Easter morning so everything is pretty quiet. Went to the market (Woolworth's was open) and got stuff for lunch then hit the road. The first 200 kilometers was paved. That got us to Wilpena Pound at the entrance to Flinders Ranges National Park. The pictures of Wilpena Pound looked incredible, but there's really no way to see it without going for a plane ride. It's a giant bowl or ampetheatere formed by a ring of mountains - it looked something like Ngorongoro Crater - only larger! Likewise the photos of the ranges themselves looked amazing - long ribbon like ranges of fluid curves. But again really only visible like that from the air.
The drive through the park was beautiful. The roads are gravel, but seem to have been recently graded - with some exceptions. It was especially beautiful in the evening light. Saw tons of emu and kangaroo. Including several that ran right in front of the car. Also drove through Gammon Ranges National Park, but it was getting to dark to see much.
The darker it got the more stressful the driving was. I kept remembering all the kangaroos I'd seen (alive and as road kill), and it was a lot rougher as I couldn't see the road well enough to avoid the worst parts. Pulled into Arkaroola an hour and a half after dark. It was a little creepy - in the middle of nowhere there are some buildings, but there's no one around and no lights. On the door of the campground office is a sign saying to look for staff behind the building. That was surreal, as I turned the back corner of the building there was a huge group of people eating and drinking under strings of colored lights and around a big fire. There were a few campsites left, so we set up the tent and drove back for the Easter roast dinner!
