Your advice please. Taking our rig to Rawnsley Park station and caravan park in the Flinders Ranges. Will be travelling with friends in a hired Britz Motor home. Rental agreement restricts the Britz vehicle to sealed roads only other than a maximum of 12 kilometres of dirt road to access a commercial camp site. Anybody who has travelled the Flinders Ranges Way from Hawker SA can you please advise if that road is sealed and also Rawnsley Park Road. Long way to drive in just to turn back out if we find the road to the caravan park is not sealed. Thanks for your help.
While on the subject there appears to be two day trip tracks in the area. One is an AWD track taking in views of the Ranges. An extension is a 4WD track that takes you to lookouts over Wilpena Pound. I have checked out the latter on Youtube and it doesnt look too bad. I have a 4WD Holden Trailblazer but have not had that much 4x4 experience. I have never been to 4x4 school and dont have recovery gear etc. Anybody with knowledge of this track able to give advise please. Thinking I should just stick to the AWD track. What do you think?
-- Edited by ConsumerMan on Sunday 8th of March 2020 04:37:13 PM
blaze said
05:04 PM Mar 8, 2020
places like that you want a sat phone and or an epirb/ emergency location beacon. people die out there.
be prepared.cheers
blaze
Radar said
06:06 PM Mar 8, 2020
ConsumerMan wrote:
Your advice please. Taking our rig to Rawnsley Park station and caravan park in the Flinders Ranges. Will be travelling with friends in a hired Britz Motor home. Rental agreement restricts the Britz vehicle to sealed roads only other than a maximum of 12 kilometres of dirt road to access a commercial camp site. Anybody who has travelled the Flinders Ranges Way from Hawker SA can you please advise if that road is sealed and also Rawnsley Park Road. Long way to drive in just to turn back out if we find the road to the caravan park is not sealed. Thanks for your help.
While on the subject there appears to be two day trip tracks in the area. One is an AWD track taking in views of the Ranges. An extension is a 4WD track that takes you to lookouts over Wilpena Pound. I have checked out the latter on Youtube and it doesnt look too bad. I have a 4WD Holden Trailblazer but have not had that much 4x4 experience. I have never been to 4x4 school and dont have recovery gear etc. Anybody with knowledge of this track able to give advise please. Thinking I should just stick to the AWD track. What do you think?
-- Edited by ConsumerMan on Sunday 8th of March 2020 04:37:13 PM
We were there in August 2019.
Highways from the south, East or west are sealed to Hawker SA.
Hawker to the turn off to Rawnsley Station is sealed also though to Blinman.
I think but only think some of that road was also sealed and its only a short distance off the highway, could verify with the station on that matter. 10ks or so.
Now the one thing that really surprised us was you can not drive freely around Willpenna Pound, it is a National Park, you can walk it or pay a tour operator to take you.
Now we did do the drives between the sealed roads which was outstanding, never needing 4wd. The roads are gravel, mostly maintained to a very serviceable level and very much worth doing.
While doing these drives you do not need a National Park pass which is a bonus saving but you must stay near the roadway and not go onto park property.
We spent 3 full days enjoying touring and looking while staying in Hawker. The caravan park was the best deal by far and will return. We obtained a really good mud map from in at Hawker showing the drives and places of interest that was of great help..
Be prepared to do the drives you will enjoy, perhaps drop your tyre pressures to make the unsealed roads more enjoyable.
Plain Truth said
07:46 PM Mar 8, 2020
blaze wrote:
places like that you want a sat phone and or an epirb/ emergency location beacon. people die out there. be prepared.cheers blaze
ha;ha:ha;ha;ha;ha;ha,what more can you say
TheHeaths said
08:05 PM Mar 8, 2020
Road into Rawnsley off of the highway is about 3kms of well maintained dirt road.
Road from there to Blinman and Wilpena Pound is sealed.
There are a number of places that can be reached by good dirt roads without using 4wd, including the Brachina Gorge road, the Parachilna Gorge road, the road into Secret Rocks (I think it is called), the road into the Appealina Ruins, and the roads into several lookouts. There are a number of others, and a couple of good 4wd drives, being Skytrek at Willow Springs Station, and the Arkapena Drive based at Rawnsley. The first parts of the Skytrek and Arkapena are easy AWD driving, the last 10kms on both is often low range 4wd. Doable without too much experieicne (we did them without too much background) but do need a bit of care, as they both have quite steep climbs and Descents, on some less well marked track on the Skytrek. With no experience perhaps the Arkapena one is best, as you can bail out before the 4wd section when you cross one of the local roads. Arkapena has the steepest climb but it is on a "track".
