We really enjoyed our stay at the Wilpena Pound Resort campsite. It was low season and very hot the whole time we were there. We used the tent as a base to sleep and the car as an air conditioner and the 43 degree heat didn’t really bother us! It did cool down at night ( not much) and we had all the flaps open to allow the air to flow around. When I opened the zip to get out of the tent I noticed a mummy kangaroo and joey having a feed near by. I took a photo of them and they then jumped away to a nearby caravan for shelter.
We packed up the tent and our bits and pieces and headed towards Hahndorf which was going to be our next stop. A big day of driving ahead…
Wilson Historic Ruins
I had been looking out for historic ruins and was very excited when I saw Wilson ruins in the distance. I nearly drove straight past ( if David had been driving he would have kept on going) and did a bit of a quick right turn onto the track leading to where the ruins were. We got out of the car and wandered through the remains.
You can walk through and see the different the rooms dividing up the stone house. Most of the rooms have open fire places.
Kanyaka historic site
Kanyaka Station was a cattle and sheep station in the Flinders Ranges of South Australia. It is fascinating walk through all the different buildings and imagine what life must have been like living in this area back when it was at its peak. There are lots of different buildings at this site – a toilet, stables, and a house.
Kanyaka Station is located at Kanyaka, approximately 40 km north-north-east of Quorn, South Australia along Hawker-Stirling North Road (B83)
Boring drive in the wet for hours
The total time to drive from Wilpena Pound to Hahndorf is around 5.5 hours. Some of the road and scenery reminded me of the drive from Geelong to Melbourne. One of the highlights was stopping at a petrol station and buying some dim sims and chicken wing dings. The chicken wing dings are mild spicy deep fried yummyness.
Chicken Wing dings are something that I first experienced from a petrol station when we did the Pilbarra trip in WA. They are a great snack when you are driving!
Hahndorf at last and set up tent.
We set up the tent on a grassy level allocated powered site. It was still pretty hot so as soon as we had it all set up we went and had a swim in the pool to cool down. There were quite a few kids in the pool but the dip was nice and refreshing after setting up the tent in the heat.
We decided to walk into town and have dinner at the Hahndorf Inn. It was a pretty 20 minute walk from where we were staying. We had heard great things about the food. The menu was a bit hard to read ( and I did have my glasses on) and we both chose what we felt like. The beer was great. We then ordered a bottle of Hahndorf Hills Pinot Grigio and loved it.
When the food came out it was a massive serving size as you would expect with German food. I am sure if you had the entree serve of the bavarian meatball dish and were expecting it to be like it was – you would love it. I found the meatballs dry and tasteless, with a boring mushroom sauce and plain tasting mashed potatoes. Bad choice on my part. David had a schnitzel that was pretty plain tasting too. The table next to us order ribs – that’s what David wanted but didn’t see it on the menu ( I would have asked the waitress if I knew he had heard that the ribs were good). They looked fantastic. Food envy!
After dinner in Hahndorf we meandered back to the campsite and went to bed.