Arkaroola Creek, Arkaroola Wilderness Sanctuary - 11 th July 2011

We were based at Rawnsley Park in the Flinders Ranges few a few days in 2011 and we thought that it would be a good opportunity to head up to Arkaroola to do the Arkaroola Creek walk in the Tyrone Thomas book 40 Great Walks in Australia. Arkaroola is in the North Flinders Ranges, heading north from here really gets you into the never-never, the sanctuary was set up by a legendary geologist and explorer named Reg Sprigg. If you want to read more on this amazing man check out Rock Star by Kristin Weidenbach, its a great read. Arkaroola has a small resort, but its the wild country around it that holds the most interest for me, so after grabbing a drink at the small shop we headed off to the track head.

The view down Paralana Hot Springs Road from the Welcome Mine.

After bumping along the Paralina Hot Springs Road for a few kilometres we parked at the site of the old Welcome Mine. First up we had an easy walk down the dirt road before turning onto a lesser track and then almost immediately heading of into a dry gulley. The route now just follows the bed of the dry watercourse downstream, the occasional dry waterfall adding a bit of interest along with the odd outbreak of Sturt Desert Peas.

Sturt Desert Pea.

Eventually the small creek spat us out into the gorge that has been formed by Arkaroola Creek, were we headed north, intersecting the Paralana Hot Springs Road at Stubbs Waterhole. After a bit of scouting around we found our way around the waterhole that was almost blocking the gorge. From here we continued along Arkaroola Creek now heading in a NW direction, there were no tracks as such but the creek bed made for relatively easy walking. The junction with Bararranna Gorge was marked by large swirl pool, formed by flood water over the years, there was also a large sand bank with a couple of big red gums on it populated by hundreds of White Cockatoo's.

Stubbs Waterhole, Arkaroola Creek.

Ripples in the rock from when it was the bed of an ancient sea.

The cockatoo's at the entrance to Bararranna Gorge.

The Swirl Pool.

After having a bite to eat I headed up Bararranna Gorge for a couple of kilometres, leaving Sam to relax with the cockatoo's. The side gorge was once again fairly easy rock hopping interspersed with sandy sections, after reaching a large slab with ripple marks from an old sea bed I decided to head back to Sam. From the swirl pool we picked up a bit of a marked track that headed up a creek line, sometimes in the creek, sometimes on the bank. Paddy Melons were everywhere along this section which allowed Sam to test out her throwing skills, the goats of Chambers Gorge were more accurate however.

Bararranna Gorge.

Sam throwing Paddy Melons at me, the goat were more accurate at Chambers Gorge!

The track we were now following basically followed the active Paralana Fault, unfortunately we didn't have any seismic activity on the trip although we have had plenty of tremors on other trips in the area. The track eventually climbs out of the small gulley we were walking in and climbs a ridge where we descended back to the Paralana Hot Springs Road, after turning to the left we only had a couple of hundred metres back to the ute.

Following the track along the Paralana Fault.

With the walk over we settled in for the two and a half hour drive back to Rawnsley Park. The drive back was punctuated for the sun lighting up Mt Chambers with a pink glow in the late afternoon light. We eventually rocked back to our cottage just after dark, managing to avoid all contact with the local fauna on the way back.

Mount Conner in the late afternoon.

The Dirt.
We used Tyrone Thomas's notes from 40 Great Walks in Australia, its walk # 21 in the book. Arkaroola is a long way from civilisation however all the roads that we drove on should be negotiable in a 2wd vehicle in dry conditions, there's a small resort (shop, fuel, pub, accommodation, etc ) at Arkaroola. The walk was 8 kilometres on a mixture of walking tracks, 4wd tracks, and creek beds, it is was fairly well marked but you still need to carry a compass or GPS. I'd rate it as an easy walk.
We stayed at Rawnsley Park Eco Villas on this trip, they are very exy but also very flash, we especially liked the glass ceiling above the bed which allows you to check out the stars from bed.

The Flinders Ranges cloaked in cloud.

Rawnsley Park Eco Villas were pretty flash.