Flinders Ranges - Day 7

Day 7: Saturday 1 September

Our final day had arrived. The week had certainly flown and we had climbed quite a few peaks and undertaken some delightful walks.

We were up at 5:45 this morning. We were dressed and packed by 6:15 and headed to the breakfast area where some of the group were already hoeing into cereal, yoghurt, toast, juice, tea and coffee.

It was quite a cool morning with frost on the ground when we ventured outdoors. I made sure that I had my beanie and gloves as well as my coat.

We pulled out of the hotel car park at 7:02am and headed through Melrose to the car park at the base of the Mt Remarkable trail. This track is yet another part of the Heysen Trail we were to learn.

View across Melrose and the Willochra Plain from the War Memorial Monument car park

Once again the party broke into two groups. Terrie, Paul and I had opted to summit Mt Remarkable with Wes while the rest were doing a nature walk with Andrea. I'll get Trevor to fill in the details of the nature walk.

Our walk was an out and back hike of 12.2kms. The walking time was supposedly 5 hours.

Commencing at the War Memorial Monument above Melrose, the track contoured across the eastern face of Mt. Remarkable. There were fabulous views of Melrose and the vivid green of the cultivated area of the Willochra Plain and out to the browner region beyond the Goyder line. The vegetation was lush on the eastern face. We encountered a number of kangaroos on the trail early in the climb and birds filled the air with their calls.

The track generally rose quite gently. There were large sections of scree that we traversed which added a challenge.

The final 700m was the steepest part of the climb but also the widest bit of track. We arrived at the summit exactly two hours after pulling out of the car park at the North Star.

Wes had warned us that trees at the top obscured the view so we were not surprised when we finally got to the top. We were able to see Spencer's Gulf from a point near the top. We spent 20 minutes or so at the summit before heading down.

I lead the group down the mountain and we arrived back at the car park before 11 o'clock. So much for the 5 hour round trip!

On the way up Wes had told us about a light plane that crashed into Mt remarkable in July 1980 killing two people. Apparently they hit the side of the mountain in foggy conditions. Part of the plane can be seen lying on the scree.

At the top of the climb Wes produced a packet of Tim Tams … a rather early start on biscuits for the day.

From the car park we drove down to Melrose and enjoyed a coffee at Bluey Blacksmith's Cafe while we waited for the rest of our group to turn up.

After lunch at the cafe we were back on the bus and heading for Adelaide.

Wes asked each of us about our favourite walk/hike/climb and wildlife. Pretty much everyone nominated the 18km final section of the Heysen Trail which we had walked on Thursday and the Rock Wallabies. The three St Mary peak summiters also mentioned the summit as very worthwhile.

We were dropped off at our hotel shortly after 4pm. The end of a fabulous week.