South Flinders and Riverland.
October 2017.
South Flinders and Riverlands (Murray River)
After spending a few hours at Port Augusta,we once more fuelled up and headed south towards Mt Remarkable National Park. We crossed Horracks Pass to the east side of the Flinders Rangers to a small town called Wilmington. We immediately began to see cereal crops once more and found ourselves in a small town called Melrose. We found a spot at the local showgrounds for $20 per night which had a nice rural outlook within walking distance from town.
I scouted out the town on the MTB late the first day and thought this is a place with some character and intesting old stone buildings. They also had a small MTB park close by which was neat to see.
The following day I spent a couple of hours riding some of the cat 3 trails and enjoyed the challenge. I also rode a 32 km loop of the Mawson Trail which is a 900 kms MTB trail from the south sea coast of Australia all the way to Blinman in the northern Flinders!!!!! Epic. That's some mountain bike trail on easy to moderate trails.
We spent the afternoon going to Alligator Gorge in the Prado leaving the camper behind. Saw a monitor lizard on the road which Maria managed to photograph many times. We walked down into the gorge from a high access road down lots and lots of steps. The place was interesting albeit dry due to the lack of recent rain.
However that was going to change as the following afternoon we were caught on a violent storm that passed through during the afternoon. We had to take down the awning when the wind started blowing the rain horizontally. We retreated into the basic camp shelter until the worst of the storm passed over.
All was much better the following morning when we headed away once more to Morgan on the banks of the mighty Murray River.
We started seeing grapes, citrus and almonds in great orchards. Most need water from the river which needless to say is very contentious as the river runs through four states and each wants water for their own industry and production. Sadly the natural values of the river have suffered over the years and there is nothing like the natural flow needed to keep the river and it's wetland in healthy condition. We saw lots of dead river gums that had finally died after years of drought and below normal river flows. In places the river edges looked like a disaster zone.
I think now communities are realising more needs to be done to keep more water in the river to keep it healthy so the communities adjacent to the river can also remain healthy.
Time to close this page and get it posted.
Cheer
Rudy and Maria
South Flinders and Riverlands (Murray River)
After spending a few hours at Port Augusta,we once more fuelled up and headed south towards Mt Remarkable National Park. We crossed Horracks Pass to the east side of the Flinders Rangers to a small town called Wilmington. We immediately began to see cereal crops once more and found ourselves in a small town called Melrose. We found a spot at the local showgrounds for $20 per night which had a nice rural outlook within walking distance from town.
I scouted out the town on the MTB late the first day and thought this is a place with some character and intesting old stone buildings. They also had a small MTB park close by which was neat to see.
The following day I spent a couple of hours riding some of the cat 3 trails and enjoyed the challenge. I also rode a 32 km loop of the Mawson Trail which is a 900 kms MTB trail from the south sea coast of Australia all the way to Blinman in the northern Flinders!!!!! Epic. That's some mountain bike trail on easy to moderate trails.
We spent the afternoon going to Alligator Gorge in the Prado leaving the camper behind. Saw a monitor lizard on the road which Maria managed to photograph many times. We walked down into the gorge from a high access road down lots and lots of steps. The place was interesting albeit dry due to the lack of recent rain.
However that was going to change as the following afternoon we were caught on a violent storm that passed through during the afternoon. We had to take down the awning when the wind started blowing the rain horizontally. We retreated into the basic camp shelter until the worst of the storm passed over.
All was much better the following morning when we headed away once more to Morgan on the banks of the mighty Murray River.
We started seeing grapes, citrus and almonds in great orchards. Most need water from the river which needless to say is very contentious as the river runs through four states and each wants water for their own industry and production. Sadly the natural values of the river have suffered over the years and there is nothing like the natural flow needed to keep the river and it's wetland in healthy condition. We saw lots of dead river gums that had finally died after years of drought and below normal river flows. In places the river edges looked like a disaster zone.
I think now communities are realising more needs to be done to keep more water in the river to keep it healthy so the communities adjacent to the river can also remain healthy.
Time to close this page and get it posted.
Cheer
Rudy and Maria
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