This is one of our favourite spots, having been there 5 times in the past 7 years.
Enjoy your trip.
ConsumerMan said
08:32 PM Mar 8, 2020
Thank you, thank you. I should have mentioned in my post that it is The Arkapena track(s) to which I was making reference. Great to get first hand knowledge, especially from a five time guru. You have answered my questions. Lots of places mentioned so back to do more research and will also now look at making base camp at Hawker instead of Rawnsley Station. Another question please. For viewing Wilpena Pound what is the best lookout point and on which road/track? We are planing on taking a flight over as well.
blaze said
10:31 PM Mar 8, 2020
Plain Truth wrote:
blaze wrote:
places like that you want a sat phone and or an epirb/ emergency location beacon. people die out there. be prepared.cheers blaze
ha;ha:ha;ha;ha;ha;ha,what more can you say
you may jest at my reply but every year people die in those types of terrain, just a little walk up heare and oh **** where is the car. you are best if prepared correctly
cheers
blaze
ps
I always carried uhf, hf radios, sat phone and epirb. Maybe I am over cautious but I always came home unassisted from all my outback trips
Peter_n_Margaret said
10:03 AM Mar 9, 2020
Blaze, if you go and climb St Marys Peak and get lost on the way, your HF and UHF in the car won't be much use to you.
There are generally no roads in the area of the Flinders that you are discussing that are not perfectly OK with 2WD.
This little clip of the Bunyeroo Valley Scenic Drive is about as hard as they get.
https://youtu.be/lhPsTlP_cTo
Cheers,
Peter
blaze said
11:47 AM Mar 9, 2020
Peter_n_Margaret wrote:
Blaze, if you go and climb St Marys Peak and get lost on the way, your HF and UHF in the car won't be much use to you.
There are generally no roads in the area of the Flinders that you are discussing that are not perfectly OK with 2WD.
This little clip of the Bunyeroo Valley Scenic Drive is about as hard as they get.
https://youtu.be/lhPsTlP_cTo
Cheers,
Peter
no but your epirb/location beacon will be
-- Edited by blaze on Monday 9th of March 2020 11:47:52 AM
Greg 1 said
12:52 PM Mar 9, 2020
Wouldn't have thought Wilpeena Pound so remote to need sat phones, epirbs and the like.
TheHeaths said
05:55 PM Mar 9, 2020
No easy drive to lookouts to look at Wilpena Pound.
You can do some climbs, but they are somewhat difficult, with the highest one being St Marys Peak. You can do a walk (a bit long) into the Pound, and that may suffice as you are doing the best thing with the flight.
If you do enjoy climbs, the Rawnsley Bluff walk from Rawnsley Park is a good one, and takes you to the top of the Bluff at the southern end of the pound, Does take about 5 hours though.
Enjoy the trip. Rawnsley Park does have a decent website to see what is available.
Mutley said
09:43 PM Aug 8, 2020
-- Edited by Mutley on Saturday 8th of August 2020 09:44:29 PM
-- Edited by Mutley on Saturday 8th of August 2020 09:44:40 PM
jade46 said
11:45 AM Aug 9, 2020
The recomendation seems to be to stay at Hawker. Is there a problem with the Wilpena Pound Resort caravan park @ $37.00 a night seems reasonable to me if we can ever travel again that is?
Peter_n_Margaret said
02:18 PM Aug 9, 2020
Rawnsley is a much nicer option than Wilpena (in my view) but the National Park campsites, particularly in Brachina Gorge) are our favourites (if you are self contained).
Right now (9/8/20) all gravel roads in the Flinders are open to all vehicles (that includes 2WD), but there is more rain on the way next week, so watch this.... dpti.sa.gov.au/OutbackRoads
We will be up there from about 23/8/20 for a week or so with the grandies.
Cheers,
Peter
Plain Truth said
03:16 PM Aug 9, 2020
Aroona Valley,is another nice spot to camp.They had snow up there the other day.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EjVCFRlV3qk
Your advice please. Taking our rig to Rawnsley Park station and caravan park in the Flinders Ranges. Will be travelling with friends in a hired Britz Motor home. Rental agreement restricts the Britz vehicle to sealed roads only other than a maximum of 12 kilometres of dirt road to access a commercial camp site. Anybody who has travelled the Flinders Ranges Way from Hawker SA can you please advise if that road is sealed and also Rawnsley Park Road. Long way to drive in just to turn back out if we find the road to the caravan park is not sealed. Thanks for your help.
