Day 14 Rawnsley Station to Arkaroola via Blinman, Parachilna and Leigh Creek

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Today we farwelled Rawnsley Station and the Southern Flinders Ranges to head North towards Leigh Creek. It is a little overcast today, and they are expecting rain today and tomorrow and then sunshine again. Our first stop was Hucks Lookout where we were lucky enough to see eagles soaring. We continued on toward Blinman which is the highest town (elevation) in South Australia.



We continued on into the Gammon Ranges National Park. We stopped along the way so as Steve could take a photo of an eagle which was perched in a tree along the roadside. At Blinman we turned west toward Parachilna. This road was a dirt road, but it was in very good condition and we were told that we would have no trouble pulling the van through. We drove across some lovely dry river beds and through some lovely Gorges. We then drove on to Leigh Creek and stopped for lunch. Leigh Creek is a large town with a school and well stocked shop. We stocked up with some extra supplies as we decided to visit Arkaroola, which was along a 127 km dirt road and we wanted to make sure that we had enough supplies. The information centre advised us that the road was open and that it was very good and that we would have no trouble towing the van along it with our sedan.

We asked about the prospect of rain and were told that it would have to rain for 4 days before they closed the road. We were only going to be one or two nights and so we felt we could do this trip. This drive out to Arkaroola is beautiful. Again, we found ourselves crossing dry river beds and driving through beautiful countryside and gorges. We passed a lot of emus, kangaroos and cattle.It was drizzling on the way to Arkaroola but by the time we arrived it had started raining steadily. The road is about 130km’s of dirt but it took us 2 ½ hours to drive it as we could only drive at 50-70kmh because of the dirt road. By the time we got to the caravan park it was getting dark and raining. Hmmm, we hope that the rain is not too heavy.

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Photos

Day 14 Rawnsley Bluff
goodbye to Rawnsley Station

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Steve captured this photo

Great Wall of China 018
There is a wall built along the hillside, called the Great Wall of China. It is hard to see in this pic though

On to the dirt road 028
Almost 130km's of dirt road

Day 14 Through the Gorges and river beds 042
The ford sedan coped well with this road, although it was filthy by the time we arrived

Tracy and Robert 043
had a four wheel drive

Day 14 Rawnsley station to Arkaroola 063
cows wandering on the road

Day 14 Rawnsley station to Arkaroola 084
emus on the road

Day 14 Rawnsley station to Arkaroola 091
Kangaroos on the road

Comments

[carrie]

lucky you saw the livestock on the road before you hit it! The wipers were working hard. X

[Robyn]

love the photos
hope you don't get stuck with the bad weather!!