After long and arduous journey, finally reached our destination, valley bathed in late afternoon sun, was an absolute sensation, natural amphitheatre, sculpted from quartzite and sandstone cliffs rising all round, left-over remnants, prehistoric vulcanic cone.
Suddenly sharp turning track, slowing you to creek, deep running, revealing just a glimpse of landscape to come, pristine, stunning, following through stands of flowering Red River Gums, gravel track, already mesmerized by landscape, it would be hard to go back.
Seeming endless vista of finely granulated red coloured earth, strengthening the impression that this was a volcanic afterbirth, the vegetation Porcupine Grass, interspersed with Native Pine, its all here to enjoy and lifts one's spirits, a holiday sublime.
In the distance, crumbling homestead, witness to a rich past, what could have been reason why their prosperity didn't last, was it drought, bushfires, floods, making it impossible to survive or grazing too many sheep, the bank foreclosing, we can only surmise.
Each morning awakening to dawn chorus of birds, o what bliss, reminder of what, in hustle and bustle of city life, pure nature we miss, landscape jogged memory of a painting, seen in museum gallery, a painter who'd justly captured, on canvas, almost beauty of valley.
With sadness, yet with revitalised inner self, homeward bound, this, one of many tranquil and energising places, Wilpena Pound, a must to visit again, when life's Spirit, batteries are running low, returning with beautiful memories and that satisfying inner glow.
