Our Touring Holiday To The Flinders Rangers - South Australia Oct - Nov 2015. 1

The car and caravan hooked up and ready to go.

Our Touring Holiday to the Flinders Ranges Begins.

How we got to the Flinders Rangers:

The planning for our big adventure to the Flinders Rangers National Park (450klms north of Adelaide) has been in the pipeline for several years, but because of unforeseen medical issues it has taken till now, October – November 2015, for us to finally get around to undertaking this much anticipated journey. The caravan and car are packed and Allan, myself and our two blue budgerigars are ready for our touring holiday. Our plan is to spend 4 weeks in the Flinders Rangers seeing as many of the natural attractions as possible, undertaking many scenic drives, exploring some of the 4WD tracks, bushwalking, wild life and bird watching and hunting for wildflowers.

The Paddle Steamers at Echuca on the Murray River.

We leave our home on the Mornington Peninsula on Sunday the 18^th October 2015, and travel to the Regional City of Shepparton where we spend our first night. We have the caravan serviced on the Monday (this is part of our touring ritual as our dealer is in Shepparton) and then we head for Echuca on the Murray River. Arriving late in the afternoon we have a very pleasant walk on dusk along the river bank, passing many house boats and several old Paddle Steamers ending up at the Old Port area and the main township of Echuca. The Old Port is a real tourist area which has many attractions showing what life on the river was like and how the port operated in the 19^th and early 20^th century when paddle steamers were the main source of transportation. Everything is closed but it is still a very enjoyable and picturesque area to wonder around. We have it all to ourselves.

The Main Street Of The Old Port in Echuca.

Next day we head to Mildura. We travel close to and follow the Murray River for approximately 380klms, crossing into NSW and then back into Victoria. It is a very pretty drive, the countryside is rich with agriculture. The many farms we pass include citrus orchards - mainly oranges, orchards of stone fruit trees, almond tree plantations and massive amounts of grape vines - interspersed with golden fields of wheat and other cereal crops. We even see a willow tree plantation that supplies the wood for the Australian cricket bats. The weather is hot and humid and the sun is hidden all day by threatening dark storm clouds.

After leaving Mildura, we travel past kilometres upon kilometres of different varieties of grape vines, all looking vibrant green and fresh from the rain we had overnight.  Eventually we cross into South Australia and go through the border Quarantine Station inspection point. No fruit, honey or vegetables are allowed across the border into SA – I therefore spent part of last night cooking up all our spare potatoes and carrots and we finished the honey at breakfast. (chips and potato salads for the rest of the week.

Southern Australian Boarder.

We Follow The Murray River.

We top up our supplies (we need enough supplies to last us 4 weeks) at Renmark, and then keeping the Murray in site we continue on. Many prolific orange and avocado orchards pass us by and eventually we come to the little township of Caddell.  At this tiny spot we put the car and caravan on a small ferry and cross the Murray for the last time. There are very few bridges crossing the Murray River in SA. The SA Government therefore continues to operate many small car ferries all the way along the River to provide access backwards and forwards across the Murray for all modes of transport. From Morgan - the next town - we head due north and the scenery really starts to change. With the mighty Murray River no longer around to supply valuable water for irrigation, the countryside becomes very dry and barren and covered with stunted salt bush and vast paddocks of colourful dried grasses. Every now and then we come across an abandoned old derelict stone farm house that tells the tale of pastoral life long ago and now forgotten. It is great to see that these reminders of the past and especially the difficulties and isolation that the pioneers must have experienced are allowed to remain standing in their current state and have not been completely demolished.

We put the car and caravan on the Ferry and cross the Murray.

Salt Bush in the Fields with the Mountain Ranges behind.

The Old Church, Bridge and River in Burra.

The old Miners Cottages in Burra.

We spend the night at the caravan park in the beautiful historic township of Burra. This area is famous for its historical copper mine which was discovered in 1845. It is now listed as a State Heritage Area and has many great historical attractions.  A walk around the town revels a historic shopping area with many 19th century shops still in excellent condition and in use, as well as many other beautiful old buildings. There are two churches, a town hall, a court house, several museums, many neat little miners cottages and two interesting bridges. Burra is an excellent step back into the past as it is so well preserved.

There are heaps of flowering Gums - they look very beautiful.

From Burra we drive 270klms straight to the town of Hawker (population 490 people) which is the last town before you enter the Flinders Rangers. We have lunch in the local park and drive around and look at some of the historic sites of Hawker. The local gum trees are in full bloom – white, yellow, peach and pink in colour. The weather is now very hot and dry, and you feel as if you are really entering the Australian Outback. Our adventure is about to begin.

 

The Old Ghan Railway Station at Hawker. 

The Stuart Desert Pea - Hawker.