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Published: August 7th 2007
Rifle Range Road
A very nice drive is the one going up Rifle Range road, near Tanunda, to the start of this walk. Great views and interesting scenery. To see as a slide show, click on this image and use the controls at the top of the new window to scroll through the images.Introduction
It was back to the bush for the Hikers this wekend and we treated ourselves to the Barossa. Just outside of Tanunda we picked up the Heysen trail as it traverses the Kaiser Stuhl Conservation Park. The last time we went to this park was July 2005 and the contrast between the two visits were striking. There were only a few, thin kangaroos this time when there were many breeding kangaroos 20 months ago. The recent rain has produced a fine green tinge to the land as it slowly starts to recover from the drought.
The park has only gentle slopes and is suitable for family walks. There are a few trees which have tags on them so you can identify the different species of plants. We spent about three hours in the Park yesterday including a picnic at the lookout.
You can read more about our last visit here:
Heysen trail - Kaiser Stuhl Conservation Park More information about the park is available from the
Parks web.
How to get there
From Adelaide head to Gawler and then Tanunda. Just before the town there is right hand turn to Rifle Range Road.
The walk starts on the Heysen trail. Dan saiys
Heysen trail
The walk starts on the Heysen trail. Dan saiys the word 'idiot' to ensure he is smiling for this cheesy snap. the word 'idiot' to ensure he is smiling for this cheesy snap.
blocks the road (this is a 10 minute drive that is quite spectacular).
What happened
It was a fabulous sunny early Autumn day in the Barossa. We entered on the North East corner of the Park and had lunch at the lookout after about 45 minutes of walking. The view was so clear - you could easily see the gulf waters 54km away. We then took the Park walk (Wallowa) that goes around the Park in an anti-clockwise direction.
Without the water there were few birds, no frogs (when before they were so loud that you couldn't talk to each other) and the kangaroos had disappeared. It was still great to get out and experience the beauty of the bush and the impressive granite boulders throughout. I have taken a few photos of how the trees have coped with having a boulder as their neighbour.
The nicest part of this walk is the section of the track which is currently closed due to severe erosion. Most of the Trail is on roads and this last section is the only part with a bush track.
This area is probably the steepest section of the park. We walked up the track - so we could see where the eroded areas were (e.g stairs where the dirt had been washed away) and avoid them. I could imagine that it would be potentially dangerous if you were walking downhill and could not see where the erosion was, but walking uphill, particularly now that it was dry, was not a problem.
Dan says ...
Hello readers,
Take a seat and read this blog, THRIPPPPPPPPPPP!!!!!!! Ha ha! April fools. (I am sorry for that virtual whoopi cushion stunt).
I thought that Dad needed some brain surgery. Before, on the way, he said he wanted to do cross-country. But, when we got to the cross country area, he said - no we have to keep on the track!
It was a lovely day and a good walk. There has been frogs, river crossings and lots of mud on this walk, but today there was zip.
I thought there might have been some yah-whos on this walk as there was a sign saying that there was Danger and that a bridge was broken and there was a mud slide on the Wallowa path. But there was no bridge on
the path - and it was so dry that a mud slide would have been impossible. The Yah-whos must have nicked the sign from a building site and put it there.
And now time for a joke:
There were three guys walking along a road and their names were Shut-up, Manners and Poop.
Poop fell over. Shut-up ran for help when Manners stayed behind and helped Poop.
Shut-up found a Police officer.
The Police officer asked him 'What is your name?'
'Shut-up' he answered.
The Police officer shouted 'Hey! Where is your manners?'
'On the road, picking up Poop' he replied.
We hoped you enjoyed this blog entry. Please leave us a comment. If this walk wasn't the right one for you then remember you can visit our
Complete index of our walks/activities by location to find other walks and things to do in SA.
Yours,
SA-Hikers (aka Diana Peter and Dan)
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polly
non-member comment
good to see that everyone looks fit and healthy and back on the road again!!