Peter's Hill at Kapunda

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Preamble- the walk plan

This is walk number 1 in the '50 real bushwalks around Adelaide' by George Driscoll (5th ed).

It is a brand new one to us though. Part of the excitment of our walks is when we go somewhere we have never been and 'discover' it for ourselves.

This walk is 16 km north of Kapunda, about 1.5 hours North of Adelaide and takes in part of the Heysen trail. It goes over private land (Huppatz family) and there is a restored hut called Marschall Hut. Hope the weather holds out.

Learn more about Kapunda at this Wiki and read a walker's description of the Heysen trail.

What happened:

Well there was lots of gums and cows - so it was a good exemplar of the Heysen trail
Some of Heysen's paintings.
The walk was predicted to be 3.5 hours, but it took us four and we belted home because of inclement weather - so I would estimate 4.5 hours if we were doing it again. Basically it was follow the Heysen trail through half a dozen paddocks, go up and over a Hill to enjoy a 360 panorama of the Gilbert valley, Riverton and through to Spencer gulf. Visit a cottage and cemetery and then go around the hill and back the way you came.

Dan says about this walk:

It was a tough walk. Mostly because it was very long, it was windy and the uphill part was hard. Some of the pictures may lie to you. The hill looks calm - but in real life there was a raging wind! The view was nice at the top.

There was a horse and a pony. The horse had a white diamond marking on its side. We saw lots of sheep with lambs and we saw a few stampedes as the sheep moved away from us.

The walk was nice overall. When we went to the hut I saw a possum. It was a brushtail possum. It was licking itself. It didn't run away.

On our way back I had a very sore feet which I think I will need to look after for the next few days.

Mum sang "Click go the shears" to the cows and they followed her.
On our way back (in the car) it rained heavily. We were very grateful that it didn't rain on us.

So all in all a very pleasant day but I fear we may feel some-what sore tomorrow :-)

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Photos

On top of Peter's Hill
Dan is putting the visitor log book into the letterbox under the trig point on Peter's HIll

Cows
The walk started passing a paddock of cows

Through Heysen country
This is early in the walk. Dan is negotiating one of the fence styles which allow walkers to scale fences without hurting the fence or themselves. By the way - some of these fences were electrified!

Dam
Pity you can't hear all the parrots sounding in the flowering gums

Saddle club
This is the pony and horse that came over to say hello as we walked the trail.

View from the top
Belvidere Range peaks at Peter's Hill.

Approaching front
Looking South from the top of the hill you could see the approaching cold front, and feel the wind, which meant that the last part of the walk was going to have to be VERY FAST if were going to stary dry.

Looking North
The pole is part of the trig point at the summit of Peter's Hill.

Sheep on the Ranges
The ranges were filled with sheep with young lambs.

The view
It is hard to capture with a few photos the panorama that awaited us on the top of this hill. It really was stunning on this very clear day.

The spur to the cottage
There was a steep downhill track to visit the cottage.

Marschall cottage
Recently restored, this cottage housed a family with 8 children! This shot was taken from the (very rare) and new toilet block.

Marschall cottage front
Hikers are permitted to camp in the cottage (it is not locked), but it was inhabited by possums when we were there. We signed the visitors book that was available here.

Marschall cemetery
Down the hill from the cottage is a cemetery.

Marschall cemetery and fresias
The edge of the cemetery was lined with spring fresias

Comments

[Loretta]

Another great looking walk
Beautiful scenery. Happy Trails pardner.