Flinders Ranges
Ikara-Flinders Ranges National Park
The Ikara-Flinders Ranges National Park features towering ancient cliffs and deep craters border dusty red roads. Marvel at Wilpena Pound, an enormous amphitheatre, created through erosion over millions of years, or look up at night for a sky show like never before. Be surrounded by ancient mountain ranges, spectacular gorges and sheltered creeks, and relish the wonders of the outback, camera in hand.
Scenery, animals, stars, fossils and friendly locals – a few of the reasons why we believe it is one of Australia’s best kept secrets.
Wilpena Pound
Amid the vibrant colours of the 800 million-year-old quartzite and limestone outcrop that is the Flinders Ranges, lies Wilpena Pound, a natural amphitheatre 17 km long and seven km wide. Shaped by the weathering and uplifting of land over time, this sacred place has strong significance to the indigenous Adnyamathanha people, to whom it is known as Ikara, meaning meeting place.
Sunset over Wilpena Pound is a sight to behold - the changing colours through oranges and reds make for magnificent photos.
Tours including Wilpena Pound:
Ancient Flinders Ranges
Arkaba Luxury Lodge Weekend
Lake Eyre Safari
Arkaba Station
Arkaba Station offers outback luxury indulgence set on 60,000 acres in the Flinders Ranges.
Arkaba Homestead, built in 1851, is one of the most beautiful properties in Australia, featuring pressed metal ceilings and flagstone floors beneath shady verandahs. Catering for just 10 guests in 5 rooms, the homestead is both rustic and chic.
Explore the vastness of the property in an open-top 4WD, African Safari style. Arkaba's picturesque high ranges, plateaus, valleys and creek lines provide a huge variety of habitat for wildlife and incredible scenery.
You'll also be treated with exceptional local food and wine - the head chef prepares a mouthwatering menu, with the open bar featuring delicious wines from the Barossa and Clare Valleys. Dine on the outdoor terrace with the ever-changing light and sounds of the bush all around, regale your fellow travellers with tales of the days adventures around the fire, and enjoy.
Tours featuring Arkaba Station:
Arkaba Luxury Lodge Weekend
Outback Gourmet Safari
Arkaroola Wilderness Sanctuary
Arkaroola Wilderness Sanctuary is in the ruggedly spectacular northern Flinders Ranges. Reg Sprigg bought Arkaroola in 1968 in order to protect its diverse minerals and rock types. Sir Douglas Mawson, who was a geologist in addition to being a noted Antarctic explorer, was Reg’s mentor. They believed there was a geological similarity between Antarctica and the area around Arkaroola. Ahead of his time, Reg practised eco-tourism at Arkaroola long before the word was invented, returning the pastoral land to its natural state and placing strict conditions on access to the area. Doug Sprigg, Reg and his wife Griselda’s son, is the current owner, and has inherited his father’s passions for geology, astronomy and wildlife protection.
Arkaroola’s signature Ridgetop tour operates in a specially constructed open-top 4WD vehicle, travelling along the ridgetop track, culminating at Sillers Peak. When the skies light up, let Doug take on a tour of the universe from a location that provides some of the best viewing conditions in Australia.
Tours featuring Arkaroola:
The Ancient Flinders Ranges
Outback Horizons
Taste of the Outback 3 days
Ultimate Wildlife Air Safari
Rawnsley Park Station
Rawnsley Park Station is a commercial sheep station offering you the opportunity to immerse yourself into life on a station in a stunning destination in the Flinders Ranges. Rawnsley Park runs about 2000 Dohne sheep.
Visit the shearing shed to see how the wool is sorted and baled, and visit the water points. These days Rawnsley Park uses solar-powered bore pumps to water stock.
Watch a brilliant Flinders Ranges sunset overlooking the ramparts of Wilpena Pound and the stunning Chace Range, glass of sparkling and gourmet canapé in hand.
Tours featuring Rawnsley Park Station:
Ancient Flinders Ranges
Lake Eyre Safari
The Kimberley & The Pilbara
Ultimate Outback Air Safari
Vistas of South Australia
Prairie Hotel – Parachilna
The historic Prairie Hotel, built in 1976, is an icon of the Flinders Ranges. It is famous for its incredible menu of feral fare, local lager and brilliant sunsets.
Travel from Blinman, the closest airstrip to Parachilna, through Brachina Gorge, a geological journey through time, with fossils, minerals and stromatolites, which are suspected to be the world's earliest examples of life on earth, up to 650 million years old.
Ancient Ediacaran fossils can be seen at nearby Nilpena Station, the extraordinary Ediacara Foundation fossil site at Jane and Ross Farger's Nilpena Station (the operators of the Prairie Hotel). This is one of the most significant fossil sites in the world and was featured in David Attenborough's "Life on Earth". The Ediacaran fossils preserve entire ecosystems, enabling science to understand what life on earth was like in its earliest forms.
Tours featuring Prairie Hotel:
Ancient Flinders Ranges
Taste of the Outback 4 days
Andamooka
One of Australia’s quaintest outback opal towns, Andamooka is situated 600 km north of Adelaide and is reached by road via the townships of Woomera and Roxby Downs. It is a unique town of miner’s homes and semi-dugouts nestled on top of a hidden network of underground diggings that have uncovered countless stunning gemstones.
