Mawson Trail Part 1 The Flinders Ranges

Day 1: Started the trip with a 7 hour bus ride to Parachilna (32kms from Blinman). The Mawson Trail officially starts in Blinman – but the bus didn’t go there. We arrived at Parachilna mid-afternoon. It was hot, there were lots of flies, and the Hotel was surprisingly full of people who had arrived by car. The campground had no shade at all and was in full view of all the people at the pub – so we rode 10kms through Parachilna Gorge and found a great bush campsite.

Day 2: Cycled through Parachilna Gorge to Blinman – mostly climbing – then had a great 15km descent on bitumen to get to the trail head. The Mawson Trail signage was easy to see throughout the whole trip. We only missed a couple of signs – but didn’t have to ride far before Rients’ spotted our mistake on his GPS and we turned back. The rest of our ride for the day was mostly on fire road trails – before we made camp at a bush site near Brachina Creek.

 

Day 3: Great days ride to Wilpena Pound Campsite in Flinders Ranges National Park. We rode rolling hills to Bunyeroo Valley Lookout on a wide dirt road – then a fun descent to Bunyeroo Gorge – which was very scenic. After that there was more fire road through a landscape of pines and shale that looked almost lunar. The days ride finished with some fun single track into the campground. The shop at the campground was very well stocked –  we realised we needn’t have carried so much food with us after all.

 

 Day 4:  Started the days riding with 10kms of bitumen before turning into a fire road – where we were greatly assisted by a tail wind. The trail to Rawnsley Park was rough and rocky. From Rawnsley Park to Wilpena Rd was all downhill. After a few kms on a busy bitumen road the trail turned off to Moralana Scenic Drive. At this stage we almost decided to leave the trail – as we had turned into a very strong head wind – and we were only 25kms from Hawker on the bitumen road with a tailwind. Also, if we kept following the trail signs then Hawker was another 80kms away! We ended up staying on the trail – and it proved to be worth it. After riding through the scenic route – with the dramatic Elder Ranges surrounding us – then through a Gorge with amazing red gums lining the creeks – we arrived at a bush camp at Merna Mora Station. It was our favourite bush camp of the whole trip. We were next to another creek bed lined with red gums – and had the ranges as our view from the tent. The stars at night were spectacular.

 

 






Day 5:  The ride for the day started with a steady 10km uphill gradient on bitumen – before turning into some farm tracks – which were great fun until we got to Mernmerna Hill. It was very steep and rocky – and unrideable. As we were walking up it in the heat of the afternoon a mountain goat popped its head out and bleated at us. After that it was a mostly a flat ride into Hawker. Food shopping at Hawker was expensive and the choice was minimal. The Wilpena Panorama at the Jeff Morgan Gallery is well worth a visit.

 

The staple food cut to size for the frame bag.......

Day 6: Most of the days riding consisted of long flat stretches of graded dirt road. We met our first cyclists riding the trail in the opposite direction. After a quick chat - swapping information about the trail ahead – we rode on to the Kanyaka Ruins on the Gordon-Springsure Road. They were very extensive – it would have been a glorious homestead with outbuildings in 1851, when it was built. After a long day of riding – mostly in the big ring - we finally found Buckaringa North Campsite. It was on the Heyson Trail (a walking trail) – and was fenced in – so we had a bit of hard work lifting the bikes over the fence.

 

Day 7:  A short day of riding to Quorn. We first visited Proby’s Grave – a 1 ½ tonne slab that was shipped out from England by his family. Hugh Proby drowned trying to save his cattle from floods – he was 24.

The ride was mostly uphill to Yarrah Vale Gorge. There were great views from the top of the hill over pastoral land and mountain ranges. Quorn is a very quaint old town – and the caravan park had a great camp kitchen.

Day 8: Climbed through Richman Gap – then lots of rolling hills (mostly uphill) to Wilmington. Deja vu: we had lunch at the same cafe where we stopped on the bus trip exactly one week ago. We even saw the bus pulling out as we rode into town. The rest of the days riding was on very straight flat graded roads into Melrose. We set up camp at the Caravan Park and then walked into town. Melrose has a great bike shop/cafe and has become a mountain biking mecca.

  

Day 9: The day started with a great coffee at the ”Over the Edge”  Cafe – then a long climb – before hitting some rolling hills though farm lands before reaching Wirrabara Forest. Wirrabara Forest was burnt out in February of this year – and is just starting to recover. As we were riding through we could see how extensive the fire had been. We visited the King Tree – which is a red gum that has a circumference of 11 metres. Needless to say – it was massive! The afternoon riding consisted of fun farm tracks – then an easy ride on the rail trail into Laura.

  

Day 10:  Riding out of Laura was an uphill slog through cleared pastoral lands - until the Bundaleer Forest. After the forest there was more downhill and we had a great tail wind. It was hard to find a sheltered spot for lunch – but we eventually found a ruin just off the trail we could shelter behind.

After sighting a road sign that read Spalding 10kms – we were diverted onto a very rough farm track that followed the Bundaleer Channels for 15kms. They were interesting at first – but 15kms of them was a bit boring. We stayed at the Barbed Wire Hotel in Spalding – and met some interesting local characters and got to see the Barbed Wire Museum.

                                                         

 Day 11: The weather took a turn for the worse! It rained all night and was still raining hard when we got up in the morning. We waited for a break in the weather – but it never came – so we decided to ride the 40kms to Clare on the bitumen. The Mawson Trail leads to Hallett and Burra from Spalding – before coming back to Clare – but given the weather conditions and the fact that we had been warned by other riders that the tracks were already muddy - we made the decision to skip this part. After a cold wet miserable ride on a fairly busy road we made it to Clare and booked into a Motel.  We did discover that our rain gear worked well.