A glimpse of the future- and the past.

Nearby our camp is a solar power station, at one time the largest in Australia. It provides power for the whole of Wilpena, and generates enough for 400kwh of storage, the equivalent of 850 car batteries. Almost all of the local power is generated here from solar.

A walk of around two miles took us to the Old Wilpena Station, from where the land had been run for over 135 years. Originally settled in 1851,the station soon grew to 850 sq miles, with no less than 120,000 sheep. Overgrazing and drought soon forced the settlers to reduce the stock to 20,000, and build fences so that pastures could be rested in turn. One of the early buildings is still there, giving an insight into how the first settlers lived at the time. It is made of Pug and Pine, the pug being a mud infil between upright logs. The floor was dirt, made harder by the application of fat from the cooking pans. Although now covered by a galvanised iron roof, the original thatch still survives inside.

As time went on the homestead was rebuilt many times, more and more stone with lime mortar was used until by 1888 the house was very substantial indeed. Since 1985 when the last tenant gave up the lease it has been  maintained as a living museum by the South Australian government, even the garden is planted with fruit trees as it was in the early days.

Many buildings still exist round the site, including a substantial storeroom, stables, and a blacksmiths shop, the whole settlement is now a tranquil archive of pastoral history

I said yesterday that we are surrounded by many birds and animals here, we have a resident kangaroo who is very cheeky. She has a small joey in her pouch and has to be watched as she tends to sneak up on us to steal anything we leave around.
There are also many multi coloured birds, including green parrots, who visit us in the mornings in the hope of a handout. We don't feed any of them as it spoils them for others, but it is tempting when they come so close to us.