17 - Southern Flinders Ranges, South Australia - November 2021

 

Entry 17 – Southern Flinders Ranges, South Australia - November 2021.

Leaving the Ikara Flinders Ranges National Park we propped at its closest southern town of Hawker where we could obtain quality phone/internet access. We spent a few hours catching up on our “electronic stuff,” bills, correspondence and boosting our positive well-being, communicating with family, including an hours face time chat with our Canada based daughter and partner.

En-route to our next planned destinations, we decided to deviate a few kilometres to the township of Port Augusta with good shopping to replenish our depleted fridge and pantry. It had been three weeks since our last shop.

Down the road a little bit from Port Augusta was a section of steep windy road, cutting its way through a section of the southern Flinders Ranges. It was aptly called, Horrocks Pass. There was a road side stop near the top of Horrocks Pass suitable for us as our stop for the night.

Since leaving Ikara Flinders Ranges National Park our country side viewing had felt rather dull, without any of the dramatic mountain ranges we had been surrounded by from our last three weeks in the National Park.

About 6 kilometres down the road was the township of Wilmington. From Wilmington there is an access road to the Mount Remarkable National Park, located in the southern Flinders Ranges. We were in need of a wow factor fix and decided to deviate into the National Park for a walk along its Alligator Gorge. There were the 250 steps to negotiate, down into the gorge, a reminder of what the Flinders Ranges is all about. Lots of walking trails and beautiful scenery.

A section of the creek bed had been named “The Terraces,” with only a trickle of water flowing along it at the time of our visit. It would look quite special with a bit more water flowing along its terraces. There were still some pools of water in places, many teaming with tadpoles. The below picture showing the beginning of a tadpoles developing rear legs, starting its transformation into a frog.

The walk along the base of Alligator Gorge, we would best describe as a fabulous memorable walk, with its amazing rock formations staying close to the surface of our memories of the Flinders Ranges.

Even the drive into Alligator Gorge is special with a steep windy road with speed hump warning signage, “inverted,” from what we normally experience when travelling over speed humps. The road was signed, no caravans and we left our caravan down the road a bit at the town’s cemetery vehicle park.

Our camp location for the next couple of nights was at the Melrose Showgrounds about 20 kilometres down the road. Another nice relaxing setting.

There was a beautiful red gum tree lined walking trail from the showgrounds of about 1 ½ kilometres to the township of Melrose. We enjoyed walking around town viewing its many historic buildings. Melrose had become a hub of cycling activities with various graded cycling tracks to choose from. We were there on a weekend and the streets and nearby trails were busy with cheerful cyclists.

On the Sunday there was a strawberry fete and we had fun walking about viewing the stalls. We enjoyed looking at some older style vehicles.

We continued travelling south, along Horrocks Highway amongst country side covered predominately with various types of crops. There were minimal other vehicles about to monitor, allowing us to travel at a slow rate where we could enjoy viewing our passing surroundings. Though even travelling along the quieter back roads away from the main vehicle routes we still had to be on the alert for hazards.

About an hour down the road, we stopped at the township of Laura, staying in its caravan park for a couple of nights. It was an old, neat and tidy caravan park. After we had set camp, we were presented with hot, freshly made scones with jam and cream as a welcome pack to their caravan park. It was a lovely touch. There was even a pizza oven in the camp kitchen which Mary took advantage of.

The iconic Golden North ice-cream factory was based at Laura but it was all business with no options for any viewings. Laura was another one of those old country towns in decline with many empty business buildings along its main street.

About 25 kilometres down the road was our next planned stop at the township of Crystal Brook. We walked around town, enjoying the sights of some beautiful older houses and innovative gardens.

We had parked in a recently permitted free camp location in the heart of Crystal Brook next to the main business street. We had previously visited Crystal Brook some five plus years previously with an impression this was another dying town with many closed businesses. Our visit in 2021, there was a noticeable increase of business activities, drawing more people and vehicles into the main street which was good to see. Even the bakery was well stocked with delicious looking temptations.

About 10 metres to the rear of our caravan was a train line which can be busy at times with freight transport. We possibly were feeling a bit precious, having been detached from busy, people environments after much quiet time spent in the Flinders Ranges, deciding to skip the free town camp and opt for another quieter camp location for the night about 5 kilometres out of town at Bowman Park. This turned out to be a great location. The creek was flowing with a background chorus of croaking frogs. There was a playground which grandma Mary and grandpa Steve needed to assess for their grandchildren and were happy to report with a thumbs up.

Our next planned destination was about 70 kilometres down the road. We were heading south west towards the coastal regions of Yorke Peninsula. On route we stopped at the township of Port Broughton where we walked around for about an hour.

We spent the night at another free camp in the town of Alford. We were about 20 kilometres from the township of Kadina where our tow tug had been booked for a service the following day. We had tried to obtain a spot in the Kadina caravan park but were advised they were booked out with no vacancies for over a month. Once again it was reiterated to us it seemed to be busier than normal for this time of the year with more people out travelling in their home state than previous to the covid-19 pandemic.

We had set in motion plans to travel around Yorke Peninsula for a month or so. As the saying goes, “have plans subject to change,” very much a part of travelling with a caravan in tow.

Our home state government whom had closed the borders to entry from nearby states of Victoria and New South Wales over the last few months announced they were going to reopen the borders to fully covid-19 vaccinated people, including returning state citizens. Our Canberra based son picked up on this announcement and was promptly on the phone with us, using this announcement as leverage to get us to his place in the middle of New South Wales. We agreed to this request with crossed fingers our governing bodies wouldn’t rescind on this announcement when we were in need to return home.

With our tow tug serviced and our abandoned south bound travels we headed east with a drive ahead of about 1,200 to 1,500 kilometres. During these current times, we were in need to monitor for any reported current covid 19 outbreaks along our proposed route. We spent time considering other available route options, in case it would be helpful to deviate around any reported hot spots, minimising our exposure with any hot spot areas. More hazards to consider when travelling the country side.