Flinders Ranges Trip Pt. 5 Pushing North to Lyndhurst, Strzelecki Track, Gammon Ranges, Arkaroola

Leaving Willow Springs, we entered the Northern phase of our trip. Our plans were looser from here, possibly a stay at Mt Freeling station off the Strzelecki track, but little information was available on that station. So we were winging it to an extent.

Day 11

After a quick stop for another pastie at Blinman, we headed to Leigh Creek for fuel and supplies. The guys wanted to fill their caravans water tanks, which turned into a 90min saga, so Graham and I sat twiddling our thumbs and grumbling. Should have had a sit down meal at a restaurant!

Pushing further North we reached Lyndhurst at the turn-off for the Strzelecki track and stopped for a quick beer and chips at the pub. This was a proper outback pub, decor unchanged for decades, the walls adorned with pictures of road trains and newspaper clippings. The wind was howling, and the heat had risen well into the 30s, so it was nice to escape the weather for a while.

We then popped a couple of km down the road to visit the Talc Alf gallery. This was a pretty funny experience. This old hermit makes sculptures out of talc on his sprawling junk yard property in the desert. The bloke is a proper sovereign citizen cooker, who believes the aboriginals were actually ancient sumerians. It was very enjoyable, but I did not want to get locked down into a conversation with him. Poor Jacob copped it.

Pushing on, we drove into a very strong headwind and the cars struggled in the heat. The outside temp hit 38, and driving a TD42 (aka a kettle), I was nervously watching the engine temperate rise over 100, and quite relieved when Rob requested we slow to 80kmph to keep the cars cool.

We reached Mt Freeling station and found the property deserted, with a note about leaving cash for our stay pinned to the door. The place wasn't exactly picturesque. I was willing to give it a shot - the property was the size of a small country after-all, there were probably some nice spots somewhere. But the guys figured that if we were going to bush camp then we may as well push on and find a nice free spot.

So we continued down Talc Mine road toward the Gammon ranges, in what was probably the most remote drive of our trip through some very desolate country, dotted with abandoned talc mines. I hadn't even realised Talc was something that came from the Earth!

As the sun started to drop to the horizon we found a flat clearing alongside a dry creek bed to camp for the night. Fortunately the wind had died and conditions were cool. Being so dry, making a campfire was easier done than said, bloody hot fire too. It was the first time we were all sat 10-odd metres back from the fire, yelling to each other to be heard.

It was a shame we had a full moon, the sky would have been epic without the moon lighting the sky up.

Day 12

After a 2am wakeup thanks to another bout of strong wind that just about tore my awning off, I blearily packed up at the crack of dawn. But nothing a couple of coffees couldn't fix. If nothing else this trip, I tested my stamina running on an extended period of little sleep.

I went for a stroll with my drone and got some shots of the sun rising and the fatique was quickly forgotten. I was thousands of kilometres from work and responsibilities and..anything really, watching the sunrise in the middle of a desert on my own. I didn't expect that i'd enjoy the feeling of isolation, but I really did.

We hit the road and continued down Talc Mine Rd, the road getting fairly rough in parts, a challenge for the caravans. We stopped at Terrapinna springs and found the waterhole. This was an unexpected and stunning oasis, with the waterhole situated in a beautiful gorge. At first glance anyway, looking closer, we realised there were dead emus everywhere, including in the water. So any hopes of having a dip were immediately dashed. But it still made for some nice shots.

Pushing on, we rounded the very Northern tip of the Flinders Ranges, hitting the end of Talc Mine rd and onto red sand as we turned onto Mt Hopeless road. This was was an awesome drive.

The road runs right at the base of the eastern-side of the Gammon ranges, and it was epic. I stopped and jumped out for a drone flight and some photos, and was surprised to find the airspace was restricted. I later found out I was right near the Beverly uranium mine!

I stopped for long enough that I was out of radio range with the rest of the group, so I was driving as fast as I possibly dared along the wide red sand road to catch up..with Midnight Oil blaring of course. The mood was high.

We rolled into the Gammon ranges national park and found the Wetootla gorge campground, where we'd intended to stay that night. The campground wasn't ideal, there was no shade (it was about 30 degrees) and we couldn't all fit in a space together. With the vans, we were limited in what other campsites we could get to. Jacob suggested we could push on to Arkaroola village, which initially I was very against. In my head, this was going to be caravan park in a crumby remote town - I wanted to be in the bush! But upon looking it up in the Hema guide, it sounded promising. A wildnerness retreat with bush camping, 4x4 tracks, walking tracks and facilities. And we'd planned on heading there at some point anyway for a look, So I agreed.

I'm glad I did, because Arkaroola turned out to be a big highlight. The place is like a 1970s canadian ski resort dropped in the outback. A mid-century bar, restaurant and cocktail bar, complete with a pool. But instead of ski runs, there were bush walks, 4x4 tracks and a nightsky observatory. It even had an onsite mechanics workshop and fuel station.

We opted for the bush camping option, which is definitely the best space in my opinion. the powered caravan sites were jam packed together, where as we had an enormous space to ourselves. Or to quote the man at the counter 'you could put Picadilly circus down there.

There was a short track to a lookout directly opposite the campgrounds so I went for a quick drive up. it turned out to be a reasonably spicey 4x4 track up to a lookout with huge telescopes, overlooking the whole valley. It's a stunning area, reminding me a little of the Nevada desert around the Grand Canyon. Completely arid and rocky, but somehow still loads of vegetation and wildlife. Emus frequently strutting through the grounds.

Coming down I decided to go and cool off in the pool with a couple of beers. It'd been a good day.