Day 498 | Wilpena: the Eternal Return
rest day
I guess I’m less conflicted than I should be, although the request is weakly worded and you have to search around to find it: Ngarri Mudlahna, St Marys Peak, the highest hillock in South Australia is “central to the Adnyamathanha creation story. For this reason the Adnyamathanha people of the Flinders Ranges would prefer that visitors do not climb to the summit of the peak.”
I had no issue when confronted similarly at Uluru last year: no compunction to comply there, I sailed on by.
I’ve been here at Wilpena before a few times, the first time as a newly minted 16 year old where I found for the first time I had some ability to influence how the family spent school holidays, a time before such requests had become apparent.
In fact that initial climb and subsequent wander through the centre of the Pound on the 21 km round trip was a crucial cusp in my development although in those days, under-management of children’s upbringing commonplace, we, ie, with my younger brother and sister, just revelled in our Little Adventure, shod in the standard issue Roman sandals.
For me this was a ramping up of my curiosity about the Australian Outback that’s now come close to moving full circle. In some way this closes that decades long gap but also my 3.5 year romp across Australia.
Wilpena is a full on Tourist Resort, complete with restaurant, bar, swimming pool, fast internet access, 2 wheel drive transportation, neat casual clothes, stylish even, and cappuccinos on demand. People have driven from Adelaide for a few days break, I’m not far removed from the complete suburban lifestyle, a long way from the empty squalor of Marree and the emptiness beyond.
The more things change, the more they stay the same.