Flinders Ranges - Day 6

Day 6: Friday 31 August

A late breakfast this morning … 8 o'clock over at the Prairie Hotel. There was a great spread. It started with a glass of stewed fruit (rhubarb or apricot) with yoghurt and topped with an oats, fruit and nut mix. Next came toast and finally a cooked breakfast with a choice of poached or fried eggs with bacon all topped off with fruit juice and tea and coffee.

Once on the road we headed south through country that didn't look like it would support much at all. There were sheep and sometimes cattle but not many of either. Ruins dotted the landscape. The road ran parallel to the old Ghan line for many kilometres.

Pulling in to Hawker we visited the panorama – a fabulous 360º view from St Mary Peak painted by local artist Jeff Morgan. There were other panoramas, too. Huge works. Trevor compared the size to Sir Frank's murals. I think Sir Frank may win … but just!

Continuing south we arrived at Quorn around 11:30. Most of us opted to eat our lunch in Quorn. A couple made their lunch and kept it until later.

From Quorn we headed to Dutchmans Stern Conservation Park which is situated north-west of Quorn. Our objective was to climb to the top of Dutchmans Stern along a circular route. The car park was at 440m and the top 820m.

Trevor opted to stay back at the bus as his right calf was still giving him trouble. He got a book on the Flinders Ranges from Wes to while away the time while the rest of us headed up Dutchmans Stern.

I picked up a pamphlet on the walk. We did our circuit in an anti clockwise direction from checkpoint 2. The party quickly broke into two groups. Andrea, Paul, Terrie and I in the first with Barbara, Judi, Penny and Wes is the second.

Setting out to climb Dutchmans Stern

View from the summit

Another view from the summit

Lorraine standing on the summit

More summit views

View on the way down

One of the glorious acacias

There were some glorious views on the way up to the summit as well as lots of flora and fauna to keep things interesting. The views from the top were wonderful. I took quite a few photos as I had taken the camera up with me.

There were some challenging parts to the walk as the track passed over a number of areas of scree.

We spent quite a while at the summit, wrote in the log book, and waited for the back markers to arrive before heading down. The circuit was 10.5kms.

Once the rest of the group arrived we headed back into Quorn, picked up fuel and headed for Melrose via Wilmington, in fading light.

Wes, as usual, kept us entertained with titbits of information and also pointed out the rising moon – quite special – as the huge, full moon appeared over the horizon and climbed into the sky.

In Melrose we stayed at the North Star Hotel. The rooms were spacious and comfortable with ensuites – a luxury after shared facilities.

Once again, Wes and Andrea had entrees waiting for us when we arrived, freshly showered, for dinner. Trevor bought a bottle of Riesling which went down well after the days exertions.

Once again the meals were excellent.

After dinner Wes and Andrea briefed us on what was on offer for our final day.

As we were departing at 7am in the morning we headed off to bed well before 9 o'clock again!

At the top of Dutchmans Stern I had phone reception, the first time in days. There was a flood of email which I picked up and looked at after we arrived in Melrose. The emails that had been waiting to be sent had gone, too, a little later than I had hoped. I did reply to some of the emails however, without reception, they were waiting for an opportunity to be sent.