While on the subject there appears to be two day trip tracks in the area. One is an AWD track taking in views of the Ranges. An extension is a 4WD track that takes you to lookouts over Wilpena Pound. I have checked out the latter on Youtube and it doesnt look too bad. I have a 4WD Holden Trailblazer but have not had that much 4x4 experience. I have never been to 4x4 school and dont have recovery gear etc. Anybody with knowledge of this track able to give advise please. Thinking I should just stick to the AWD track. What do you think?
-- Edited by ConsumerMan on Sunday 8th of March 2020 04:37:13 PM
be prepared.cheers
blaze
We were there in August 2019.
Highways from the south, East or west are sealed to Hawker SA.
Hawker to the turn off to Rawnsley Station is sealed also though to Blinman.
I think but only think some of that road was also sealed and its only a short distance off the highway, could verify with the station on that matter. 10ks or so.
Now the one thing that really surprised us was you can not drive freely around Willpenna Pound, it is a National Park, you can walk it or pay a tour operator to take you.
Now we did do the drives between the sealed roads which was outstanding, never needing 4wd. The roads are gravel, mostly maintained to a very serviceable level and very much worth doing.
While doing these drives you do not need a National Park pass which is a bonus saving but you must stay near the roadway and not go onto park property.
We spent 3 full days enjoying touring and looking while staying in Hawker. The caravan park was the best deal by far and will return. We obtained a really good mud map from in at Hawker showing the drives and places of interest that was of great help..
Be prepared to do the drives you will enjoy, perhaps drop your tyre pressures to make the unsealed roads more enjoyable.
ha;ha:ha;ha;ha;ha;ha,what more can you say
Road from there to Blinman and Wilpena Pound is sealed.
There are a number of places that can be reached by good dirt roads without using 4wd, including the Brachina Gorge road, the Parachilna Gorge road, the road into Secret Rocks (I think it is called), the road into the Appealina Ruins, and the roads into several lookouts. There are a number of others, and a couple of good 4wd drives, being Skytrek at Willow Springs Station, and the Arkapena Drive based at Rawnsley. The first parts of the Skytrek and Arkapena are easy AWD driving, the last 10kms on both is often low range 4wd. Doable without too much experieicne (we did them without too much background) but do need a bit of care, as they both have quite steep climbs and Descents, on some less well marked track on the Skytrek. With no experience perhaps the Arkapena one is best, as you can bail out before the 4wd section when you cross one of the local roads. Arkapena has the steepest climb but it is on a "track".
This is one of our favourite spots, having been there 5 times in the past 7 years.
Enjoy your trip.
you may jest at my reply but every year people die in those types of terrain, just a little walk up heare and oh **** where is the car. you are best if prepared correctly
cheers
blaze
ps
I always carried uhf, hf radios, sat phone and epirb. Maybe I am over cautious but I always came home unassisted from all my outback trips
Blaze, if you go and climb St Marys Peak and get lost on the way, your HF and UHF in the car won't be much use to you.
There are generally no roads in the area of the Flinders that you are discussing that are not perfectly OK with 2WD.
This little clip of the Bunyeroo Valley Scenic Drive is about as hard as they get.
https://youtu.be/lhPsTlP_cTo
Cheers,
Peter
no but your epirb/location beacon will be
-- Edited by blaze on Monday 9th of March 2020 11:47:52 AM
You can do some climbs, but they are somewhat difficult, with the highest one being St Marys Peak. You can do a walk (a bit long) into the Pound, and that may suffice as you are doing the best thing with the flight.
If you do enjoy climbs, the Rawnsley Bluff walk from Rawnsley Park is a good one, and takes you to the top of the Bluff at the southern end of the pound, Does take about 5 hours though.
Enjoy the trip. Rawnsley Park does have a decent website to see what is available.
-- Edited by Mutley on Saturday 8th of August 2020 09:44:29 PM
-- Edited by Mutley on Saturday 8th of August 2020 09:44:40 PM
Right now (9/8/20) all gravel roads in the Flinders are open to all vehicles (that includes 2WD), but there is more rain on the way next week, so watch this....
dpti.sa.gov.au/OutbackRoads
We will be up there from about 23/8/20 for a week or so with the grandies.
Cheers,
Peter
Aroona Valley,is another nice spot to camp.They had snow up there the other day.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EjVCFRlV3qk