Cycling in the Flinders Ranges

We started our trip to the Flinders Ranges by visiting Adelaide where we caught up with the extending Pyman family. The latest addition is Isla - my niece Rikki's lovely new daughter

Have you seen such a smile before

Clucky Jill

After a couple of days in Adelaide where Carol treated us to a couple of wonderful dinners we took off to Clare in the mid north of SA.




The attraction here was the Riesling Trail, a cycling path made on a disused railway line. It is a touch over 20km long and passes many wineries for which the Clare valley is famous - http://www.southaustraliantrails.com/pdf/riesling.pdf

We got to the caravan park at lunchtime on Tuesday 4th Aug which was a nice fine day. After a feed went for a cycle along the trail past Clare - about 14km return.

Unfortunately next day saw the rain come and although I managed a short 8km ride late in the afternoon it was a cold disappointing day The trail seems to be an easy interesting ride so it was a pity we didn't see it in all its viticultural glory.


So on Thursday we set off for Blinman about 4 hours drive north right into the middle of the Flinders Ranges.

Blinman

Fourth hole at Blinman Golf Course

Jill at the lookout

Blinman is the northern end of the Mawson Trail, a mountain bike trail starting from Adelaide, about 450km south

The Mawson Trail

Our plan is to cycle some of the stages in the Flinders. This last bit is on the road so not that interesting so instead of riding we had a drive and a walk in nearby Parachilna Gorge.

See the wallaby in the foreground

After a day here we decamped for Wilpena Pound, one of the iconic attractions in the area

Wilpena Pound is a  natural amphitheatre as you can see and it is the centre of the Flinders Ranges National Park.

The Mawson trail runs along side the east side of the pound and we took advantage of great weather to go for a 20km ride along it.

Jill on the trail

Py further up the trail

It was a great ride with surfaces varying from smooth tracks to rocky creek crossings. Kangaroos, emus, feral goats and heaps of birds were visible along the route. Great fun!

Next day was the hike to end all hikes.
The climb up St Mary's peak, the highest point in SA
The track follows one of the old original boundary fences through stands of native Cyprus pines for the first hour or so, with some stunning scenery.

Another hour’s climb to reach the highest point in the Flinders Ranges – St Mary Peak. There are 360° sensational views that can be described as breathtaking.

On the way down we took the loop route - much longer and painful over rock after rock after rock.

After about 8kms of this it finally became flat and easy walking.
After about 22km we got back to the van thoroughly stuffed!
 
Next day we moved about 20km to Rawnsley Park station to see some more of the Mawson trail.
 

As you can see the terrain varied with the scene generally more open with fabulous scenery.  We rode on a 15km loop and once again saw heaps of flora and fauna as well as plants and animals.

Later in the day we climbed up the Kangaroo lookout to view land to the south

Another ride which looks great is the "Flinders by Bike" - 200km through sheep stations and the ranges.

The map below shows where it goes - takes about 3 or 4 days staying at 2 station homesteads, Wilpena chalet and Rawnsley Park cabins.