Alice to Adelaide Day 5

The next day Max drove us to Kanyaka Homestead historic site. It was a derelict and abandoned settlement from when people first tried to settle in the area.



There had been 2 owners of this particular homestead. The first was a son of an earl, sent to Australia to make a name for himself. He bought the land and built a modest farm. All was going well until there was a major flood, the farmer saw his sheep were stuck on the other side of the river and so he tried to cross it to save them however he got caught by the current and drowned. A few years later the second owner bought the land and 60,000 sheep. He built a village down the road for his workers families and he built what we see that remains of today. Again all was going well until there was a drought, he decided to lead his flock back to Adelaide but due to the intense heat and lack of water he lost 20,000 sheep on the way there. After a few months in Adelaide the rain came and he returned to the homestead with his sheep. The next year the drought happened again so he had to return to Adelaide with his sheep where he lost another 20,000 on the way there. He never returned to the homestead leaving it to fall to ruins.

After the homestead we went onto look at an Aboriginal cave.



The cave had aboriginal paintings dating back over 1000 years, whilst we were listening to Max about the stories of the cave, Adam spotted that we were being watched. We looked high over the rocks and could see a kangaroo watching us.



One thing i need to mention are the thousands of flies. Not only when we were at the cave but just everywhere. They swarmed around everyone and as they seeked moisture constantly tried to get into our mouths and up our noses. I will never forget how annoying the sound of their buzzing was when they flew past my ears. After the cave we continued onto Wilpena Pound, a national park which is part of the Flinders Range. We did a 2 hour hike to the top of one of the high points in the park which gave us fantastic views of the Flinders Ranges. After Wilpena Pound we returned to The Mill for lunch. In the evening Max wanted to take us to see the rare yellow tailed rock wallaby. The others got ready to leave but I was quite happy to stay back and chill and get things ready for dinner. When everyone returned 2 hours later we tucked into our dinner of camel sausages, kangaroo steak, emu burgers and mash potato. After dinner we all went to the local pub.



I was told the story of how the pub landlord’s dog Shandy was grieving for her friend Bundy (as in Bundaberg rum) as he had recently been killed by a snake. So the landlord decided to buy a new playmate for Shandy who was going to be called Double Bundy.