Australia, In the Dutchmans Stern Conservation Park
In the Dutchmans Stern Conservation Park. 24-10-2010 r.
Dutchman's Stern
I climbed a hill. I have an iPhone. Therefore I post on YouTube.
Flinders Ranges South Australia - Quorn District.
Photos taken around Quorn i.e. Devil's Peak and Dutchman's Stern Conservation Park.
Heysen Trail | Day 12 | Quorn to Pichi Richi Park | Daily Diary
Heavenly help from a true blue Trail Angel.
After almost two weeks of riding adrenaline-packed highs transversing majestic, yet exhausting, terrain, my enthusiasm had finally slumped. It was the inevitable lull that had to come. Fortunately, following a rejuvenating night’s sleep at Quorn’s iconic Austral Inn, my head had cleared and my hiking legs were eager to kick on with the trail on Day 12. But, not before revisiting the scene of yesterday’s deflating journey. The Dutchmans Stern Conservation Park is far too picturesque an experience to leave it as I did.
Full Diary
The Dutchmans Stern
On Saturday 4th May, 2013, Paul VK5PAS, and his wife Marija, climbed to the summit of The Dutchman's Stern, in the Flinders Ranges.
Paul operated his amateur radio station as part of Summits on the Air (SOTA) and the VK5 National & Conservation Parks Award sponsored by the Adelaide Hills Amateur Radio Society (AHARS).
The climb up took about 2 hours and about 1 hour down. A distance of 8.2 kms was hiked.
A total of 26 QSO's were made on both 40m & 20m into VK1, VK2, VK3, and VK5.
Equipment used was a Yaesu FT-817nd, 5 watts output power, and a 40m/20m linked dipole supported by a 7m squid pole.
Heysen Trail | Day 11 | Eyre Depot to Quorn | Daily Diary
From euphoric and literal highs to demoralising lows.
It’s astounding how quickly your mood can change when you’re pushed to your limits. The first week and a half on the trail was packed with challenging, yet rewarding, ups and downs, but there had been one unwavering constant—my positivity. Through everything, I remained resolute. That headspace, however, changed dramatically on Day 11 while heading through Dutchman's Stern Conservation Park.
Full Diary
Dutchman Stern DJI MAVIC PRO
First test run of my Mavic Pro at Dutchmans Stern. Slightly breezy and need to adjust camera sensitivity settings but ended up putting together an alright little peace.
This is FREE? Flinders Ranges. Ep.46 - Free Camping Roadtrip Australia
We headed straight to the Flinders Ranges after our stay at The Grampians. It took us a good 3 days of driving to get to the start of the Flinders and that included a massive shop in Adelaide! We filled up with groceries????, fuel, gas, bits & bobs etc, because after the Flinders we were heading straight up the Oodnatta track - so Adelaide was our last major restock point before we reach Alice Springs! ⛽️
Our first official night in the Flinders we stayed at Quorn Caravan Park,. Since we had done a massive food shop our caravan fridge was struggling to get down to temperature???? (as it was pretty much empty when we crossed the SA/VIC border & Amz had left it low on Tassie settings - whoops). We also wanted power so we could charge up the bulk of our electronics (all our batteries etc).
We had visited the information centre before checking in, so we had a good handful of maps????, to start planning what we wanted to see! Having a low-key night getting ready to tackle the Flinders Ranges! The next morning we got up early and tackled the nearby Dutchmans Stern mountain hike. Was a great way to get the legs pumping ????????♀️????????after sitting down for three days of driving. The walk was relative moderate and we were up and back within two and a bit hours. We spotted plenty of Kangaroos and the noticeable different fauna about. ????
We then hitched up and headed north! On the journey up we stopped into the Kanyaka Ruins. A cluster of crumbled stone buildings which was once a bustling homestead????. The single palm-tree at the entrance was quite odd to see all the way out here. Next stop was the small town of Hawker, where we topped up with more diesel and fresh milk. ???? *hint* compare the fuel prices! We found it 10cents cheaper a litre at the mechanics, compared to the fuel station - only 50m away from each other!
Now deciding on where to stay in 'Flinders' was a tough one. After lots of deliberation we decided to spend 3 nights at the Rawnsley Park Station. Obviously with Rusty???? we couldn't stay at Wilpena Pound and were tossing up between Rawnsley, Willow Springs and Merna Mora. It cost us $27 a night unpowered at Rawnsley. It had great facilities, plenty of dog friendly walks around the station and great views of the Ranges from our campsite! So we were happy with our choice here.????
During our time here we saw;
- Arkaroo rock (aboriginal art)????
- Sacred canyon & engravings
- Wilpena Pound
- Cazneaux Tree????
- Bunyeroo/Brachina Road via Razorback lookout
- Moralana Scenic drive
- Hiked to Rawnsley Bluff and Wilpena pound lookout from Rawnsley Station????
We then moved to a FREE camp North; to [Parachilna Gorge 1]. There is plenty of room, situated along a dried up river bed and bank. We had no problems finding a level spot for our van with only a few other campers scattered around each night.
From here we saw;
- Glass gorge
- Drove through Blinman????
- Great wall of China
We also spent some much needed downtime at Parachilna. Relaxing and sorting out our gear before we tackle the Oodnatta track. ???? Kurt even found a mouse living in our car ???? we know right! It picked the most expensive place to nestle its home - inside of our drone case????. We can confirm the mouse was caught and is now calling Flinders Ranges home ????
Things we had on our list but didn't see/do this round;
- Skytrek 4x4 ($65 self drive adventure for 5-8hours)
- 'Feral platter' at the Prairie Hotel (emu, camel, kangaroo & goat)
- Blinman mine tour
- Trek up to Arkaroola Village
We were quite satisfied with the sights we saw and decided to save our $$$. ????
➡️To wrap it up Flinders Ranges as a whole was quite impressive. The ranges are spectacular up close and spread for kilometers on end. We saw plenty of wildlife driving around, an abundance of emu's, kangaroos, rabbits, goats, sheep, birds etc, the list goes on!
Personally we were a little underwhelmed???? with Wilpena Pound. I guess after being on the road for 12months we have seen a lot of natural wonders and were a bit disappointed with the much hyped Wilpena Pound overall. If your on a time restriction we would suggest to give sacred canyon & the Moralana scenic drive a miss. After seeing Arkaroo Rock & Bunyeroo/Brachina drive, these seemed a bit of a waste.
Our ⭐️favourite things were the Bunyeroo/Brachina drive, Kanyaka Ruins, Arkaroo Rock & the great wall of China. This was purely our personal opinions, so always do your research & ask around!
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Alligator Gorge, 4K Abigail and Ash
view from the top
Jacky gives us a 360 dern and gree view from the lookout at Worlds End Dutchman's Stern CP. You can see Port Augusta, the Stern and the vista to the north and west.