Flinders Ranges Trip 2025 - The Ride Day 2

 We were up early again today,  well 7am anyway and loaded up to go.  We had decided to get rolling and just find some breakfast along the way today.  

The plan was to go from Melrose up to Wilmington, then west down the awesome little Horrocks Pass to Port Augusta,  then back north east to Quorn, Hawker and finally Blinman, our overnight stop.

 

Melrose MTB Trailhead art. 

The road north out of Melrose parallels the Mt Remarkable range (which is the southern spur of the Flinders) and is dotted with huge gnarled old gum trees. Their white bark glowed almost luminous in the morning sunlight prompting a quick about face to get some photos. 

Rolling into Wilmington we quickly scoured the main street for a likely breakfast spot but nothing jumped out at us so we continued on, turning left into the Horrocks Pass road.  

Steve was in for a little treat here as the Pass winds through a gap in the hills toward the Spencer Gulf that consists of a bunch of 35 and 45km/h bends with a great surface. 

We may have turned around and ridden it again... and again....😉

Once through the Pass the view over the Gulf and various wind farms is pretty spectacular. 

Then we hit the T intersection for the main highway. Being the main road between the east and west coasts of Australia,  it is BUSY. We rode the short distance into Port Augusta on the lookout for a likely breakfast spot as the worms were now biting pretty hard.  It took us a good thirty minutes of riding around before we finally found a cafe' in Port Augusta West. It turned out to be worth the search as the food and coffee really hit the spot.

Leaving Port Augusta we headed north east for Quorn. I had never ridden this road before and it proved to be quite the cracker. Well surveyed and surrounded by spectacular scenery.  With it being so dry there wasn't a blade of grass to be seen,  just lots of shades of red rock. There was an historic rail line, The Pitchi Ritchi Rail, that criss-crosses the road as it passes through the southern Flinders between Quorn and Port Augusta. We marvelled at hillside cuttings that looked so precisely cut and the stone bridges that carried the line over this twisting, turning section of road.  We even turned around and went back to do one section again!

We just cruised through Quorn itself,  as pretty as it was because we didn't have a reason to stop.

 

Another 66km up the road was Hawker, a place we did want to stop at. We fueled up here as there are only really three petrol stations in the Flinders.  This one, one at Wilpena Resort and one at Angorachina Resort. 

We also decided we needed a photo at another pub so the Hawker hotel was paid a visit.

That done we headed out the Flinders Ranges Way towards Wilpena Pound. The expanse of the plains along here was quite spectacular.  Screen grabs from a video don't do it justice. 

Looking at the map while in Hawker it looked like we could branch off the highway onto Moralana Scenic Drive, then cut back across to Rawnsley Park on the main road. As this was dirt (and probably more interesting) we decided to take a look. 

Almost immediately we had several emus try to commit suicide under our bikes.  How dumb are these birds?! All of this vast expanse of outback to run away to and they all decide they need to be on the other side of the track to where they are standing?!! Having helmet comms in these situations was a bonus as we could warn each other about wildlife.

Anyway,  we weren't going quickly so they were easily avoided.  Moralana Scenic Drive proved to be a very pleasant ride on a well graded road.  

We somehow missed the turn for Rawnsley Park. The first intersection we came to was for a track to Black Gap which caused us to look at the map and realise our mistake. Steve said "let's take a look" as it was only three kilometres to Black Gap. The track started out okay but VERY quickly turned into dirt bike territory.  We decided to turn around in the first sandy, rocky creek bed and head back to look for the Rawnsley turn. (If we had continued up Moralana Scenic Drive it would have dumped us out on the western side of the Flinders on the Outback Highway.)

Watching the GPS like a hawk,  we spotted the turn and saw why we missed it on the first pass.  It was a gate well off to the side of the road that opened onto a barely discernible track. Hmmmm, "that looks pretty challenging" (and possibly a private road) was the consensus so we just decided to keep heading back to the Hawker Wilpena road and continue north that way. On the way back we encountered the same silly emu just standing in the middle of the road at the exact same spot we saw it on the way in!

As we approached Rawnsley Park the terrain began to change with the huge range of Wilpena Pound dominating the skyline and scruffy looking pine trees dotting the landscape.  There is a viewing point in the eastern side of the road here so we pulled in and rode to the top of the hill (as you do when on a bike😁). The view from this slightly elevated position was impressive.  I don't think I got any good photos but Steve had his DSLR camera out and should have got a couple of crackers. 

From here we took the turn off into Wilpena Resort. Again we stopped for more photos of The Pound, this time from a different angle. 

We faffed around here for a while with Steve wanting to get some DSLR photos of me riding around. Doing a few laps of the entrance road I kept spooking a huge flock of Galahs into flight, which I managed to capture on the "chin cam" on one of the passes.

