Flinders Ranges Flypast

I spent a good deal too long last night on the internet checking out road conditions around Innamincka. While the Strzelecki Track is open to all vehicles, the road east into Queensland has been showing as open to 4WD vehicles with care. A bit more investigation revealed care required on soft edges and slippery sections. That kind of indicated I needed to find out a little more. There are weather stations in Moomba,west of Innamincka, and another one in Queensland in the gasfields at Ballera. They showed that there had been rain early in September, but nothing meaningful since the 10th in Moomba, and very little at Ballera except on the 10th and 19th when they had 5mm. The forecast for Innamincka said fine and 27. I figured if it was wet it would have dried out, and will be drying out rapidly. We are going, as planned, through Innamincka.

A quick tour of Port Augusta and we were on our way north. The first task is to climb from sea level up through Pitchi Ritchi Pass. This is famous for its historic steam railway. There was of course the ambit claim for a ride, but we did get to see it on its six hour run from Port Augusta into the Flinders Ranges and back. The land was very green, but we were chasing ahead of some rain down south, so it all had a bit of a Scottish Highland feel to it.

Our first stop was in Quorn. Many of the buildings in SA have a very solid feel to them. They are made of stone in general and range from ruins to immaculately preserved. I’m not sure whether the solid buildings reflect a confidence in the fledgeling colony, or whether it was the only suitable building materials available to settlers.

Next was a little way down the road is Hawker, one of the many towns claiming to be a gateway to the Flinders. I had half hoped we might get past this as I was almost certain it would cost us money. It was in Hawker that we bought Isabel’s Sturt Desert Pea quilt many years ago when we were in the area for her first birthday. A sign indicating a craft fair was terminal – we were going in.

Quilting and photography had certainly maintained its quality. There were some really quite stunning quilts on offer, but fortunately at prices that made them safe, and we really don’t need any. They did however tempt us with a range of other more minor goodies, so again Hawker has done well out of us.

Travelling North from Hawker you pass first the Elder Range, and then Wilpena Pound. Alas, no time at all to investigate so the kids just had to make do with our descriptions of the treasures to be found within. Having spent her first birthday down here we also needed to then go through each of her subsequent birthdays and try to remember what we did for each of them. Quite a challenge, and alas for the others not in any way possible for them. The disappointments of a subsequent child!

Recent rains, the ones causing our concern for the roads, had not only created some washouts and burials in the floodways, but had also brought out the wildflowers and the greenery. I suspect the purple is Patterson’s Curse, or Salvation Jane, depending on your point of view, but there was a range of other flowers, in pinks, purples, oranges, reds and yellows which we did not see last time. It creates quite a carpet in places.

Leigh Creek is a coal mine, or what passes for coal in these parts. It is used exclusively for power generation down south. Our side trip into the viewing lookout over the open cut revealed that the rains had taken their toll there as well. I suspect the pit is not meant to be full of water. There was also surprisingly little activity, so either the lookout was over a disused section, or they are all waiting for the water to go. The chief attraction was an old dragline left parked there for tourists to crawl all over. Having removed 22 million cubic metres of overburden, it had been put out to pasture.

On to Lyndhurst and the decision as to whether to camp or go on. Being before 4pm there was still plenty of daylight left. The downside was that it is 220km before the first major campsite on the track. It being about 460km to Innamincka I decided we should use the time travelling, so in we went. 80km down the road we found a rest area, so in we went to setup and watch the sunset. Only one truck has been past since, so I expect a quiet night.

I just hope those clouds stay away. Mozzies are our unexpected company for the night.

p.s. Prize for the first person to guess what this quilt was called.