The "lure" of the Flinders Ranges
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How a booklet came about
Horst Weber
1987 was the year of my first ever visit to Australia. One might safely call it a visit that made an impact. The whole continent caught my imagination and I have returned "umpteen" times since. But wherever I travelled on this island continent, one spot never moved out of the limelight - The Flinders Ranges and Arkaroola. While not objecting in the least to new destinations, the mountains around Mt. Painter always succeeded in their gentle asking, calling, begging, and eventually always lured me to pay another visit.
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Sillers Lookout - The final crescendo on the Ridge Top Track
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In 1990 I spent 2 1/2 months at Arkaroola - after pedalling a push-bike north from Adelaide. And it was during this time that I became somewhat interested in botany. Given the time of the year (July - September) I was more or less confined to bushes and shrubs. A nice and easy start for a beginner. My notes of that year, later prompted visits to London`s famous "Kew Gardens", where I roamed and combed the library for additional information on those admirable plants many thousand miles away. Eventually the idea for a booklet was born.
All plants plants described in the booklet were to be easily accessible to all visitors, and this made for an easy choice: The Surveyor`s Cairn Walk, just outside the village. This walk is no more than a short stroll, the plants along its way are very typical, and very common plants of hilly, rocky, semi-arid Australia, such as species of Eremophila, Acacia, Cassia (new name: Senna ), Hakea, and, as described in this edition of Australian Plants online, Santalum.
Hoping that visitors to Arkaroola will enjoy a short stroll along the Surveyor's Cairn track, and that my booklet will furnish everyone with a bit of extra information here and there, I am intending to publish the booklet later in 1997, while I am already looking forward to another visit to Arkaroola. After all, who would disagree with the following words of the famous scientist Sir Mark Oliphant:
"The Northern Flinders Ranges exercise a subtle attraction to return upon any sensitive person who once visits the region."
Sir Mark Oliphant in: Sprigg, R.C., 1987, "Arkaroola-Mount Painter in the Northern Flinders Ranges - The last billion years", p.6
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The Surveyor's Cairn Track
The Surveyor's Cairn Walk is a short scenic walk just 10 - 15 minutes outside of Arkaroola Village. You can see the cairn at its top from nearly everywhere in the village. From the cairn you have a beautiful view of Mt. Painter, Mt. Oliphant, the ridges along Mawson Valley, Griselda Hill, and, of course, Arkaroola. It is a walk every visitor should do.
To get to the Surveyor's Cairn Walk one leaves Arkaroola Village by its northern track. At the border of the village the track descends into Wywhyana Creek, runs along it in a westerly direction until it eventually turns north again, crossing the creek and climbing out of it. Shortly after leaving the creek one sees the beginning of the Surveyor's Cairn Walk on the right. It is marked clearly by a wooden sign.
Walking distances: Reception to start of Surveyor's Cairn Track 650 m
Surveyor's Cairn Track turnoff to Cairn 600 m
Walk (one-way) 1250 m
Complete walk; reception - cairn - reception 2500 m
Although the walk is only a short one, wear a hat and take something to drink with you !
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Arkaroola Village
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