­ture Day) (B)

At your leisure, please make your way to Perth air­port from your onward flight. Trans­fers can be arranged by the hotel for you. 

END ITIN­ER­ARY

B = Break­fast L= Lunch D = Dinner 

Day 1 (D)

You will be col­lect­ed from our cen­tral Ade­laide pick up at 1pm this after­noon for your 11 day 4WD Safari along the Ood­na­dat­ta, Birdsville and Strz­elec­ki tracks. This first leg of our South Aus­tralian Out­back adven­ture, takes us to Port Augus­ta, sit­u­at­ed at the head of the Spencer Gulf and known as the ​“Cross­roads of Aus­tralia” and Gate­way to the Flinders Ranges, the out­back and Spencer Gulf. After spend­ing the after­noon get­ting to know each oth­er, we’ll enjoy our first din­ner togeth­er as a group, in the hotel restau­rant. Overnight accom­mo­da­tion- motel room with en-suite, Port Augus­ta Day 2 (B,L,D)
Our des­ti­na­tion today is the opal cap­i­tal of the world, Coober Pedy and it will take us all day to get here. En-route we’ll stop for lunch and have a look at the salt lakes in the region includ­ing Lake Hart. We also take a look around the Her­itage Muse­um and Mis­sile Park at Woomera, which holds a spe­cial place in Aus­tralian Nation­al her­itage as it was the 4^th coun­try in the world to launch it’s own satel­lite- after the US, Rus­sia and France. The Woomera Rock­et Range was estab­lished in 1947 as a joint British / Aus­tralian project for devel­op­ing and test­ing exper­i­men­tal rock­ets, weapons and mis­siles. Nowa­days the Woomera Pro­hib­it­ed Area (WPA) is the largest land test­ing range in the world. Coober Pedy is as famous for it’s under­ground homes as it is for it’s opals and 50% of the pop­u­la­tion live under­ground (in homes called ​“dugouts”), as well as using under­ground shops and church­es. Overnight accom­mo­da­tion- under­ground motel room with en-suite, Coober Pedy (2 night stay) 

Day 3 (B,D)

There’s some free time this morn­ing for you to have a wan­der through the town

After lunch we take a guid­ed tour through a work­ing Opal Mine, where we get an insight of what it means to be an Opal Miner. 

Late this after­noon, we make our way out of town to the near­by Break­aways Reserve, offer­ing a strik­ing & unique exam­ple of arid scenery. 

Overnight accom­mo­da­tion- Coober Pedy 

Day 4 (B,L,D)

This morn­ing we depart Coober Pedy and head across the Moon Plain to the Paint­ed Desert (Arckaringa Hills). 

We’ll cross the Dog Fence for the first time today.The longest fence in the world, at 5300km’s, it stretch­es across 3 states. 

The Paint­ed Desert is an ancient Inland Sea bed where the hills are the result of rain, weath­er and erosion. 

After view­ing the Paint­ed Desert from the look­out, we con­tin­ue through to Ood­na­dat­ta. Famous for it’s pink road­house, the town was orig­i­nal­ly cre­at­ed when the Over­land Tele­graph Line was laid and then became the north­ern ter­mi­nus for the Cen­tral Aus­tralia Railway. 

After lunch we join the 615km unsealed Ood­na­dat­ta Track, which is lit­tered with ruins of old town sites, sta­tion ruins, homes, cairns and rem­nants of the old rail­way line, the short-lived gold rush and the Over­land Tele­graph Line. En-route to William Creek, we stop at Alge­buck­i­na Bridge his­toric site. 

Overnight accom­mo­da­tion — motel room with en-suite, William Creek Pub Hotel 

Day 5 (B,L,D)

There’s time this morn­ing for option­al 1 hour scenic flights over Lake Eyre (own expense). 

Depart­ing William Creek, we make our way out to Hal­li­gan Bay at Lake Eyre North for a look at the mag­nif­i­cent lake with it’s incred­i­ble colours and pat­terns. Lake Eyre is Australia’s low­est point, the largest inland lake in Aus­tralia and the largest salt lake in the world ! 

We con­tin­ue explor­ing the Ood­na­dat­ta Track this morn­ing, head­ing south towards Mar­ree, stop­ping en-route at the nat­ur­al arte­sian springs with­in Wab­ma Kadar­bu Mound Springs Con­ser­va­tion Park and the Lake Eyre South look­out. We then reach Mar­ree, which is sit­u­at­ed at the cross­roads of the Ood­na­dat­ta and Birdsville Tracks and you have some free time to look around the town or vis­it the Tom Kruse Museum. 

