Its time to finish up writing about our trip over to South Australia in the winter of 2011, this trip was meant to be a Mountain Bike adventure on the Mawson Trail but the weather gods conspired against me and the trip ended up being as much a walking trip as a riding trip. The final two walks of the trip I did back to back, Sam stayed behind at Rawnsley Park and relaxed in front of the heater. The weather was predicted to turn nasty over the course of the day and Sam was happy to stay dry indoors.
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| Heading along the Wilcolo Fire Trail. |
First up, before the weather got to nasty I headed to the trail head for the ABC Range walk. As this walk featured a few views I was keen to complete it before the cloud got too low. Parking in Bunyeroo Gorge I headed south on the Wilcolo Fire Trail through the native pines, the fire trail provided an easy start to the walk and is also part of the Mawson Trail which I'd been riding. After a couple of kilometres on the fire trail I turned to the left and started climbing into the ABC range along the long distance Heyson Trail, the climb was never to hard though and in what seemed like no time I was topping out at the lookout at 490 metres, the highest point I'd reach today. Now normally I'd regale you with talk of the awesome views in every direction but to be honest, with the low grey cloud the views today were somewhat under whelming......oh well.
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The track starting to climb into the ABC Range.
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Get out of the way so we can see the view.
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| The walls of Wilpena Pound. |
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Leaving the lookout I walked down a broad spur still on the Heyson Trail, eventually leaving it when I reached Bunyeroo Creek. For a while the pad sidled above the creek before descending into the predominately dry bed. Once in the Bunyeroo Creek I soon met up with the road that goes through the gorge, which I followed back to the ute.
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The road in from Wilpena.
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| A Red gum clinging to the side of a cliff near Bunyeroo Creek. |
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Once back to the start I continued to head west on the dry creek bed through Bunyeroo Gorge, this walk was just a matter of following the dry creek bed in a westerly direction as it dissected the Heyson Range. After an hour the cliffs started to fall away and the country started to open up with wide plains stretching into the distance. I used an old wind mill as a turn around point and retraced my outward journey being careful not to follow any side creeks. The trip back was enlivened by a few feral goats.
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Bunyeroo Creek.
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Feral Goats in Bunyeroo Gorge.
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| More rocky bluffs, Bunyeroo Gorge. |
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Getting back to the ute, the weather was now officially crap so I headed back to Rawnsley Park to catch up with Sam. We spent the afternoon reading, occasionally gazing out the floor to ceiling windows to check out the Elder Range cloaked in cloud, the scene out the window with the cloud and rain looked more suited to an alpine area.
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The Red gums are getting bigger but the cliffs are getting smaller, approaching the open plain on the west side of Bunyeroo Gorge.
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The wind mill marked my turn around point in Bunyeroo Gorge.
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| Back on the road through part of the gorge, the weather was getting worse. |
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The Dirt.
The ABC Range walk was 9.6 kilometres long and I climbed 250 metres, its a fairly easy walk.
The Bunyeroo Gorge walk was 8 kilometres long and I climbed 50 metres and is also easy.
If combining both walks back to back I'd rate the day as requiring a medium amount of effort. Both Walks are written up in
40 Great Walks in Australia by Tyrone Thomas, and with the notes and map in the book you don't really need anything else. Both walks are in the
Flinders Ranges National Park and there is a wealth of information on line. As I've mentioned before we stayed in the Eco Villas at Rawnsley Park and they were very flash, one day I'll have saved enough money to go back again!
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| Rawnsley Park Eco Villas with the Elder Range cloaked in cloud in the distance. |
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| Not a bad view to gaze at from the room. |
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