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Flinders Ranges SA The best travel deals are in the bag

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Flinders Ranges National Parks & Wildlife
South Australia

Flinders Range National Park

92,746 hectares
Telephone (08) 8648 4244
The Flinders Ranges National Park occupies much of the central Flinders Ranges. It is an extremely popular park, and takes in rugged mountain scenery, peaceful timbered gorges, with plenty of wildlife, vegetation and history. Picture-perfect Edeowie and Brachina Gorges, Aroona and Bunyeroo valleys and stunning Wilpena Pound are the park's major attractions.

Wildlife can be seen everywhere in the park - wedge-tailed eagles, soaring above their rocky eyries rare yellow-footed rock wallabies making their way along ledges, western grey kangaroos grazing undisturbed and flocks of colourful birds swooping here and there.

With the right conditions, wildflowers burst onto the landscape around spring, transforming an already beautiful scene into a brilliant wilderness. Occasionally, such as at Aroona and in Wilpena Pound, you come across the ruins of a farmhouse or shed, silent reminders that this is a harsh, unforgiving land.

The park is a popular destination, ideal for bushwalking, photography, birdwatching, camping and sightseeing.

Gammon Ranges National Park

128,228 hectares
Telephone (08) 8648 4829
In the far north of the Flinders Ranges and west of Arkaroola, the Gammon Ranges National Park incorporates a rugged wilderness of mountains, gorges and inaccessible country. While there is plenty of wildlife in the park, many species take advantage of the difficult and inaccessible terrain; only experienced hikers should attempt to venture off the beaten track. A major highlight of the Gammon Ranges National Park is Italowie Gorge, where near-perpendicular cliff faces of red quartzite compete with the red river gums growing along the bed of the creek. Up higher, native pines fight for space in cracks in the rock and obtain their sustenance from the water that collects.

Camping is allowed in the park, but a permit must first be sought from the ranger headquarters at Balcanoona.

Conventional cars can be taken into the general area of the park; however, a four wheel drive is recommended if you want to leave the main road.

Mount Remarkable National Park

15,632 hectares
Telephone (08) 8634 7068
This park in the southern Flinders Ranges lies between the shores of Spencer Gulf and the mountainous regions surrounding Wilmington to the north and Melrose to the south. It incorporates a variety of topography, from the temperate lowlands along the gulf through the higher wheat country inland to the ranges themselves. A wide range of animals, birds and plants provides a good contrast, especially when coupled with the park's marvellous scenery.

One of the features is Mount Remarkable, named by explorer Edward John Eyre for its sheer precipitous drop. The small town of Melrose sits under its protective wing.

There are some excellent walking trails, some suited to fit bushwalkers, others to more sedate walkers wishing to explore the park.

Mount Remarkable has three main points of access - the him-off to Mambray Creek, forty five kilometres north of Port Pirie on Highway One; Alligator Gorge can be reached with a pretty drive commencing one kilometre south of Wilmington; and the Mount Remarkable section, directly behind Melrose, twenty four kilometres south of Wilmington.
Telephone (08) 8216 0000

Bushwalking in Flinders Ranges

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.

South Australian National Parks | Camping in South Australia

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