Overnight accom­mo­da­tion – motel room with en-suite, Mar­ree Pub Hotel 

Day 6 (B,L,D)

Depart­ing Mar­ree, we now trav­el north on the famous stock route, which is the Birdsville Track. the 517km track was estab­lished in the 1860s as the main stock route to bring cat­tle from cen­tral Queens­land to the rail­way in Mar­ree. En-route, we have a look at the ruins of the Lake Har­ry Date Plan­ta­tion, stop at the Coop­er Creek Cross­ing and Munger­an­nie pub and wetlands. 

Cross­ing into Queens­land, we arrive into Birdsville and then take a local­ly run tour out to ​“Big Red”, the largest and most famous sand dune in the Simp­son Desert. 

Overnight accom­mo­da­tion- motel room with en-suite, Birdsville Pub Hotel 

Day 7 (B,L,D)

This morn­ing we head south again, through Cat­tle Coun­try and back into South Aus­tralia to Innam­inc­ka, made famous by Vic­to­ri­an explor­ers Burke and Wills and their ill-fat­ed explo­ration across cen­tral Australia.

En-route we enjoy the view at Deon’s Look­out and vis­it The Dream­time Ser­pent – a work of art rep­re­sent­ing a series of path­ways trav­elled through Coun­try to con­nect the riv­er sys­tems in the Chan­nel Coun­try of the Dia­man­ti­na Shire. 

On arrival into Innam­inc­ka, we vis­it the famous Burke and Wills Dig Tree (camp LXV). 

Overnight accom­mo­da­tion- motel room with en-suite, Innam­inc­ka Pub Hotel 

Day 8 (B,L,D)

We depart Innam­inc­ka this morn­ing and head south to join the last of our leg­endary Out­back Tracks- the Strz­elec­ki Track, named after Pol­ish explor­er and geol­o­gist Paul Edmund de Strzelecki. 

Our first stop today is the view­point at the Moom­ba oil and gas­fields. Nat­ur­al gas was first dis­cov­ered in the region in 1966 and was fol­lowed by the dis­cov­ery of oil in 1970. Moom­ba is now a major sup­pli­er of both for Aus­tralian and over­seas markets. 

We con­tin­ue down the Strz­elec­ki Track and turn off towards Arka­roola Wilder­ness Sanc­tu­ary. The pri­vate­ly owned sanc­tu­ary was found­ed in 1969 by Reg Sprigg, Biol­o­gist, Oceanog­ra­ph­er, Con­ser­va­tion­ist, sci­en­tist and pio­neer of eco-tourism. 

Overnight accom­mo­da­tion- motel room with en-suite, Arka­roola Wilder­ness Sanctuary 

Day 9 (B,L,D)

This morn­ing you’ll take Arkaroola’s famous Ridgetop tour- an unfor­get­table encounter with the time­less ter­rain and unique nat­ur­al beau­ty of Arka­roola Wilder­ness Sanc­tu­ary. Learn from your Arka­roola guides about Arka­roolas 1600 mil­lion year old geo­log­i­cal his­to­ry as they nav­i­gate the steep slopes and hair rais­ing ascents of the Ridgetop Track. Inspir­ing images of red gran­ite moun­tains and gold­en spinifex cov­ered hill­sides give way to a breath-tak­ing view across the Freel­ing Heights, Lake From and the desert beyond. Take in the 360 degree panora­ma as you enjoy morn­ing tea at Sillers Look­out- a lofty pin­na­cle at the end of the track. 

Depart­ing Arka­roola, we make our way today into the cen­tral Ikara- Flinders Ranges, known for their unique beau­ty, indige­nous his­to­ry, ancient geo­log­i­cal for­ma­tions, rich colours and tex­tures and abun­dant wildlife. The Ikara-Flinders Ranges are home to a huge array of plant species, birds, rep­tiles and mam­mals and the vibrant colours of the 800 mil­lion-year-old quartzite and lime­stone out­crop that is the Flinders, are tru­ly spectacular. 

Con­di­tions per­mit­ting, we’ll take the back road and stop en-route in the old min­ing town of Blinman. 

Overnight accom­mo­da­tion- Wilpe­na Pound Resort- stan­dard room with en-suite (2 night stay) 

Day 10 (B,L,D)

This morn­ing you have the option of tak­ing a walk into Wilpe­na Pound or take a scenic flight (at own expense). Walk along the beau­ti­ful Wilpe­na Creek, framed by huge riv­er red gums, into Wilpe­na Pound. Walk­ing on to the Old Hills Home­stead, you can learn about the hard­ships the Hills fam­i­ly had to face at the turn of the cen­tu­ry with the option of walk­ing up to the Wan­gara look­out to see the mys­ti­cal heart of the Ikara-Flinders Ranges with stun­ning views over Wilpe­na Pound. There is a shut­tle avail­able to short­en the walk,that can take you up and back again (extra cost- approx. $5 each way). 

