Return to the Flinders...week 2 (part 2)

Before long, the ranges started to appear ahead of us. We found a shortcut along an unsealed road, from Paratoo to Orroroo. The road was in a good condition; a nice introduction for Michaela to dirt roads – ours had been the highly corrugated roads to Cape York. Before long, the red dirt appeared.

We were once again enjoying the contrasting colours of the Australian Outback – the blue sky and the red earth; different shades of green, which changed as suddenly as the scenery.

Now in South Australia, we set up our second camp in Hawker at the southern end of the Flinders Ranges. Michaela was adapting well to life in a camper, helped by some of the creature comforts of home, such as her play mat.

We spent a day in Hawker, relaxing and restocking.

One of the challenges travelling with a baby is what to do with them when you are setting up and packing up. We found that setting up wasn’t too bad as we could generally leave Michaela in the car for the five minutes or so it takes to open up the camper; one of us would then set up the travel cot and away we’d go. Packing up presented further complications, but as can be seen in the photo (right) there’s always a solution...here’s where the Bumbo comes in very handy!

At last we were on our way to Arkaroola in the northern Flinders Ranges. Our route was via Parachilna, so of course, we had to stop at the legendary Prairie Hotel. We had a great lunch, Kangaroo Burger (Amanda) and meat-lovers pizza with emu, camel and roo (Tony). The standard of the food matched the Hotel’s reputation.

We arrived in Arkaroola late in the afternoon after a long day’s drive. It was dry and dusty. The campsite was busy with families away for the school holidays. We lamented not being able to bush camp and get away from the hustle and bustle of the caravan park, but we are not quite that adventurous with Michaela (yet).

We soon discovered that Arkaroola, which promotes itself as a wilderness sanctuary, is designed to be “enjoyed” by undertaking any number of their tours. Unfortunately, this didn’t really work with a four month old baby, as tour times generally clashed with feeding or sleeping times. The small number of self-drive options included the Arkaroola Waterhole. As it can be seen from the photo (left), it was underwhelming.

Notwithstanding the limited access we had, there was still some of the splendour of the Flinders that we remembered; perhaps, though, drier and harsher than the southern Flinders (or certainly our recollection of it). On our Big Trip, we fell in love with the Flinders, however, what we now realise is that our experience at Wilpena Pound, was not necessarily typical of the northern Flinders (see our Big Trip blog: Mar 06).

To add to our disappointment (after driving 2500 km getting there) the weather was not conducive to life in a tent. It was either cold, windy, dusty or, more often, a combination of all of these. However, what it wasn’t was cloudy and so we were able to enjoy clear starry night skies, which you realise how much you miss living in the city.

We had planned to stay 4 nights, but pulled up stumps after 3. We felt somewhat deflated leaving Arkaroola on 9 October. On our Big Trip, we hadn’t made it as far as Arkaroola and we really felt as though we’d missed out – as it transpired we’d seen the best of the Flinders Ranges, from our perspective, in Wilpena Pound. However, as they say, it isn’t just about the destination...

And so we headed south, again stopping for lunch at the Prairie Hotel!