Angela and Seema's Flinders Trek

Flinders Trek - Day five

Well today’s our last day on this tour, a few of us got up early and met at 6am for a brisk walk to see a bit of the sunrise before breakfast, it was probably only about 4 or 5 degrees but it was a nice way to start the day off.

After breakfast, we drove to Hawker for morning tea and then on to Alligator Gorge which is in a different part of the Mount Remarkable National Park to where we were on our first day and was about a 2-hour drive all up.  When we got there, we joined a couple of short walks together so that we were able to cover the Gorge, an area called the Narrows and a little detour to an area called the Terraces, all really beautiful and in total only about 4km and fairly easy.  A little rocky in places but easy enough to do without the walking poles and day packs which was a nice change.

After our walk we headed to the town of Melrose for lunch where Angela left the tour to go and spend a couple of days with family while the rest of the group continued on their drive back to Adelaide with a stop in Port Wakefield for an afternoon tea break and a chance to stretch the legs then on to a town called Wirrabara for a chance to see some beautiful silo art.

That’s pretty much the end of our trip, once we got back to Adelaide we went our separate ways, some were dropped off at the airport, some to hotels for one more night before going home and the locals were able to head home.  

We can thoroughly recommend visiting the Flinders Ranges, an absolutely beautiful part to the world, we were very lucky with the weather all the way through, perfect conditions for the walks.  There are hundreds of walks in the area, shorter or longer as well as easier or harder depending on what you would like to do.  The accommodation we had was fantastic, but there’s all kinds from camping to eco villas to choose from. 

If you would still like to make a donation to our fundraiser, you can do that via this link: www.doitforheart.org.au  and just in case you were wondering if you’d missed out, you can still buy wine until 10 June , the link for that is: https://prospectwines.com.au/product/heart-foundation-seema-and-angela/

Finally, we would like to say a massive thank you again to everyone who has supported and encouraged us both in many ways throughout the last 12 months, it has really made a massive difference to us and of course to the Heart Foundation.  We really appreciate all of your support.

Angela and Seema. 😊  ❤️

Flinders Trek - Day Four

First of all apologies for the delay in getting these posts up, internet connectivity is very sporadic around here so we haven’t always been able to get connectivity when we needed it in the evenings, especially if a lot of other people are using it. 

After breakfast, we headed out and made our first stop at Hucks lookout before driving for about an hour and a half to the town of Blinman where we had an early morning tea, some people had a highly recommended (by our guide) Miners Pasty which was a sausage roll at one end and apple pie at the other, as the ad says, a complete meal in pastry.  Then continued on to the starting point of our walk for today which was to the Blinman Pools.  This was classified as a medium – hard walk as although it wasn’t terribly steep it was very rocky under foot and there is a lot of shale and slate naturally occurring all through the Flinders Ranges but particularly here and could be quite slippery in places, a little bit of climbing was required but with a bit of help it wasn’t too bad. 

It was 5km to the pools but well worth the effort, was a beautiful little watering hole, we saw a lot of goats along the way and could hear lots of birds singing but couldn’t see them as they were too well camouflaged.  While we were at the pools a couple of people had a dip in the water, it was a little cool but invigorating we were told.

We had some lunch then had to make the 5km trek back to the bus, the walk is in a really nice valley with a dry riverbed (at the moment) and was a really pretty place to walk.  Though our feet were very tired and sore after all the walking we’d been doing, the return trip was still really pleasant and was nice to look up and about as you go.  Along the way, one of the guys in the group decided to move a rock and got a surprise when he discovered a yabby living underneath, who was not at all amused to have his house disturbed!!!  After playing with him we put him back and the rock gently back in its place and continued on our way.

Once we got back at the end of our walk, we sat down for a few minutes break and then got back on the bus to head home for a quick shower and a final dinner at a nice restaurant on the property as a group.

Tonight is sadly our last night at Rawnsley Park, tomorrow we head back to Adelaide and go our separate ways.