After lunch we depart for an after­noon of explor­ing. Our first stop is the Bun­yeroo Val­ley and Gorge, where we stop for pho­tos at the spec­tac­u­lar Razor­back Look­out. This leads us through the Hey­sen Ranges onto the Brachi­na Gorge Geo­log­i­cal Trail, a trail that pass­es through 130 mil­lion years of earth his­to­ry, includ­ing mete­orite debris, stro­ma­to­lites and fos­silized plant and ani­mal life. It offers an insight into past cli­mates, the for­ma­tion of the ranges and the evo­lu­tion of ear­ly forms of life. It’s also an impor­tant refuge for the rare and endan­gered Yel­low-foot­ed Rock-wallaby. 

To take us back to Wilpe­na Pound, we take the Moralana Scenic Dri­ve, which con­nects the Wilpe­na and Leigh Creek Roads and is known as one of the best dri­ves through the Flinders Ranges. We’ll see stun­ning scenery fea­tur­ing the south­ern wall of Wilpe­na Pound, Black Gap Look­out, red Range, Elder Range and more. 

Overnight accom­mo­da­tion- Wilpe­na Pound Resort- stan­dard room with en-suite 

Day 11 (B,L)

Depart­ing the Ikara-Flinders Ranges, we head south towards Hawk­er, the hub of the Ikara-Flinders Ranges and a thriv­ing rail­way town until the line was relo­cat­ed west in 1956. 

After a quick look around the town, we take the RM Williams High­way for a scenic dri­ve through Orro­roo, Jamestown and Clare. In Clare, we vis­it a local cel­lar door / bak­ery for tast­ings and lunch before con­tin­u­ing to Ade­laide. We arrive at approx­i­mate­ly 6pm and you will be dropped off at your accommodation. 

END OF TOUR 

B= Break­fast L= Lunch D= Dinner

Upon arrival into Kar­ratha, please make your way to our hotel. 

This evening, we’ll meet at the hotel restau­rant for our first din­ner as a group and your dri­ver guide will run through the itin­er­ary for the next 6 days. 

Overnight accom­mo­da­tion- Kar­ratha Inter­na­tion­al Hotel- motel room with en-suite 

Day 1 (B,L,D) Thurs­day 18^th August 

We’ll depart our Kar­ratha hotel at 7.30am this morn­ing to begin our 5 day 4WD tour through the Pilbara. 

We spend today in Mill­stream-Chich­ester Nation­al Park, which is a lush oasis of deep gorges and palm-fringed rock pools which pro­vides a stark con­trast to the sur­round­ing land­scape of rocky escarp­ments and rolling spinifex-cov­ered hills. 

We enter the park from the north and have a swim at Python Pool, a per­ma­nent fresh­wa­ter plunge pool at the base of a cliff in the Chich­ester Range escarpment. 

We also take a walk to the top of Mount Her­bert, where we are treat­ed to a splen­did view of the savan­nah lands, includ­ing Pyra­mid, Sher­lock and Waram­bie stations. 

Depart­ing the park, our des­ti­na­tion this evening is Tom Price, the high­est town in WA at 747 metres above sea level. 

Din­ner tonight is includ­ed at the hotel restaurant. 

Overnight accom­mo­da­tion- Tom Price Hotel Motel- motel room with en-suite 

Day 2 (B,L,D) Fri­day 19^th August 

This morn­ing there’s time for you to take an option­al guid­ed tour to the Rio Tin­to Iron Ore Mine site, (own expense). At the time of putting togeth­er this Pil­bara tour, it was uncer­tain whether or not the mine tour would run in 2022, so it’s sub­ject to availability. 

We con­tin­ue into Kar­i­ji­ni Nation­al Park, in the Hamer­s­ley Range. Kar­i­ji­ni is West­ern Australia’s sec­ond largest nation­al park, encom­pass­ing some 627,442 hectares of spec­tac­u­lar, rugged scenery, ancient geo­log­i­cal for­ma­tions and a vari­ety of arid-land ecosystems. 

Mas­sive moun­tains and escarp­ments rise out of the flat val­leys. The high plateau is dis­sect­ed by breath­tak­ing gorges, and stony,tree-lined water­cours­es wind their way over the dusty plain. The slow process of ero­sion has carved the shape of the land out of rocks that are 2,000 mil­lion years old, to form this intrigu­ing land­scape and com­plex ecology. 

