Flinders Ranges Outback Australia

[Mountainwalker]

Thought I would share some pictures from outback South Australia. All up I covered 4000km over 10 days on a motorcycle. We camped out each night and did lots of hiking into gorges and up mountains. At our furtherest point we were near the area that Ray Mears documented in his doco walkabout; i.e. strezleki track.

visitor

road to nowhere

long desert roads

Menindee lakes, beautiful red sand.

old homestead ruins out in the desert

bikes at ruins

standstorm

arid

campfires every night

billy of tea

a break

Bolla Bollana Springs Arkaroola, oasis in a harsh landscape

tree hugger

kangaroo at waterhole

the pinnacle Arkaroola

ruggard hills

flower (will consult a guide to work out the names of the following. For such an arid landscape it was amazing to see so many flowers.

Bola Bolana springs

old ruins of a copper mine 1800's

Heading to Chambers Gorge, named by Charles Sturt

not much water out here.

ancient aboriginal art work, a place where 100's of tribal ceremonies occured over 1000's of years

Each circle represents one ceremony, a small section of the chasm wall. Had a very sacred feeling, natures church

harsh, but beautiful

view from bivvy

does it get any better?

Chambers Gorge

hot

set off to explore gorge

tried to climb this, 10 meters from the top turned back as it was too dangerous to go further

looking down to the camp below

retreating

An amazing ancient landscape, i will return to this area again...

 

[Peterlee_Paddler]

Those desert roads have me wanting to buy a big thumper and hark back to my enduro days (daze ...)
Don't suppose you did any fishing in the lakes?

Cheers.

 

[BOD]

Makes me want to return to OZ.

But a few days in a city would change my mind again

 

[Mountainwalker]

Those desert roads have me wanting to buy a big thumper and hark back to my enduro days (daze ...)
Don't suppose you did any fishing in the lakes?

Cheers.

Oh it was so much fun, to get to this area you have to drive and a motorbike just makes the trip that much more enticing. You are out there in the elements, you feel the heat, you breath the dust and you see so much.

Alas Menindee lakes were dry (drought conditions at present). But I will return when they fill up as locals say millions of birds flock to the area. Need to buy a telescopic rod and reel for next adventure.

 

[Mountainwalker]

Makes me want to return to OZ.

But a few days in a city would change my mind again

Yes, was depressed for a week after this trip. City life is an harsh reality; at least if you travel only a 100km away you are in a never ending wilderness.

 

[hog]

Stunning scenery there Boet.

 

[sargey]

quite extarordinary pictures mate, must've been quite a road trip.

cheers, and.

 

[sargey]

quite extraordinary pictures mate, must've been quite a road trip.

cheers, and.

 

[relfy]

Wow! Great pictures. Australia has so much sky! ...looks very interesting from a hydrology point of view too. What a fantastic trip.

 

[dwardo]

Looks like a wonderfull trip and the pictures are stunning.
Many moons back i did a lot of the flinders on horse back, my first and last time on horse back.

 

[Mountainwalker]

Wow! Great pictures. Australia has so much sky! ...looks very interesting from a hydrology point of view too. What a fantastic trip.

Whilst it is very dry in this area when it does rain it is generally torrential. The dry river beds were exceptionally wide and there were dead trees wrapped around large boulders that indicated a very powerful waterflow.

 

[Mountainwalker]

Looks like a wonderfull trip and the pictures are stunning.
Many moons back i did a lot of the flinders on horse back, my first and last time on horse back.

Wow, riding a horse through this terrain would be an great way to take in the beauty, roll a swag out at the end of the day, around a raging campfire. Must add that to the too do list.

 

[relfy]

Whilst it is very dry in this area when it does rain it is generally torrential. The dry river beds were exceptionally wide and there were dead trees wrapped around large boulders that indicated a very powerful waterflow.

That sounds exciting I was noticing your picture of the dry watercourse with greener plants growing in the bed, indicating some less flashy subsurface flow too - much smaller obviously, but more continuous.

 

[Shewie]

Stunning pics fella, thanks for sharing

 

[Mountainwalker]

That sounds exciting I was noticing your picture of the dry watercourse with greener plants growing in the bed, indicating some less flashy subsurface flow too - much smaller obviously, but more continuous.

I suspect that the water in the billabong is derived from a spring.

 

[andybysea]

Fantastic stuff,would love to experiance that.