Beyond the Flinders Ranges National Park-Blinman

One of the many Kangaroos we see today.

Beyond Flinders Ranges National Park - Blinman & Nuccaleena.

We are off on another big touring adventure, and today we are going to venture further afield travelling north through Flinders Rangers National Park, to the historic town of Blinman and then on to the Nuccaleena Copper Mine Ruins. We will be doing a loop of around 250klms, that will take us on several different types of roads and tracks, through some beautiful scenery - the round trip will take us all day.

Blinman is an 80klms drive north from Rawnsley Park Station and as we travel along the road in the early morning we come across several groups of emus out having their breakfast. We see two lots of mother emus and her chicks – one has 4 and the other has 6 babies. In both cases we stop and watch them for some time – they look especially wonderful today because their brown colours show up really well against the yellow grasses.



Mum Emu & her six chicks out for a walk.

Located 5klms from Blinman is Mount Emily - which at 707mts above sea level is the highest peak in the Flinders Rangers. This mountain range is also known as “The Great Wall of China” and it is a large stunning rock formation. The great wall is made up of horizontal beds of limestone and over millions of year the tops have been eroded and it now appears to have giant darker coloured wall all the way along the top. This was truly remarkable and I loved taking photos at this site.

Close up of the top of The Great Wall of China,

Me standing in front the Great Wall of China.

Our next stop is the historic copper mining town of Blinman. This is a small picturesque town with a number of buildings dating back to the 1860’s when copper ore was mined in this area. There is an old underground copper mine you can explore but we decide to be happy with just stroll around the town and we do not venture down the mine.

The Main Street Of Blinman - our car is the only one in town.

The Remains of an Old Rural Property.

A Derelict Old Hut.

A Beautifully Restored Old Paper Bark Hut in the Centre of Blinman.
 

Back in the car we head for the old copper mining ruins and deserted town of Nuccaleena. On the way we pass through the very pretty Glass Gorge and then we have to travel 3 klms down the private entrance track of the Moolooloo Homestead, a very large sheep station in this area. We then have to travel 14klms across paddocks and 4 WD tracks to get to the ruins. In some places it is very rough and steep – we see no other cars – and it takes us exactly one hour each way. In several places along the way we have to stop and open and shut the property  gates.

Gum Trees.

The Gravel Road We Travel On Crosses Many Dry Creek Beds - This is One of Them.




The Very Beautiful Glass Gorge.  

We Now Enter The Moolooloo Station Property

The Gate And Grid into The Homestead.



These are some of the Beautiful Old Red River Gums that Grow Along The Banks of the Dry Creeks.

When we get to township of Nuccaleena there are many derelict buildings dating back to 1861 to explore. In its hay day this was a very busy place built of a flowing creek with a small dam. Today the creek has dried up and a large chimney stack and a few other mine related buildings are the only remains of the old copper smelting process. The entrances to the old mine are still visible and there are also the remains of several houses and a larger homestead. The building are so well constructed out of large rock blocks and they have very high ceilings to keep them as cool as possible in the hot summer months.

This is part of the 4WD Track into Nuccaleena.

Some of the Fantastic Views out across The Ranges.

It is a very interesting place to visit but it is so isolated and it is really no surprise to read that the town of Nuccaleena and the mine only stayed open for 5years and that they actually spent 5 times more on developing the site as they got out of it.

In some parts there were fields of wild flowers.

The Old Ruins at Nuccaleena

Fantastic Old Stone Work.

The Old Homestead across the Dry Creek.

Unfortunately there are no tables for us to have lunch at so we have to drive back the 14klms and then continue on through another beautiful picturesque gorge called the Parachilna Gorge to a very small place called Angorichina before we can stop for lunch. The gorges we have travelled through today have been very wide and have very steep sides. The amount of boulders, large tree trunks and wash outs are evidence that when it rains and subsequent floods in these ranges, there must be a huge amount of water cascading down these rivers/creeks. I think that it would be just marvellous to see this country with all the creeks full of water but unfortunately we are seeing it when it is very dusty and at its driest. (I don’t know if you could even get across any of them if the water was flowing.)

Another River Bed with Beautiful Old Red River Gums.

The colours are magnificent.

This shows the width of one of the Creek Beds.

This about as much of the Heysen Trail that I am going to do. The whole trail goes about 1,200 klms.

Anyone for a meal at the Pub.?

The Hotel at Parachilna.

Old Ruin with the Flinders Ranges Behind.

The Flinders Ranges with the late afternoon sun on them.

The Wilpena Pound Mountain Range as we enter Moralana. Road.

 

Lunch is at about 4 o’clock and by another dry creek bed with a million flies for company. After this we head for the township of Parachilna which is on the main bitumen road to Hawker. Parachilna is on the Old Ghan Railway Line and used to be more important than it is today. Today it consists of a pub and not much else. It does have a school and a lot of demountable buildings used as accommodation for the miners who work nearby.

We travel down the bitumen towards Hawker, with the beautiful majestic Flinders Ranges on our left hand side. They are all aglow with the late afternoon sun shining on them - they truly are a gorgeous sight. At the 45klm mark we turn off and head east along the Moralana Scenic Drive track.  This scenic drive we did earlier in the week, but we did it in the morning and travelled from east to west this time we are travelling in the opposite direction and in the shadows of early evening. It is really pretty and a totally different experience.




The scenic drive along the Moralana Track.

Again we have had a great day – we have been to wonderful (quiet) places and seen some beautiful parts of Australia. We consider ourselves very lucky to be able to enjoy these experiences.

A Fantastic Sunset at the End of a Fantastic Day..