South Australia (Flinders Ranges)
Arkaroola
Arkaroola is a 61,000 hectare privately-owned wildlife sanctuary in the rugged northern flinders Ranges just to the east of the Gammon Ranges National Park. It shares features seen in that park - including spectacular arid zone mountain terrain, picturesque gorges, water holes and wildlife unique to the area.
Arkaroola Village was purchased by the current owners in 1968. Until then, the area was made up of a series of degraded pastoral leases infested with vermin; these were eradicated, and today Arkaroola is a fine example of a privately-run sanctuary. The scenic waterholes of Nooldoonooldoona, Bolla Bollana, Arkaroola, Stubbs and Bararranna are well worth a visit.

Arkaroola (Mount Painter Sanctuary) is a private resort and a source of fuel, provisions, meals, rooms and a campsite. Scene of Australia’s most recent volcanic activity, the area is a geologist’s paradise: Paralana Hot Springs (two hours away in a 4WD) bubble out radioactive radon gas, and if you take walks into the rough hills surrounding the resort you’ll come across lots of fossils and semiprecious minerals. 

The area is so rugged that conventional mining isn’t really a profitable venture – drilling rigs are airlifted in, then ferried around on the lower half of a Chieftain tank – and the mining giant CRA Zinc concentrates on mapping uranium and copper deposits in order to show progress and keep their licence.

The resort’s $50 Ridgetop Tour brings you closest to the heart of the scenery: four hair-raising hours in an open 4WD (wear something warm) following precipitous contours to Sillers Lookout and views east to the shimmering salt lakes of Frome and Callabonna. Remains of the hippopotamus-sized marsupial diprotodon have been found at Callabonna; the diprotodon survived well into Aboriginal times, but died out as the climate changed after the last Ice Age.

Arkaroola marks the limit of public transport, running its own connection to meet the Stateliner bus at Hawker on Monday and Friday. Some vehicles (with either high clearance or very careful drivers) can continue directly north to join the Strzelecki Track at Mount Hopeless, a little under half the distance to Innamincka. If you’re unsure, the track can also be reached via Lyndhurst on the Hawker–Marree road, but this involves a three-hundred-kilometre detour from Arkaroola.

Attractions
  • ARKAROOLA ASTRONOMICAL OBSERVATORY Clear night skies are frequent here, and the observatory's 360mm (14.2") telescope is open to visitors, subject to light conditions and weather. Bookings are essential. There is also a display of astronomical charts.
  • MT. PAINTER SANCTUARY AND HISTORIC RESERVE The Arkaroola-Mt. Painter Sanctuary and Historic Reserve is unique, with its rugged outback beauty and wildlife. It is steeped in history and dotted with geological monuments. The reserve offers a variety of experiences to visitors including hot springs, picturesque gorges, waterholes and rare wildlife.
  • OLD MINING SITES The area around Arkaroola is rich in mineral deposits. Copper and zinc were mined last century at Yudnamutana and Wheal Turner where the traditional round Cornish smelters still stand.
  • PARALANA HOT SPRINGS The radioactive Paralana Hot Springs, twenty seven kilometres north of Arkaroola originate deep within the earth's crust along a great earth fracture. They are the last vestige of active volcanism in Australia, with near boiling water flowing from the ground.
  • RIDGE TOP TOUR This stunning tour of the ridges around Arkaroola has been described as the most spectacular scenic tour in Australia. The four wheel drive tour along narrow tracks passes over fantastic climbs, along razor back ridges and into deep gorges and valleys. Not for sufferers of vertigo, the tour passes the site of Australia's 1910 radium- uranium discovery and other old mine sites.

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