Flinders Ranges in a day ... can it be done?!

The plan had been a road trip to the Limestone Coast, but the pandemic changed all this, due to the proximity to Victoria, which at the time was on the strictest lockdown. Instead, we spent the week doing day trips ... and for a week when we had to dodge showers and dress for winter, we did an amazing amount. The forecast had been for rain and unseasonable cold, and this didn't tell the half of it ... snow fell in South Australia on Friday -- luckily, we'd done our day trip into the Flinders Ranges on Thursday, because the storm which brought the snow was coming in just as we drove south! We might have been lucky once or twice ... in retrospect, if the heavy weather had arrived even 12 hours earlier, we could have been caught out in the wilderness when the "floodways" started to run, unable to get back to civilization! I guess Dave's guardian angel was looking out for us, because we didn't get caught, and we did have a fantastic time...

Salvation Jane -- "Patterson's Curse" -- in full bloom

This isn't the wilderness, but you can see it from here!

I wouldn't have believed you could do this in a day ... Flinders Ranges, out and back, between 6:00am and 9:30pm, including a storm?! It had to be a joke. But no -- it turned out to be perfectly doable; and this was Thursday in "vacation week." (Previously, we'd stayed in our own neck of the woods, getting as far afield as the Laratinga Wetlands on the other side of Mount Barker, and Mannum (it rained), via Mount Pleasant (so cold, I had to drink hot chocolate to get back to life); and on Saturday we headed south and stumbled over the Ferries McDonald Conservation Park, where the wildflowers and orchids are in full bloom.) 

But Thursday was the day to hit the road early. The sun was barely up when we left, and the magic works because the Northern Expressway whisks you through the city and out so fast. Before you know it, you're north of Port Wakefield, and looking forward to breakfast with a view of the pink lake at Lochiel, on the euphoniously named Lake Bumbunga. No, that's not a typo. From then on, you put your foot down and tramp it. In convoy with an enormous number of trucks going both ways, you're headed for Port Broughton, Port Pirie, Port Augusta -- but you're not stopping. Blast straight through, and bear right just as you see Port Augusta in the distance ... you're on your way to Quorn, known as the Gateway to the Flinders Ranges. And yes, you can do it, from home, by about 11:00am! 

Emus in the wild -- bigger and redder than you see them down south in the Adelaide Hills

Flinders Ranges pastoral country ... cattle country, in fact.

You're soon off the beaten path. The roads are in good condition, and a car can handle them ... until or unless it starts to rain, and the "flooodways" fill up fast. In retrospect, I think we were lucky!

So ... Flinders Ranges in a day! Out before dawn, a sausage roll for breakfast at Locheal, with its pink lake, north of Port Wakefield, then lunch in Quorn, followed by three hours of tarryhooting on wilderness roads where the views are beyond amazing, before we turned for home at 4:00, with a four-and-a-half-hour drive ahead of us. We returned by a different rout ... Willmington, Gladstone, Laura, Clare, Gawler, at which point you connect with the Northern Expressway and you'll be home in less than an hour. 

The trip had one last amazement in store for us:

As I mentioned before, the weather was due to change, big time, though we hadn't realized quite how violently it would change. In fact, in about twelve hours this storm front would be dumping snow on the Flinders Ranges! We drove right into it, at a time when it was all about torrential rain. The kind of rain where your wipers can barely keep pace. Spectacular -- also a wake-up call, to be a little more careful and plan a bit more assiduously next time! Because we'll definitely be going back; the only questions are when and how! 

Punchbowl Lookout on a sunny Sunday morning

 

About five minutes from Adelaide's southern suburb of Woodcroft, and up onto the hill, is a hidden gem. Punchbowl Lookout is a kilometre hike from the car park on Piggott Range Road, and with the sun overhead, striking down into the gorge, the views are more than worth the walk.

Somewhere around noon is the best time to do this hike. The direct sun makes the bottom of the gorge more visible -- which certainly makes for better photos. It's primordial down there, where the Onkaparinga River cuts a serpentine course between cliffs and wooded slopes. The intrepid (and fit) can hike it ... or, more accurately, climb it. It's a challenging trip in and out; I've promised myself that one day I'll do it. Can't do it just yet, but one day.

Many trails wind through Onkaparinga NP, most of them within the capacity of averagely fit walkers, but several are demanding. The only thing the Punchbowl Lookout trail is short of is -- a bathroom! The nearest is two K's away, at the head of the Sundew Trail, with its car park also on Piggott Range Road. Here's a map of the park, in PDF format, which will help with planning, ... but one has to wonder what they imagine people are going to do, with a park that size, and one bathroom! 

Different times of year offer different opportunities to see wildlife, wildflowers and birds; but most birds and animals are active in the early morning and evening, when the views down into the gorge are not the best. You'd have to spend the whole day, to see both -- or visit twice! The Punchbowl Lookout hike is an easy walk; use sunblock in summer, and wear something warm in winter -- allow about an hour, not because it's long or arduous, but because the views are so magnificent, you'll want to loiter at the gorge overlook ... and you might even see a roo or two on the way!