Flinders Trek - Day three

Today has been a very busy day, we started out at 7.30am as we have done every day and headed to a place called Brachina Gorge but made a couple of pitstops along the way.  Our first stop was to a lookout called Stokes Hill which looked towards the Elder Ranges.  There was a model of the Flinders Ranges to show a map with a bird’s eye view (including where we walked yesterday) which was cool to see.

As we continued on our way we came across a family of emus which was something I was really excited to see, they all decided to put on a show and cross the road right as we were driving, one darted in front of us like it was Road Runner being chased by Wile E Coyote!!  Continuing on, we saw some aboriginal artwork of the Adnyamathanha people (no idea how to pronounce that)!

Our final pitstop before our walk was to an information centre on the side of the road where we read about the history of the Flinders Ranges which was quite interesting.  Once we got to Brachina Gorge we headed off on an 8km walk.  Just as we arrived it had started to drizzle a little so once everyone had their raincoats on we headed off, it was a bit chilly and windy so colder than yesterday but once we started walking we were soon warm.  It was actually the perfect temperature and the little bit of rain we got made walking more comfortable.

Lots of opportunities to stop and take photos along the way and a few good group photos, we were walking through the Aroona valley where we saw the ABC ranges which has 26 mountain peaks hence the name and ABC are the subject of a famous painting by Hans Heyson.

Once we finished the walk, we had some lunch before heading off to see some Yellow Footed Rock Wallabies (Andu in the local aboriginal language).  The park rangers have a bounce back program which was introduced 25 years ago to protect these wallabies as they were an endangered species but have had great success bringing the numbers back up.

We also saw some Green Ring Mallee’s (parrot) flying around the area.  We then went on to see some Ediocara which are fossils of the first multi-cell organisms and then some Stromatolites which are fossils of the first single cell organisms, both dating back many hundreds of millions of years.

We had a very big day but it was amazing to see so many native animals in the wild, we have seen lots of Kangaroo’s, and sheep (no surprises there)! as well as a few eagles and a couple of goats (which are a pest in the area).  Hoping to get a few photos of some eagles before the trip finishes up, we’ll see how we go with that. 

Flinders Trek

Today we had our first full day in the Flinders Ranges and we did part of the famous Heysen trail which is actually about 1200km long but we only did 14 ish km today. 

After breakfast we packed our lunch for the day and some nibblies then headed off in the bus to the start point, we had a quick photo opportunity along the way then the bus got a flat tyre so that had to be changed over, a lot of the roads around here are graded but not bitumen or other, so there are a lot of little rocks to drive over, would need a small 4WD as a minimum to handle the road. 

Once we got going again we headed to the start of our walk which for the first 2.5km or so was uphill, over that time we ascended about 300m and was quite steep in some places so needed a few stops along the way for a break, we got to a place called Bridle Gap lookout for morning tea break and a sit down before continuing the rest of the way through Wilpena Pound to a homestead (no longer occupied) where sheep graziers used to live, and had some lunch.  We then continued on to a gift shop and information centre for afternoon tea.  In total from Morning tea to afternoon tea we covered approximately 10km but a more gentle descent.  We saw lots of kangaroos in the wild along the way, was hoping to see some Emu’s but haven’t seen any yet.

After a well deserved break, we headed back to our cabins for a break and some of us, including Seema and I took a helicopter flight over Wilpena Pound which was spectacular to see from the air, especially having just done one of the walks in the area.

We’re now back from the chopper ride and will go out to sit around the campfire for a while and then have some dinner.

Day one of our adventures

Greetings from the Flinders Ranges!!

