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Please note that the cost of programmes will be $645 but $765 for Angepena.

The 2017 Programme contains the following:

At Alpana. “The Ediacaran experience.” From: March 27th – April 1st

Alpana is a small dry land wool sheep property with a large ecotourism component. It is owned by David and Sally Henery. The station’s central location makes it an ideal location to examine God’s oldest life so far found on earth. God’s plan for life on earth has been an extremely attenuated affair, commencing 3.5 billion years ago and culminating in the development of human kind. His first life was of single celled organisms (cyano bacteria) followed by the first metazoans which emerged about 620 million years ago. Brachina Gorge offers a unique opportunity to experience these earliest life forms. Join us in a ramble through a 130 million year long period of geological time and in the company of magnificent river red gums, steep rocky and spectacular gorges and yellow-footed rock wallabies. The Spiritual Directors will be: Fr Tom Gleeson and Sr Kateri (14 places available)

At Mount Ive Station, “God gets explosive.” From: June 12th – 17th

Mount Ive is a working sheep station which also offers excellent tourist accommodation. It is set in the magnificent Gawler Ranges and is owned and run by Len and Joy Newton. Come and savour the deep reds of the 1.5 billion year old volcanic rocks with their many amazing shapes and forms. The ranges were formed during on of the oldest and largest outpourings of volcanic rock found on the earth. They cover an area of 25,000 square kilometres and are up to two kilometres deep. Come and be dazzled also by the white brilliance of massive Lake Gairdner, one of the many large salt lakes found in South Australia and learn some of the settlement history of this ancient weathered land. The Spiritual Directors will be: Rev’ds David and Jenni Thompson (20 places available)

At Balcanoona. “A mountain, a lake, sand dunes and a murder.” From: August 14th – 19th

In Adnyamathanha language, Balcanoona means “old lady.” Balcanoona is the headquarters of the large, roughly rectangular Gammon Ranges National Park. The park was formerly a sheep and cattle station owned by the MacLachlan family. Come and enjoy some of the early pastoral, mining and settlement history of the north Flinders. Be shocked by a grizzly murder which took place at Grindell’s Hut in the 1920’s. Visit Lake Frome, engraving site Manyi with Aboriginal elder Cliff Coulthard and rugged and spectacular Weetootla Gorge which cuts through the ranges and containing a 2 kilometre thick layer of 750 million year old ice transported rock [tillite]. Weetootla Spring, with crystal clear sweet water is nearby and home to a colony of yellow footed rock wallabies. The Spiritual Director will be: Fr Jim Monaghan (16 places available)

At Angepena. “In the land of the Adnyamathanha and Iga Warta.” From: September 18th – 23rd

Angepena station is a cattle/sheep run owned by Tony and Lesley Nicholls. Frome Creek is the main intermittent stream passing near the homestead as it flows through the property. It was along the Frome, at Mudlapena Gap, that the indigenous people who had been occupants of the land for thousands of years, first encountered white man. Come and experience the story of the traditional owners of the Flinders Ranges, the Adnyamathanha. Join the Coulthard family [Terry and Josie, Cliff, Clarrie and Sharpie] from Iga Warta as they relate their story of dispossession and dislocation, life on the mission, their acceptance of western culture and displacement from their land and finally, their return and resettlement in their homeland at Iga Warta, established in 1996. Come and hear their stories, learn of their complex moiety system, visit and learn about art sites, take a bush tucker ramble, experience “women’s business” [females only], join in a campfire sing along, learn some of the language, adopt a totem and immerse yourself in this incredibly rich and ancient culture. The Spiritual Director will be: The Rev’d Ali Wurm (16 places available)

At Gum Creek, “In the beginning.” From: October 30th – November 4th

Gum Creek Station is a small dry land meat sheep station lying in the central Flinders Range’s owned and run by Bill and Jane McIntosh and situated 15 kilometres south of Blinman. It’s close to four of the main gorges which cross the western flank of the Flinders Ranges. The ranges are part of an old buckled and uplifted pile of sedimentary rocks, originally a sea floor, which contain evidence of the oldest multi cellular life (metazoans) so far discovered on earth (the Ediacarans). The name Ediacaran was recently added to the relative geological time scale and it denotes rocks which were laid down in a number of places around the world between 620 and 543 million years ago. The rock layers we see in visits to Brachina and Wilkawillina Gorges contain evidence of Ediacaran and Cambrian age rocks with fossils which evolved in each period. Join us at Gum Creek and become familiar with these oldest life forms which in the creation story represent the very oldest of our ancestors. The Spiritual Director will be: Fr Constantine Osuchukwu (16 places available)