Some journeys are about getting somewhere.

 

This one is about what happens along the way.

 

Depart Adelaide by helicopter and head north towards the Flinders Ranges. From the moment you leave Adelaide, the landscape becomes part of the experience.

 

QUORN — A TOWN WITH A STORY

Our first stop is Quorn, a historic railway town nestled among the Flinders Ranges.

 

Here, we leave the helicopter behind for a while and join the Pichi Richi Explorer for a return journey through the rugged Pichi Richi Pass. It is an opportunity to experience the country at a different pace, aboard a railway that has become part of the region's identity.

 

There is time to stretch the legs, explore the town and take in the character of a place shaped by the railway and the changing fortunes of the outback.

 

Then it is back to the helicopter. The journey north continues.

 

Railway services operate on selected dates and are subject to availability.

 

PARACHILNA — THE FLINDERS AT THEIR MOST REMOTE

From Quorn, the journey continues to Parachilna and the remarkable landscape of the Flinders Ranges.

 

A stop at Parachilna Gorge offers time to step out, walk among the ancient landscape and experience the scale and stillness of the ranges at ground level.

 

By evening, we arrive at the iconic Prairie Hotel. Dinner, an overnight stay and the quiet of the outback provide a welcome pause before the following morning's adventure.

 

Because tomorrow, we are up before sunrise.

 

THE FLINDERS AT FIRST LIGHT

There are few better ways to appreciate the scale of the Flinders Ranges than to see the first light of day moving across them from the air.

As the sun rises, the shadows retreat across the ridgelines, the colours change and the landscape gradually reveals itself beneath the helicopter.

 

NILPENA EDIACARA — A WINDOW INTO ANOTHER WORLD

From the ancient ranges, we travel further back in time.

At Nilpena Ediacara National Park, the story of the landscape reaches back approximately 550 million years, to a time when this part of South Australia lay beneath a shallow sea and some of the earliest complex forms of animal life inhabited its floor.

​

Their impressions remain preserved in the ancient sediments.

​

With an opportunity to explore the interpretive centre and fossil beds, guests can discover the significance of these extraordinary traces of early life — and begin to comprehend the immense span of time recorded in the landscape beneath their feet.

 

Our own visit to Nilpena gave us the opportunity to spend time with a palaeontologist and members of the research team, exploring the interpretive centre, its interactive displays and the fossil beds themselves.  There was time to ask questions, understand what we were looking at and hear about the continuing work being carried out at this remarkable site.

​

It is a remarkable contrast. From the air, we have witnessed the grandeur of the Flinders. Here, we discover a world that existed long before the ranges we see today.

 

Some places change the way you look at a landscape. Nilpena is one of them.

 

From here, we continue north-east.

​

 

KATI THANDA–LAKE EYRE — THE SCALE OF THE OUTBACK

The scale changes again. The Flinders give way to the vastness of Kati Thanda-Lake Eyre.  

 

Seen from the helicopter, the salt lake and its surrounding country reveal a scale that is difficult to appreciate from the ground. Depending on conditions, colour, water and the extraordinary patterns of the lake combine to create a landscape unlike anywhere else in South Australia.

It is a place of immense distances, remarkable contrasts and profound stillness.

 

From here, we continue to William Creek.

 

WILLIAM CREEK — A NIGHT IN THE OUTBACK

Arriving by helicopter, we settle into one of Australia's most remote outback communities.

William Creek is small in size but enormous in character, a place where the realities of life in the outback are never far away.

There is time to explore, meet the people who call this country home and enjoy dinner before an overnight stay beneath an extraordinarily remote sky.

Tomorrow, the journey takes us across more country that few people ever see from this perspective.

 

WILLIAM CREEK TO ARKAROOLA — COUNTRY WITHOUT END

The following morning, we depart eastward, with the extraordinary Marree Man among the remarkable sights viewed from above along the way.

As the journey continues towards Arkaroola, the landscape changes once more. Vast open country gives way to the rugged formations and dramatic terrain of the northern Flinders.

At Arkaroola, we leave the day's flying behind.

Dinner, an evening beneath the stars and an overnight stay offer time to appreciate this remarkable corner of the outback, where the silence and the night sky become part of the experience.

 

ARKAROOLA TO WILPENA — THE JOURNEY SOUTH

The following morning, we return to the air and turn south towards Wilpena Pound.

Below us, the Flinders unfold once again — a succession of ridges, valleys and ancient formations shaped over an extraordinary span of geological time.

Subject to conditions and operational considerations, there may be an opportunity to land at Wilpena for lunch and time on the ground. Alternatively, we continue to experience this immense natural amphitheatre from the air before beginning the final stages of our journey.

The landscape that has accompanied

 

THE JOURNEY HOME

From Wilpena, the journey continues towards Port Augusta for a fuel stop before turning south. Then the landscape changes once again — from the ranges to the coast.

 

The final leg follows the coastline before continuing via Port Wakefield and back towards Adelaide.

 

The journey that began in Adelaide now completes its circle.

 

MORE THAN A FLIGHT

This is not simply a helicopter trip.

 

It is a journey through some of South Australia's most extraordinary landscapes, with the freedom to stop, explore, walk, eat, stay and look around.  

 

The helicopter makes the journey possible.

 

But it is only one part of the experience.

 

The places, the people, the food, the landscape, the early mornings, the unexpected moments and the time spent together are what make the journey.

​

Four  Days​

​

Four guests

​

One extraordinary journey