I have never seen so many kangaroos by the roadside, especially in the middle of the day! They were everywhere!

Rolling into the resort we filled the bikes up before wandering into the shop to grab a cold ice cream and a snack to enjoy later on. Wilpena Resort has a chilled vibe that we soaked in a we sat on the verandah outside the shop/visitors centre.  

I decided that I WILL be back here and do some of the walks one day. 

Mounting up again we retaced our steps out to the highway and turned left to head north again.  The next few kilometres are some of the most fun and uniquely scenic sealed road kilometres you will find anywhere. 

We blasted these 35, 45 and 55km/h bends as we climbed up to Huck's Lookout. Here we spent some time just taking in the stunning view back towards Wilpena Pound.

 

Wilpena Pound from Huck's Loout. 

Looking back at Huck's lookout, north towards Stokes Hill Lookout. 

As we pulled up at Huck's lookout Steve spied a track snaking up a hill to the north of us. "That must be Stokes Hill Lookout" I said. "Let's check it out next".

At the bottom of Stokes hill I told Steve to turn his traction control off as the hill was steep and looked rough and loose.  "Nah, I'll be right" he said...... clearly basing his decision on his vast off roading experience. 

To say he almost ate shit as the back wheel lost traction, then cut the power,  then gripped, then spun and cut power,  then gripped again - all while he kept rolling more throttle on to make up for the lack of power to the ground and subsequent forward motion - all happened in a few split seconds and saw him roosting wildly up the hill! 😆 This became the running joke for the rest of the trip - me "is your traction control off ", him "nah, I'll be right". 

Unfortunately I don't have footage of that little incident. But the view from this bald knob of a hill was breathtaking as well.  The sun was getting a little lower in the sky by now and it was really bringing the colours of the landscape out. We tooled around here for quite a while taking photos, video and just generally soaking in the ambience.  

We weren't right at the top of the climb here. There was a large communications tower up there and I didn't want it to spoil the vastness of the otherwise empty landscape.

The colours of the landscape here just don't show in my photos. The deep red of the earth isn't correct here but its the best I can do with the equipment I have.

There wasn't a breath of wind. It was just a perfect, cool afternoon. So we then took it up a notch by breaking out the red wine, cheese and crackers to complement the views. Very decadent.

Looking back to the ever present Wilpena Pound. 

We did scoot up to the top of the hill where there were view across the plains to the east but I think our initial choice was better.

Steve going back down Stoke Hill climb. It is steeper than it looks. 

Getting back on the road it was getting a bit late in the afternoon and the kangaroos were making an appearance along the roadsides.  Even going slowly we came up behind a car and decided to sit there, using it as a shield to potentially fend off errant wildlife.

Luckily we did too as not five minutes later a small kangaroo came charging out of the brush on the side of the road and went straight under the car! They didn't even have time to brake until it was under their car! 

Look closely for the Kangaroo checking the cars sump plug! 

And a few seconds later, deceased on the side of the road. It happens quickly!! 

Yep, good call. 

Even though it was getting late we decided we needed to turn off again to take a look at a feature called Great Wall Of China. 

It was on the eastern side of the highway,  facing west so we figured that as it was getting closer to Golden Hour the chance of amazing photography was increased somewhat.

No doubt Steve got some good shots but my screen grabs and phone camera stuff wasn't very inspiring, so I went a bit "arty".  It was a nice spot to stop nonetheless. 

Back out to the highway and it wasn't far to our overnight stop in Blinman. Just thirteen kilometres of suicidal kangaroos to negotiate!  We managed unscathed but the sheer volume of kangaroos on the side of the road was mind numbing!

Get that one up ya Geoffrey! Steve getting photo bombed by some random meat bag. 

Keeping up the theme,  we grabbed a beer straight up and sat out the front of the pub watching the setting sun paint the hill opposite town varying shades of red until it disappeared in darkness.  

Nice. 😎

The Blinman pub was to be our home for the next couple of days so we checked in and unloaded the bikes into the spacious room.  A quick shower then back to the bar for a pre dinner drink and a look at the vast night sky.  Not much light pollution out here. (Of course I see the irony of us sitting here in this blinding light....but one couldn't see ten feet in the dark and we weren't risking getting ten feet away from our beers!)

Dinner was a chicken schnitzel washed down with a questionable bottle of red. The food was actually pretty good and the foreign girls staffing the bar were quite friendly.  The lady who seemed to be in charge/the owner,  not so much.  I got the impression she did not want to be there. Oh well,  another beer or two from the foreigners and we were off to bed. 

Another amazing day of riding.  Only 330 kilometres and nothing challenging at all but the Flinders just kept giving stunning views around virtually every bend.  They really are like nowhere else in Australia. 

Cheers and stay tuned for Day 3.

Day 3 here.