According to our speedometer, the two big red kangaroos beside us were travelling at 50km/h. Effortlessly, they bounded metres at a time, whilst our ute juddered over each bump on the dirt road, sending up a cloud of red dust behind us. That was the moment we knew we’d arrived in Outback Australia!
Red Kangaroo, Flinders Ranges
Flinders Ranges was the first stop on our outback adventure. We camped at Rawnsley Park Station which had stunning views of the mountains, and plenty of wildlife to keep us entertained. Colourful ring-necked parrots sipped water from the taps in the campground, and grey kangaroos grazed on low-hanging tree branches in the early mornings.
Grey kangaroo with joey
Ring-neck parrot drinking from tap
Continuing to head north, we reached Arkaroola Wilderness Sanctuary. Here, we had the pleasure of meeting some rare yellow-footed rock wallabies. These fast little macropods can hop up a mountain in minutes! They also have beautiful markings, complete with a “go faster” stripe down their side.
Arkaroola is an astronomy hot-spot, kitted out with multiple observatories and powerful telescopes. During an evening presentation by owner Doug Sprigg, we were shown planets, galaxies, and stars all incomprehensibly far away and invisible to the naked eye, but beautiful when viewed though the telescope. Minds blown, we attempted to capture some of the wonders of the universe on our own cameras.
Night sky, Arkaroola
Enjoy the photos below, which show a few more of the animals, plants, and scenes we saw during this first leg of our outback adventure! More outback stories to come soon…
Frog, Arkaroola
Sturt Desert pea – South Australia’s floral emblem
Photos by Scott Portelli & Rosie Leaney using Olympus AU & NZ OMD cameras.