A vari­ety of ecosys­tems are rep­re­sent­ed in the park and these are home to a range of wildlife includ­ing a vari­ety of birds, native rodents, native mar­su­pi­al car­ni­vores (such as the Pil­bara ninguai- res­i­dent, but noc­tur­nal and shy), red kan­ga­roos, euros, Rothschild’s rock wal­la­bies, bats, din­goes, rep­tiles and amphib­ians such as frogs, geck­oes, goan­nas, drag­ons and leg­less lizards. Ter­mites and the peb­ble mound mouse also make their homes here in the form of mounds. 

Our first stop with­in the park is Hamer­s­ley gorge, where we’ll find amaz­ing coloured band­ed iron for­ma­tions. Take a dip in the nat­ur­al spa pool at the Gorge and enjoy a spa treat­ment the way nature intend­ed – sur­round­ed by amaz­ing rock for­ma­tions almost as old as the Earth itself. 

We make our way to our accom­mo­da­tion and after check­ing in, you make like to walk to near­by Jof­fre Look­out where rock steps take you down to the look­out to view this spec­tac­u­lar curved water­fall form­ing a nat­ur­al amphitheatre. 

Din­ner for the next 3 nights is includ­ed at the Eco- retreat 

Overnight accom­mo­da­tion- Kar­i­ji­ni Eco Retreat, in eco tents with en-suites (3 night stay) on a Din­ner, bed and break­fast basis 

Day 3 (B,L,D) Sat­ur­day 20^th August 

We trav­el to the west­ern side of the park today, to Dales Gorge, through to Fortes­cue Falls, Fern Pool and Cir­cu­lar Pool. 

Have a refresh­ing swim in the spring-fed per­ma­nent falls of Fortes­cue falls, ram­ble along the gorge floor to the love­ly fern framed Fern Pool and enjoy the hid­den gar­dens of Cir­cu­lar Pool. 

This after­noon we take a walk through Kalam­i­na Gorge, one of the most pic­turesque in Kar­i­ji­ni. A short walk takes you down a steep track to the base of the gorge to a small per­ma­ment pool, com­plete with water­fall and drap­ing ferns. There is a longer, more dif­fi­cult walk for those who feel ener­getic. If you fol­low the trail deep into Kalam­i­na Gorge, you will be reward­ed with a love­ly walk down­stream, past rock pools and beau­ti­ful rock walls, fin­ish­ing at Rock Arch Pool. 

Overnight accom­mo­da­tion- Kar­i­ji­ni Eco Retreat, in eco tents with en-suites 

Day 4 (B,L,D) Sun­day 21^st August 

This morn­ing is spent explor­ing Handrail Pool, which is reached by walk­ing through Low­er Weano Gorge. We also enjoy the scenery at Junc­tion Pool and Oxer Look­out, locat­ed at the junc­tion of four mighty gorges and offer­ing one of the most stun­ning panora­mas in WA. 

This after­noon we explore Han­cock Gorge, where we climb down a lad­der and walk deep into the gorge, through nar­row cham­bers and to beau­ti­ful rock pools, for a swim. 

We fin­ish the day at Knox Look­out, where we’ll take the steps down to the look­out and watch the view spread out in the distance. 

Overnight accom­mo­da­tion- Kar­i­ji­ni Eco Retreat, in eco tents with en-suites 

Day 5 (B,L,D) Mon­day 22^nd August 

We depart Kar­i­ji­ni this morn­ing and dri­ve north to the min­ing town of Port Head­land, one of the largest and busiest iron ore ports in the world. 

We’ll arrive mid- after­noon and after check­ing into the hotel, it’s time to jump on our pri­vate har­bour cruise, oper­at­ed by the Port Hed­land Sea­far­ers Cen­tre. This tour con­sists of a quick pre­sen­ta­tion at the Sea­far­ers Cen­tre, fol­lowed by a lap around the har­bour in one of the work­ing Sea­far­ers Launch Ser­vice boats. You will be accom­pa­nied by an infor­ma­tive mem­ber of the Sea­far­ers Cen­tre Staff who will pro­vide com­men­tary and answer any of your ques­tions, while pick­ing up sea­far­ers wish­ing to come back to the Sea­far­ers Centre. 

Tonight we have our final group din­ner and say farewell to our new friends. 

Overnight accom­mo­da­tion- Port Hed­land, hotel room with en-suite 

Day 6 (B) Tues­day 23^rd August 

Your tour fin­ish­es after break­fast. Please make your way to Port Hed­land Air­port for your onward flight. 

END ITIN­ER­ARY B= Break­fast L= Lunch D= Dinner 

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• Cancellations between 90 and 60 days prior to tour departure – incur 50% total tour cost

• Cancellation within 60 days prior to tour departure - no refund

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