Flinders Ranges Trip

6th October 06:
Day 1
We left here a bit later than we hoped to meet up with our friends at Wycheproof on our way to our first night's stopover on route to the Flinders Ranges. We travelled via Ballarat, and turned off at St Arnaud to Wycheproof. We arrived about 1/2hr later than the arranged time.
Stayed overnight at Mildura, eating out at the RSL for dinner.

Day 2 Travelled next day to Peterborough. We didn't realise that we would get stopped at the border and had to give over all our fruit and any vegetables that grow on a vine. Between the two vans they would have had great meals for a couple of nights. We weren't very happy, but of course nothing we could do. We stopped at Berri for moring tea and to re stock our fridges. We thought Renmark and Berri would have been a nice places to stay but we had booked for the Ranges so had to be there.


Got to Morgan in SA and discovered we had to go over on the punt to cross the Murray River. .The temperature was heating up and the temperature in our car also. Had to put in some water and run without our airconditioner until we got to Peterborough. It was a little windy and cooler that night. The caravan park was good and clean and heaps of room in each site. Went for a drive around and discovered not a lot there. There is a rail museum but we were too late for that. There are 4 pubs in town and we ate out at one and it was a very nice meal.

Day 3
Decided to leave early as it was going to be warm again and it would be better for our car if we travelled in the cool, besides Bathurst started at 9.30am SA time. We arrived at Rawnsley Park Station(just outside Wilpena Pound) by 9am and was nearly set up in time for Owen to watch. He missed the start and the first 5 laps, got the telly set up, great picture, NO sound. OH dear!!
Our friends set their TV up and had sound and a good picture!
So we relaxed the rest of the day and read, walked to the shop and chatted whilst Owen & sometimes Rick watched Bathurst.
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Day 4:
Next day Owen and I went for walk ,or so I thought, but it ended up being a climb. We followed a track and ended up walking across the ridge of the hills behind where were camped. In the meantime, Rick decided to walk straight up the hill and we ended up meeting on the ridge.


We drove to Wilpena Pound, had a look around, missed the shuttle bus to go into the pound and as it was quite warm decided not to hang around and went back to Hawker. On the way there was an art exhibition we went to. We would have liked to purchase one but the ones we liked were already sold. We drove back to Hawker to have a look as it was very early when we had come through the day before. There was another art exhibition in town so we went to that & had lunch at the local pub. There wasn't much else there.




Day 5:
We had arranged to take a flight over Wilpena Pound at 8am. There was a communication breakdown and we didn't get up in the air until after 9am. We were glad we did it as it gave a great overall view of the pound and beyond. Our pilot, Daniel, was from Melton!



We then drove to Blinman, stopping at the Great Wall of China and seeing plenty of emus and chicks, lizards and a couple of roos.
Lunch was at the Blinman Pub and there was another art exhibition at the memorial hall.



Travelled back via Brachina Gorge and Bunyeroo Gorge which was a great drive.










Day 6:
We decided to try doing the walk/climb to the Wilpena Pound lookout from Rawnsley Park. We ended up leaving very early as it was going to be a hot day.
Quite a climb. Von & I got 3.2kms up with 3.1kms to go to Rawnsley Bluff. (a bit less to the Wilpena Pound lookout). The pathway turned into a goat's track at that point and we decided not to continue on. The guys went further but it got very steep and Owen got to within 2.5kms of the Bluff and he also found it heavy going. The views were good and by the time we were heading back to the cars we realised just how far up we had climbed.


We vegged most of that day. It was quite warm and we were moving on the next day. We had had enough of the dust blowing into our vans from passing vehicles and we had seen all we wanted to see and it was getting hotter.

Day 7 & 8
We travelled to Quorn. There were lots of ruins along the way. The country is so dry and you can imagine people having to leave the land years ago because of the lack of water. Still very windy. We stopped for morning tea at Quorn. We decided not to bother stopping at the Pitchie Ritchie rail to have a look. Comming down into Pt Augusta we could see nothing but dust. It was going to be 40deg there that day. We had a little look at Pt Augusta and decided to travel down to Port Pirie and hope that the dust was not as bad. We decided to stay at Port Pirie for 2 nights. It was good to relax. Still windy. Tried to put up the awning and the screw wouldn't release so had to cut it off and were fortunate to be able to get replacements at Pirie. Not much to see at Pirie. Shops and industry.





Day 9 & 10
We decided we would travel down to the York Peninsula. We went through Port Broughton, morning tea at Wallaroo and drove through Moonta Bay all on the west coast of the peninsula and then across the centre to Port Vincent on the eastern side.







Lovely spot and caravan park, right on the point. Popular for crabbing, fishing & boating. A little windy but protected where we were. Met an elderly couple there. He was 91 and she 83 and they were still caravanning. Amazing couple. Very with it and spritely.
Travelled around the peninsula the next day. Not as much to see there as we had expected, mostly farming. Not a lot open on a Sunday either.










Day 11-13
We travelled back up the peninsula and then down to Gawler, stopping there for lunch and moving on to Munno Para to stay with friends who had recently moved there for a 2 year stint with MMM International. The set up in the back of the property for caravans was great.








The following day was again going to be hot so we decided to travel to Victor Harbour, Goolwa etc. It was quite a long day. We enjoyed Goolwa more than Victor Harbour and since Owen & I were there last, they had built the bridge over to Hindmarsh Island which leads down to the mouth of the Murray River.

We had a bbq that evening with Erin, AnneMarie & their family who were visiting.

Next day we drove to the Barossa Valley, visiting Seppetltsfield & Maggie Beers Farm shop, and then across to Birdwood to the car museum.





















Later that evening we went to the Ford F100 Car Club's AGM at Regent Park and caught up with people we hadn't seen for a while. I took out one of the raffle prizes which was an electric Sizzle Plate. Very handy.





Day 14
We left Munno Para and travelled through the Adelaide Hills via the freeway and travelled through to Naracoorte staying there overnight.



Day 15
We travelled to Warrnambool via Hamilton. Quite windy and cool. We settled in and went for a drive around. Rick then had the same problem with his awning as we had in Pirie. Went out to a hotel for a meal and when we got back to the vans we had to put on our heaters.
Our friends had to travel back to Melbourne the next day and after they left we went shopping at a disposal place we had seen and then went for a drive along the coast and out to Childers Cove and Hopkins falls. Once again that night it was quite cool.





We packed up on the Sunday and travelled home arriving around lunch time.

We had a good holiday and did 4000kms. Tonca didn't give us too much trouble except for having to watch the water level.