TOURING THE WILD.

Press, Volume LX, Issue 18233, 18 November 1924, Page 6

TOURING THE WILD.

CHARM OF CENTRAL AUSTRALIA. Withm a few years Central Australia has ibecome popular as a country for sight-seeing tourists (writes the Adelaide correspondent of the London "Times"*. Official patronage has been extended to the through trip from Oodnadatta, the southern railhead, to Darwin. Last year the Governor of South Australia, Sir Tom Bridges, made a motor trip to the interior. and this year the Governed of Victoria, Lord Stradbroke, and Lady Stradbroke, have gone to that land of great distances. The Arctic explorer Stefansson has recently gone there, too.

Not many years ago an excursion into Central Australia was a signal achievement, and the long journey to Darwin almost, an epic adventure, but now the frequency.of visits has made the trip a commonplace experience. The/ change is due to motor transport. Th 6 route through the centre ; of the continent is practically a beaten track. This sudden popularity of Central Australia recalls what Professor Sir Edgeiworth David told me some years ago. "There is a time coming," he said, "when people will flock to sea the country from all parts of the world. It is an amazing storehouse of knowledge, and possesses features not to be- found in any other part." Sir Edgeworth David was referring to scenio aspects as well as to scientific phenomesna, and Captain S. A. White, the Australian ornithologist, who has been sis or seven times to the interior, and has an artistic understanding of the colour and moods of this vast territory, agrees with him. If people only knew the wonders and beauties of travel there, he says, they would go in thousands during the winter season. Although it cannot be said that the difficulties of the journey have teen overcome, the dangers certainly are past, and the trail for the tourist has heen blazed in a manner that admits of no confusion. It lws been assorted by a recent motorist that all. the talk of a perilous enterprise is only so much posing. There was a, time when the dreaded Depot Sandhills, twenty-eight miles of continuous ridges, had to be negotiated. They vary from 30ft to 38ft high, sloping to the south, and presenting almost a perpendicular face to the north, a freak per net rated by the prevailing wind. The terrific climb over these ridges can now be avoided by following the bed of the Finke river, and one of the greatest obstacles to the northern advance is thus overcome.

The route is picturesquely circuitous, one river having to be crossed eight times in sixteen miles. The courses of the creeks are marked by stately gums, unequalled anywhere for their-'massive symmetry and beautiful foliage. In other parts there are fine belts of desert oak,, many of the trees rising to a height • of between 30ffc and; 40ft without a branch, the boles growing as straight as lances. Tho acacias are also most attractive, with their spiky leaves, and the bushes in the wet season clothe the rugged landscapes ,in soft, tinted garments.

Blossom Time. Nature's decorative effects when she goes forth with her brushes and palette amid ' these amazing .flower gardens are gorgeous., The blossoming time - is brief in. this region of ■ scanty ■ rainfall, and the colouring process . must be quick. Fighting for existence against the heaviest odds, the plants develop .with remarkable rapidity, germinating,. maturing, flowering; .seeding, and vanishing in the space 'of a few weeks. In this battle for the preservation of the species tremendous vitality and tenacity have been developed.

Captain White talks of the ''garden of the interior."' ' It must no' longer be thought as a "desert," but a perfect garden undergoing ■ a swift transformation almost from the, moment that rain touches it- Brilliant blooms cover the ground for immense distances* There are swainsonias in pinks, deep reds, purple, white, bright yellow, and maroon, and a brave little pink daisy with a white centre; blue asters from 18in to 2ft high, which spring up in the claypans and on the tablelands; the blazing scarlet of the Sturt pea, spilling over the white sands like rf stain of blood, and tree fuchsias, presenting every colour under the diamond sparkle of the winter sun.

Even those twenty-eight miles of Depot Sandhills are not within the category of a "desert," for in the rainy season they, too, are a wonderful garden-. Captain "White says there are seventy species of flowering shrubs and plants to be found along this, ridge. In the ravines which intersect the McDonnell Ban'ges. there is some wonder - ful vegetation, including timber which rises for 100 ft without a single leaf. There is also a cycad, one .of the oldest" living plants in the world, with a history of millions of years. It is found in fossil formation in other countries.

Painted Cliff. Of the physical features of the Central Australian landscape, the . Yellow Cliff, into which the geologists can read a history of thirty-two millions of years, presents a striking colour scheme. On its great yellow face there is written the imperishable story of the age when Australia was in the grip of ice. Two other distinct periods are recorded here—one a matter of twenty-five millions and the other of sixteen millions of years. Tlie cliff is' about 80ft high, and time and weather have painted the sandstone in browns and deep reds, light yellow and orange,, and the sun plays upon them with dazzling effects. The whole of the western Hank of the Painted Cliff, in the -Einke river, is exposed to the setting rays, and in the later afternoon the strata take on a kaleidoscopic brilliance.

Crown Point, rising abruptly to probably from the immense brown plain, and quite flat along the summit, shows the original level of the country. It is the only, projection, for many miles around,,and in the wonderful, clear atmosphere may be seen on every side for a considerable distance. Captain White, describes Horseshoe Bend as the weirdest place in the interior, with its unrelieved sombreness of setting. To peer down into this black, gloomy spot from the high.qliffs gives the uncanny impression of overlooking a crater. The MacDonnell angea are massively sculptured, •with Heavy Tree Gap forming a huge gateway to a vast arena of rock, which- makes a great natural reservoir, hundreds of feet dec-p, and approximately eight miles square. Water-can be got here at any time of the yet.? at a shallow depth, and there is a good holding ground .of granite. The elimste, too, is most exhilarating. No matter how hot the days may be, the nights have a delicious coolness, the temperature ranging from 107deg to 72degi • This- invigorating, buoyant atmosphere gives one the feeling of being'lifted up.