Thursday 9 October 2014

FUSA 2014 - Flinders Ranges SA Adventure Ride.

The weather was perfect as we arrived in Hawker Sunday for morning tea.

Heading into the Flinders proper, our first dirt road was short detour
into the Sacred Canyon. The smooth, sandy surface is unusual in the
Flinders, but lots of fun. The canyon is home to a number of Aboriginal
rock carvings and we enjoyed the short walk from the bikes.

We visited Stokes Lookout and arrived in Blinman around 3:30; not a good
time to arrive on a Sunday as the few available food outlets were trying
to close. We rode 14km west of Blinman to Angorichina Village which
became our base for four nights. Chris D (Ipswich) Lee & Heather (Mt
Eliza via Broome) and Pete & Anna (Melbourne) were already in residence
and waiting.

The next two days of perfect weather the group of 11 bikes rode through
the popular Flinders locations. Parachilna, Brachina and Bunyeroo
Gorges; razorback Lookout; Willpena Pound; Glass Gorge; Wirrealpa;
Wilkawillina Gorge; The Great Walls of China. The Flinders is unique,
the country wonderful to see and experience and the ride is terrific.
Angorichin'a owner Dave took most of us (20) to the Blinman Pub in his
bus.

Tone (Melbourne) made a cameo appearance Monday night. Tone was
travelling with a couple of guys on BMW outfits who with Lee had
attended the OCR Rally Drysdale Station at the top of WA. His bike ran
without issue, and was now only 1,000km from home.

Wednesday was scheduled to allow riders do their own thing. Lou ran a
riders "kindergarten" to let some of the inexperienced riders improve
skills and confidence. Those who "passed" then rode PAR 3 to the
Nuccaleena Mine Ruin. Others did short photographic runs, lunched at the
Parachilna Pub (Goat burgers were popular), explored walking tracks
around Angorichina and generally relaxed.

Thursday was another perfect day and we left Angorichina for Arkaroola.
First stop was Chambers Gorge Gorge and Mt Chambers, an ideal location
to camp for a few days, but for us it was lunch and more pics.

We arrived at Arkaroola mid afternoon, and most of us explored the
village by foot. The bar and the communal lounge were quite popular once
I found the Pajero and some of my wine.

The following day we individually explored the area. Arkaroola has a
number of 2 and 4 wheel drive tracks and walking tracks, and all offer
wonderful sights. We found the 2 wheel drive tracks quite challenging;
the Pajero needing low ratio to negotiate some of the "earlier" 2wd runs!

We left Arkaroola Saturday intending to morning tea in Copley, lunch in
Lyndhurst, visit Talc Alf and the Leigh Creek coal mine and overnight at
Parachhilna. Unfortunately Charlie's bike shattered a valve spring 27
kms from Copley. Under tow and 5 kms down the road the final drive
locked causing further dramas. Fortunately Pete had his van and trailer 100km away at Angorichina. We waited in Copley while the trailer was fetched,
loaded Charlie's bike and headed direct to Parachilna.

We spent eight nights together and excluding travel to and from the
Flinders rode about 1,000km of which 500km was on gravel roads and
tracks.

September is the ideal time to visit the Flinders and this year the
vegetation was its best for 20 years.

The area is easy to get to, is definitely "outback" and the country is
stunning. Well worth a visit, especially inviting for those of us able
to explore the area by Ural.