Flinders Ranges Trip 2025 - The Ride Day 4

 We weren't the first up for breakfast this morning so by the time we arrived all the milk was gone. Toast and black coffee it is then!

We packed up quickly and had the bikes loaded before the dew had time to evaporate off the seats, so it must have been early still. We were heading for Arkaroola today where we would be staying for the next two nights. This basing ourselves in one place for a few days and looping out of there was working well and I had some ideas for a ride out of Arkaroola.

Initially we headed west, out Parachilna Gorge road as we needed to fuel up and the only fuel around Blinman is 15km to the west at Angorachina Village. Those fifiteen kilometres were pretty twisty so we went slowly. 

Angorachina Village is a small fuel and convenience store that also has accomodation options for small to large groups in various cabins. I did initially look at accommodation here instead of Blinman but Blinman won out in the end. We filled up the bikes and as we did a group of ADV bikes rolled in.

 They had stayed at the Blinman Hotel last night as well (you can see them at a table in one of my beer garden photos from last night). We had a quick chat and were off heading west to find Glass Gorge road again.

We passed the northern trailhead for the 1200km Heysen Trail and stopped for a quick look. It was much fancier than it had been in 2022. 

A couple more stops to marvel at the huge red cliffs along the dry creekbed here were in order. I think Steve got some good photos along here as he had his real camera out.

We turned right into Glass Gorge road again and found that the initial sandy bit was just as loose as yesterday. I wanted to duck up to the little lookout again today but Steve wasn't interested in the steep climb. So, I left him to iron blouses* at the bottom and shot up for a morning light photo.

We continued on along Glass Gorge rd, passing the Mt Franklin track off to the left. I was keen to do this loop track as I had seen it on plenty of ADV ride You Tube videos and it looked spectacular. Steve wasn't keen so we kept going, turning left into Moolooloo Station road. This station has some Public Access Roads (P.A.R.) that seem to be a South Australian thing. We were going to do PAR 4 through the station to the old Artimore ruins, then out onto the Blinman/Arkaroola road. We had wanted to do the Nuccaleena Copper Mine PAR which branched off Moolooloo Station road but it was closed for some reason.

The track to Moolooloo Station was pretty well used but after we passed this sign it degenerated somewhat - which made it interesting. Nothing difficult, just interesting.

Moolooloo Station homestead. 

We tootled along for a while, taking in the scenery. We decided to stop on one of the many dry creek crossings to get off and stretch our legs. We munched museli bars as we strolled around and checked out the gorge. The first part of PAR 4 was all like this

It was just us out here. We didn't see another soul the whole PAR 4 ride.

But we did see plenty of Emus. They have big feet.

We traversed more creek beds, weaving in and out of the big old gum trees that lined them.

We even 'chased" a huge mob of Emu down one of them for quite a while as the track followed the dry creek bed. We only lost them when the track peeled off, up the bank.

Look closely and you can see the two straggling Emu from the flock further up the creekbed. 

Popping up onto the bank we stopped briefly at the old car wreck.

We next stopped at the old Artimore Station ruins. Established in the 1850s as a sheep grazing enterprise it lasted about fifty years before the dry conditions and hungry wildlife made it unprofitable to continue.

We stopped here for a good look around the three remaining ruins. It would have been a bloody tough existence out here nearly 170 years ago.

 

PAR 4 had quite a bit further to go and we really enjoyed riding along, side by side on the narrow track. I was pleased to see that Steve was starting to loosen up and trust his tyres. We were flowing along very nicely.

Even on some of the sketchier off camber stuff we kept the pace up.

When it opened right up I goaded him into really giving it some stick now that we could see what was in front of us for a ways. I was trying to help Steve grow his dirt confidence and it looked to be working.

Giving it some stick! 

All too soon we were back to the intersection on the Blinman-Arkaroola road. It was about 140km to Arkaroola and it was nearly lunch time. Knowing that there isn't much in the way of midday food up there I suggested we ride the 13km back into Blinman and have lunch at the little store. Steve reckoned it sounded ok, so back we went. Lunch consisted of a pie and a chocolate milk while we overlooked the busy goings on of downtown Blinman.

