Wednesday 8th April, 2015 - Clear Skies – cool wind – Flinders Ranges SA

We woke this morning to a cloudless sky.  The clouds appeared later.  Another cool morning and this will continue for a few more days and then the weather forecast is for much warmer weather.  Today we are doing a drive tour of the Flinders Ranges.  We plan to tackle a 4wd track on Alpana Station – the Mt Samuel Track.

On the way to Alpana Station, we saw a sign for the Great Wall of China.  A high natural rock wall. 

It was mid morning and probably the wrong time of day to try to take this photo.  You can see the Great Wall above our car as well.

We called into Alpana Station to pay for access and pick up the gate keys and guide to form for the Mt Samuel Track.  The Alpana Station has been in the same family for 5 generations.  The original house built by Paddy Henery (original settler)  is still there and being used as a B & B.  The track is on another section of their property further up the road past Blinman.

 

 

 

 

 

We called into Blinman on our way to Glass Gorge.  Blinman was a copper town and has historical mine tours.  There is a “dear” little general store and that’s about all. It is a quaint little village.

We had just pulled off the road at a creek which had water in it.  As I got out of the car, I saw this old Euro was making his way down and stopped when he saw us.  We stayed away, so that he could go down and have a drink.

 

 

 

 

He had stripes on his tail and has lots of missing pieces in his ears.  He seemed to be quite old and has done a fair share of battles by the bits out of his ears.

 

 

 

 

We have seen a young Euro two afternoons in a row on our camp road.  He has long fur which is such a light shade of grey that it is almost cream.  The only other colour is on the tail similar in colour to the one above.  Most of the other young Euros are a much darker shade of grey.

Above are a couple of hills we saw on the way – They just looked stunning with the deep mulberry rock ridges.

There are two “Mount Samuels” because two surveyors could not agree on which peak was which.  You would think by now someone could decide with the technology we have and rename the other.  We drove Glass Gorge – which was nothing outstanding to the start of the Mt Samuel track.

Just at the gate into the Alpana property is this dry stone wall which was done around 1860 by a chap called Kipling who lived in the area.  It supports the road above, allowing the road to stay open in wet weather.  Further along the original dry walling is done to perfection, the wall in the foreground has undergone damage and has been roughly repaired.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Unlocking the gate was tricky, as the lock barely could hold the heavy duty links.  The first thing you notice is the tiny gate, you know you are in sheep country and the second thing is the million (well more than a couple)  of tiny flies going for your eyes, nose and mouth.

This is their problem Prickly Pear and it is called “Wheel” cactus. 

 

 

 

 

 

Looking to Mt Samuel (don’t ask which one).  The other Mt Samuel and the start of Mt Buggery gorge challenge.  This is the turn back point if you don’t feel you can take on the gorge.  The gorge is between the two mountains in the above right photo.  In the far distance you can just see the white salt of Lake Torrens on the horizon.

Heading down and through the gorge.

This is looking back up the track we have just driven on, which is the dry creek bed.  The track changes after every rain event.

After you leave the gorge, you are in Green Well Valley which is a nice drive between the hills.  We continued along the valley and left Alpana Station.  We then followed a creek bed track until we reached Parachilna Creek and rejoined the road to Parachilna.

The Prairie Hotel at Parachilna.  Good name – once you come past the Flinders Ranges it is a huge flat open prairie.

Quite a few movies have been filmed here including Rabbit Proof Fence.

We were sitting outside the hotel enjoying a pear cider and I was using my gumleaf fly swat when a couple of Outdoor Adventure catalogue dressed OS tourists walked past, and she wearing a fly net on, chuckled at my use of the gumleaf fly swat - “it (her fly net) was the best thing she had ever bought” smirking at me.  Glen quickly replied “ Well, you can’t drink a beer through it”.

We have fly nets but only use them when the flies are really bad, I think I have used mine once.  The net blurs your vision, it’s too hard to take photos, eat and drink so I prefer the gumleaf fly swat.  Interestingly once you put the swat in action, they soon leave you alone, going over to join the other resting on the fly nets  :)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We then completed the circuit back to our camp.  The plan is to return the key to Alpana Station tomorrow on our way to the Gammon Ranges National Park.

We have camped at Koolaman Camp for 7 nights and tomorrow we move up to the Northern Flinders Ranges.