South Australia
Flinders Ranges Region
The Flinders Ranges abounds with wildlife from wedge-tailed eagles and emus to colourful parrots, and kangaroos ,which are all indigenous to this this area. Containing three national parks the Flinders are arguably one of Australia's most under-rated natural attractions. The Mid North has some of the richest agricultural and pastoral land in the state, with a valuable maritime and mining history , idyllic wine producing district and natural bushland adventures.

Northern Flinders
The Wilpena–Blinman road passes through a low group of hills, thin in timber but still swarming with euro wallabies, emus and galahs. Blinman comprises a few houses with well-tended gardens, three fuel pumps, and a hotel with log fires, games room, pool and campsite; the keys to everywhere else in town are kept at the bar. The main track winds west through beautiful Parachilna Gorge, in the middle of which you could stay at Angorichina’s Tourist Village. The track meets the Hawker-Marree road at Parachilna where you can sample some great food from a menu featuring almost all the area’s wild plants and animals at the Prairie Hotel.

According to the Adnyamathanha, coal was made by Yoolayoola the kingfisher man, who built fires at Leigh Creek, halfway between Hawker and Marree. Today 2.6 million tonnes of it are scooped out of the ground annually to be sent by rail and burnt at the ETSA power station in Port Augusta, and it is estimated it will run out in about 25 years. At a car park just off the road you can climb around an old dragline crane and look over the edge of an opencast mine; there are free tours daily (tel 08/8675 4210). Coalworkers live in the thoroughly well-planned and modern township of Leigh Creek South or at more traditional Copley, where it’s worth stopping at Tulloch’s Bush Bakery for a very civilized cappuccino and quandong pie. Fuel and camping sites are available at both towns.

The route into the Northern Flinders lies east, joining up with the direct road from Wilpena and then running north to the Gammon Ranges National Park and Arkaroola.

Flinders dreaming and geology
The almost tangible spirit of the Flinders Ranges is reflected in the wealth of Adnyamathanha (“hill people”) legends associated with them. Perhaps more obvious here than anywhere else in Australia is the connection between landscapes and Dreamtime stories, which recount how scenery was created by animal or human action – the distinction is often blurred. A central character is Akurra, a gigantic maned serpent (or serpents) who guards waterholes and formed the Flinders’ contours by wriggling north to drink dry the huge salt lakes Frome and Callabonna.

Ochre paintings are one type of art often encountered at sites, but there’s a more extensive, older tradition of engraving. Circles generally depict a campsite, with additional lines and rings representing stages in initiation rites.

You may well prefer the aboriginal legends to the complexities of geology illustrated on boards placed at intervals along the Brachina Gorge track, which explain how movements of the “Adelaide Geosyncline” brought about the changes in scenery over hundreds of millions of years.

Bushwalking
The Flinders are a bushwalker's dream. Intrepid and experienced walkers, family groups, day trippers, dawdlers and speedsters have a wide choice of walking trails. The best-known is the Heysen Trail, that long distance footpath of around 1,500 kilometres which begins at Cape Jervis in the south and ends its run in the Central Flinders Ranges.

It scales Mount Remarkable and Mount Brown in the southern ranges, then continues on its way north, past weathered rocks and steep ridges into the very centre of the ranges at Wilpena Pound. Here the trail passes into the Pound, past St. Marys Peak and on to the deep purpled sides of Aroona Valley. Finally it reaches for the Central Flinders area at Parachilna Gorge, its terminal.

The Heysen Trail is closed between December and April; in some areas this may vary according to the bushfire risk.

There are many other walking trails all over the ranges, varying in difficulty and duration. Most are well signposted. It should be remembered that much of the land in the Flinders Ranges is privately- owned and that therefore permission should be sought from the owners before beginning. The best time to go bushwalking in the Flinders Ranges is between May and October, when temperatures are mild.

Maps of the Heysen Trail can be purchased in sections from the State Information Centre, 25 Grenfell Street, Adelaide. Maps of other walking trails throughout the Flinders Ranges can be obtained from National Parks and Wildlife Ranger Headquarters or from tourist information offices.

Climate
The Flinders Ranges present a wide variety of climatic regions. As the wide variety of the plains north of Crystal Brook, the climate is temperate, with an annual rainfall of around 650 mm. Further north, conditions become progressively more arid, with average annual rainfalls between 250 and 350 mm. High temperatures around the upper 30oC are experienced at the height of summer.

Autumn, winter and spring are by far the best seasons to visit, in winter, daytime temperatures are generally mild, but the nights can be very cold.

The climate of the Mid North is temperate. Temperatures vary with the topography - on the coast, the range tends to be higher than on the region's eastern boundaries which border plains country. Some districts, such as the Clare Valley, can experience cooler weather in winter. Annual rainfall varies between 350mm and 500mm, with falls of around 600mm in isolated cases.

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