From Maree we headed south towards the Flinders Ranges , passing through the Farina Ruins and then onto Lindhurst where we met “Talc Alf”, a colourful, crusty character that is a local & national icon through his talc (talcum powder) rock sculptures and also his views on the origin of the humble alphabet…gee, I thought Karen could talk! In 30 mins the boys learnt all they need to know about the alphabet and English lauguage and if you ask me – the views a male can understand.
We then called in at Leigh Creek just down the road. Another new town built solely for the mines. Driving around looking for a shadey spot to have lunch we found the only bit of green grass in the town – the AFL oval and after not seeing grass for weeks, we were excited.
On the road again, and we decided on a bush camp at Parachilna Gorge, just outside the Flinders Ranges . This was only a stones throw from the Parachilna pub where we planned to watch the World Cup finals. Camp set up, we went back to the pub and “unbelievable” probably the only pub in Oz that has no TV. Our only other option was a little place called Blinman, back passed our camp and then another 20km along a narrow winding dirt road (I was keen to watch the All Blacks slaughter those French frogs). On a mission, we made kick off and I lost a few years watching the AB’s unconvincingly beat the French….but then we found out that Blinman is the highest town in SA and a cute town too!!! Things happen for a reason because back at camp we were swamped with bugs and it was stinking hot so we appreciated the night out.
Next morning we packed up just before the rains came (phew!!!) and headed back to Blinman now on a MUDDY, narrow winding tack – didn’t I love it!!! Checked out the weather report in Blinman – which no-one seemed to know more than the now – and then headed on to the Flinders Ranges National Park .
Well, confusion at the Flinders Ranges . So many camp grounds to choose from and we had to check them all out. Finally, we decided to set up at the “Cambrian Campground” – somewhere central and a great spot for the boys to ride their bikes. Plus a bonus – we had the place to our own. This area is just awesome!!! So it was such a hard decision to stay on for 3 nights. We used this as a base and tripped around from there – took a scenic drive over the ranges, through a gorge and on to check out Wilpena Pound ( a tourist resort and campground that was packed – why would you!!!) and Rawnsley Station (again packed with happy campers???) We really appreciated the serenity back out our own private camp spot. Our only complaint was the cold nights as we had just spent days using fans and suddenly out came the sleeping bags, extra blankets and warm pj’s however fire ban season had not started (this starts 1st Nov) so we appreciated still being able to build a fire. It was hard to move on from such a prestine spot!!!
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