Not only has South Australia got the
Simpson Desert but the best kept secret in
places to go and that would have to be the Flinders.
I have just got back from a 12 day trip that had us in a base
camp in Rawnsly
Park for 5 nights. From Rawnsly
Park we did day trips, the first being
Arkaba Station. This is a self drive trip that will take about 3-4 hours. A great drive just to wet our appetite.
Next day
Chace Range and Arkapena. These trips are very close to each other and just down the road from
Rawnsley Park.There are locked gates to the tracks so the key and pace notes have to be paid for before you go but the tracks are
well maintained and there is not a lot of traffic. In fact we were the only convey on the track when we did it. Again very good lookouts and some excellent but not over the top climbs and descents.
Next day off to
Wilpena Pound for a little bush walking and a flight over the Pound. The only way to see the Pound is by air and from this height we could also see the tracks that we had traveled the day before.
What I didn't want to see was the storm that was building up from the west. The time in the air was cut short because of the storm and lighting and in a way it was great to be back on the ground again.
When we returned to
camp we could see the rain to the north of us over the Pound and rain to the south but it was dry where we were.
Sky Trek was our next trip, if you are going through the Flinders and only have time for one trip, this would be the one to do. Very
well presented pace notes and information folder is yours when you see either Carmel or Brendon to pay the fee and collect the key. The first part of the trip is driving around the station and then it gets good. The finial climb will get you to a
lookout that has
Wilpena Pound in the foreground. What a spot.
PS There is also a ExplorOz sticker on the wall of the office.
The next 3 night were at Aroona Valley.
Brachina Gorge is worth a slow drive through. We came across some fossils in the rocks that were so easy to see but you had to get out of the vehicle. So many vehicles went past while we were stopped and missed so much.
The rain had finally found us and the next two trip had to be canceled but a look around
Blinman and the Parachilna Pub filled in the wet days.
Arkaroola was our next base
camp and
the Ridge Top Tour. What a trip. It might not have been the most comfortable trip sitting in the back of the Toyota ute facing each other but the
views were brilliant. The information about the surrounding area was almost too much to take in. They were talking about rock that were formed 650 to 750 million years ago, and then what happened to the rocks since then.
The Echo Back
Camp track brought us back to earth with a 4 hour drive around the property.
Next was a run up to
Cameron Corner and the black clouds were hot on our tails so rather than getting stuck out there we moved on to
Tibooburra to stay the night. A little bit of rain over night didn't seem too heavy until I was talking to w
Park Ranger and she said that the roads will be closing in half an hour and if we wanted to go
Broken Hill to-day go now.
8 hours latter we arrived in
Broken Hill with brown mud from bumper to bumper.
Don't worry South Australia I wont tell anybody about the Flinders your secret is safe with me.
Wayne