Heysen Trail - Peters Hill

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It has been a couple of years since I have completed a Heysen trail walk, so this morning around 6am we loaded our hiking gear into the cars and drove 75km north of Adelaide to the first trailhead on Cornvale Road near Hamilton leaving the first car there before continuing on to the second trailhead on Peters Hill Road where we left the other vehicle. The weather is cool with fog shrouding the valley so the walk up to the summit of Peters Hill was very pleasant, Peters Hill is not particularly steep so the walk was not taxing. On the way up we were lucky enough to startle a few kangaroos which is always a bonus. When we reached the summit we followed the ridge top south for about two kilometres before frightening a few more kangaroos, it was time to take a moment to enjoy the vista and perhaps have something to eat.

Soon it was time to descend back down the hill crossing a sheep paddock and spooking the silly sheep before following a strip of native bushland for about seven kilometres towards Cornvale Road. The track was mostly flat and gentle and we enjoyed the many species of bird and the odd reptile we spotted along the way, after four kilometres we stopped briefly for a snack and a drink on Oakley Road before being chased off by some angry bees.

A few hundred metres later we turned south again, the mornings mist had dissipated and the temperature was slowly rising but we were still comfortable, soon we reached Cornvale Road and turned to the east towards the Kapunda Hamilton Road. This section was about three kilometres along a gravel road and apart from one small rise was quite gentle; with a kilometre to go we negotiated a dog leg in the road and could see our car in the distance. The walk was reaching its conclusion so we didn't expect any excitement till about 100 meters from the car we encountered a good sized brown snake sunning itself on the road, Ruth didn't see it until she was almost on it, so she got a bit of a fright when it reared up to strike. Lucky for her it turned and slid off into the wheat field.

We then drove back to get the other car and headed to the Wheatsheaf Hotel in Allendale North for a quiet beer before continuing on to the North Kapunda Hotel for a really excellent meal, I had salmon and prawns in a sweet chilli sauce with great chips and an oven warm roll.

We are hoping to do another leg or two before the season ends in November.

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Comments

[D MJ Binkley]

Hiking
Looks like a great hike. Your salmon sounded wonderful.