Flinders Ranges

The Flinders Ranges is a well-known tourist destination in South Australia, about a 5 hour drive north of Adelaide in a semi-arid region. It's best known for its beautiful landscapes and hiking, but if you dig further you will discover its important geological records, the reason for this site being added to the tentative list.

Over the years I've visited the region 3 times, firstly as a kid with my family. On my second visit to the region in 2009, we drove along the Brachina Gorge Drive in the north of the park, which has a number of interesting signposted stops to explore the geology of the region. One of the highlights is the Ediacaran Golden Spike, the only such marker point in the southern hemisphere. Unfortunately, though I don't have many photos from this part of my visit. 

My third visit to the region occurred in 2021, shortly after the site was added to the tentative list, in between Covid lockdowns. Unfortunately, we couldn't repeat the drive through Brachina Gorge, as it's a rather rough unsealed road and our campervan wasn't up to it. Instead, we were hoping to visit the Nilpena and Ediacara Conservation Park, where the important fossils from the Ediacaran period were found, but due to the lockdowns the tours were not yet up and running. Instead, we supplemented our visit to the region with a visit to South Australian Museum in Adelaide. At the museum there is a Ediacara Biota gallery devoted to …