We hit the road again, heading for Arkaroola. The main road is like a well, a main road. It is wide and quite smooth for the most part. We did find a grader working his "magic" all through the Wearing Gorge section. This made the road loose and soft, which caused a few pucker moments, but we came through ok.

Popping out of Wearing Gorge we were on the flat plains, heading toward Lake Frome. This is where Andy and I got our dusty drone shot in 2022. I decided to try to replicate it today with Steve but the drone wasn't playing nicely and even though the road seemed dusty it didn't produce as good of a shot. Maybe the ludicrous speed we did in 2022 helped?

Yeah, its flat out here!

Stopping to launch the drone I couldn't get my beast off it's side stand with the slope of the road. The little drone captured my hero saving me.....😄

It was another 39km to the next turn near Balcanoona Station, where we turn in for Arkaroola. 

Behind us is the way to Arkaroola, to the left of photo is the way we would be coming back tomorrow.

There is an amazing rock outcrop called Balcanoona Bluff with Balcanoona Creek (dry. of course) running in front of it immediately as you take the turn into Arkaroola. Pictures don't do it justice...and we didn't stop to try harder to make it better. This is off the chin mount DJI Action 4.

Arriving in Arkaroola Village we went straight for a fuel top - up. It has always been our policy to fuel up immediately in case something goes pear shaped over night. Prices were in line with what you would expect in such a remote location and honestly, not that much more than we pay in Brisbane when fuel is at the top of the price cycle.

We found our room and got changed for a walk around the resort village. There are some stunning rock formations and perhaps we could have done a tour to learn more about what we were seeing.

But we sort of gravitated to the bar after a bit of a stroll around. Here we found friendly backpackers staffing the place and one older gent watching HJC helmet reviews via You Tube on the big screen television. Once he left I snavelled the remote and tuned in a couple of Moto GP races to watch while we had a cold one. 😎

It turns out Adam, they guy watching the reviews, was a fellow adventure rider on a BMW 1250GS and had come off doing about 80km/h in the only bit of deepish sand on the whole road from Blinman to here. It was in a creek bed and Steve and I slowed for it but it wasn't too bad. Unfortunately Adam was going the other way and didn't see it coming as it was over a slight rise into the creek bed. It seems his head took the brunt of the crash and he now needed a new helmet. Luckily, he was otherwise unhurt but was stuck in Arkaroola for a few days until the new helmet arrived. 

Heading back to our room to clean up for dinner we spied the lads from Angorachina this morning. They were in the room around the corner from us!

Dinner was booked for six thirty and lucky we did book. The restaurant was busy and while the menu was sparse, the food was gourmet!

"Bugger the garlic bread" I told Steve, "lets get the cob loaf".

It came out hot, crusty and accomapnied by olive oil and dukkah. 

Delicious!

For the main I decided on the "beef". It didn't specify what beef the cut was but I took a leap of faith. I was rewarded with the best piece of steak I think I have eaten in years!! It was cooked to my specification exactly AND it was sooo tender. I can't believe I could get such an awesome meal at what was actually normal city prices waaay out here in the actual outback. Steve was pretty chuffed with his T-bone staek too....or was it the Pepperjack....? 😋

We were having such an unexpectedly good time that we decided on some desert - rare for me. I asked Steve to trust me on the affogato order. The waitress had to go check to see if they had Frangellico as our spirit of choice, which they did, so we polished off the night with this little number.

This was a fantastic (and unexpected) end to another great day on the bikes. The Flinders just keeps getting better and better!

As we were staying two nights we were planning a loop ride for tomorrow. It didn't need a crazy early start but the light is better for photography if one gets away early. Either way, we were stuffed and hit the hay quite early. Like a kid at Christmas, we couldn't wait for tomorrows riding!

Cheers.

Day 5 here.

*"Ironing blouses" is the piss take expression used by the group Steve rides with in Sydney to describe when someone is being soft or not riding.