Lucien and Charles, Flinders 2022

Well we had such a good time yesterday that I forgot to do my blog! We wanted to ride a track called the Mt Gill track on Warreena station but, as is the pattern here, it is difficult to get hold of the owner to get permission. This is partly due to the fact that these are mostly working sheep stations lying in amongst national parks. Presumably the farmers are busy farming so don’t answer phone calls. Whatever the case we have no phone coverage and therefore couldn’t call anyway. So we rode the hour plus to get there which was pretty cool as it was mostly on quite rugged outback tracks with everything from sand to washouts to keep things interesting. On the way we pass through the near ghost town of Beltana which carries a good air of derelict about it (in keeping with many attempts at living in the outback ). A similar air of dereliction greeted us at Warreena station. Certainly no humans greeted us. So we buggered off back the way we came. As much fun in reverse. Lunch at Parachilna...

We have realised that the arctic front that swept the Flinders was the classic blessing in disguise. Many canceled bookings or went home and so it feels like we have had the Flinders to ourselves. Until tonight we were the only occupants of our the village and had taken to strolling around the grounds on our evening constitutional. We feel invaded by the 3 arrivals today.  The other thing is that the recent rain has left most of the creeks flowing and everything is sprouting into life. We are seeing a very unique Flinders and selfishly it has been delightful to have it almost to ourselves.  Today we started with Mt Samuel track. This is a purpose built 4wd track looping around the 2 Mt Samuels. Apparently two surveyors couldn’t agree. See the is Mt Samuel and Mt Samuel proper , next to it. What we can agree on is that it is the most awesome track. It undulates through bush in a most pleasing way, then a big hill climb through a saddle followed by a descent off the saddle into ...

Well the Flinders has played hard to get but today the wait was worthwhile. We woke early to a pleasantly crisp morning and clear blue skies. And hardly a breath of wind. Perfect riding conditions. We set off West from Angorichina and then turned onto Glass gorge road. It tracks along a dry river bed into the hills. Just a lovely way to start the day. From there we went to Nucculeena mine ruins (a theme in this part of the world). The double track there was delightful but I am not enlightened about the ruins. Like many ruins, the landscape consumes them in a pleasing way. From there we followed another delightful twin track that dipped in and out of a sandy creek which still had enough water flowing from the recent storms to deliver multiple pleasant little water splashes. Heavenly. Along the way we took a diversion to Patawarta gap. The track was again a delight, with more creek work and then some fun hills. It’s a dead end track so we got to enjoy it twice. Onwards towards the main r...

Today was a big milestone. We finally got the bikes off the ute. We only got to ride them 10 meters around the campground but progress has been made. We had hoped to do the Skytrek trail which was both the reason we stayed at Willow Spring originally and actually what drew us to the Flinders in the first place. It looks awesome on YouTube but I wouldn’t know as it is closed now for the remainder of our time here. We have been doing quite a bit of work on things like gratitude and appreciating what we have, rather than focusing on what we don’t have in the last few days. By yesterday afternoon we were happy simply to be dry and cold as the alternative was wet and cold. Mentally well equipped then for another test we were rewarded by being informed that Skytrek was not happening for us. I still struggle to find gratitude for this.  So instead of doing an epic trail we spent 3 hours packing our sodden campsite and driving 2 hours North to Angorichina. The plan was to camp here until w...