Well here we are at last – 12 long months in the making.  😊

On Saturday we flew to Adelaide and had a nice lazy afternoon relaxing at the Himeji Japanese garden. On Sunday we had a day trip organized that took us on a tour of Adelaide city, out to Mt Lofty which looks out over the city and then on to Hahndorf, a gorgeous little German village in the Adelaide Hills that is well worth the visit, we only had two hours there but could easily have spent a whole day.  From there we went to two wineries in the McLaren Vale Wine region and sampled lots of yummy wines, finishing off with a delicious port!!  From there we went to Glenelg to see the sunset and back to Adelaide where we finally got to meet the people we’re doing the trek with in person and had dinner together.

This morning was an early start, breakfast at 6.30am and got all our gear on the bus and started driving towards the Flinders woohoo!! (approximately a 5 hour drive if you go straight there), we made a few stops along the way.   

We stopped for morning tea at Port Wakefield, then continued on to Mt Remarkable National Park at the southern end of the Flinders Ranges where we did an easy 2.5km trek called Davey’s Gully. We got some beautiful views of the ranges behind us and could see across St Vincent’s Gulf towards Whyalla in the Eyre Peninsula then back to the bus for lunch.

After that we continued our drive to the tiny town of Quorn famous for the Pichi Richi Railway, also where a lot of movies and TV shows have been made over the years, including ‘Rabbit Proof Fence’, Gallipoli, Wolf Creek 1 & 2, The Water Diviner to name a few.  Then we headed to Hawker for our last chance to purchase the all important wine and Chocolate before heading to our beautiful accommodation at Rawnsley Park and if you watch the TV show Travel Guides, they were here a couple of weeks ago there was an episode where they explored the Flinders Ranges and we’ve been fortunate enough to get our accommodation in the new cabins where they were staying.

We’re now off to a lovely 2 course gourmet BBQ dinner and then marshmallows by the campfire.

March 2022

March blog

Well we’ve had our two Bunnings BBQs now, and they were a great success!  Our first one, on Sunday 27 February was at Marsden Park Bunnings and unfortunately hampered by the threat of rain all day but we still managed to raise a healthy profit of $386 which we were very happy about considering the weather. 

Thankfully the constant rain we’d all been living through had finally stopped in time for our second BBQ which was in Penrith on 13 March, this time the sun was out all day, and it was perfect weather for a BBQ so we had a much more successful day with a fantastic profit of $1347.  We were constantly on the go all day and even ran out of bread at one stage!!  We couldn’t keep up with the demand which was a nice problem to have, albeit a little frustrating while waiting for more bread!  The longest 10 minutes of the day and it surprised me that people were prepared to wait until they were ready, but they were, which was nice.

A few little anecdotes from the days included, no food going to waste, if a sausage split or got burnt, we saved them for any dogs that came to visit with their owners!  Which they were very happy about!  🐶  We also had a drive thru sale which surprised us and added a bit of variety to our day.

The QR code Bunnings supplies for those who don’t have cash didn’t work in Penrith for some reason, not sure why, but never mind Osko to the rescue!!  We even taught a few people how to use Osko which they loved so that was a nice little added bonus.   In the end we had over $100 in Osko payments which was awesome!!   We had lots of return customers, apparently the smell was wafting through the shop, which we had no problems with as it attracted those who came in through a different entrance. 😁

Finally, we have to say a massive thank you to all our volunteers who either helped us out on one or both days or kindly contributed to our costs, it made such a difference and we’re very grateful. 😊  

Our next focus is on a wine fundraiser, if you’d like to buy some nice wine and support a good cause at the same time, please click on the link below  to bring up the order form where you can purchase some wine if you like.

https://prospectwines.com.au/product/heart-foundation-seema-and-angela/

January 2022

Firstly, a massive thank you to all those who have kindly donated to our fundraising efforts, at the time of writing we are almost one quarter of the way to reaching our $6000 goal.

Since our last blog, we had a couple of little glitches including my phone being out of action for a few weeks and on one occasion we couldn’t find each other at our designated meeting point, we were both there, just at different locations and unable to communicate as I didn’t have a phone!! 😖  Both worrying that something had happened to the other, we’ve had a few giggles about it since then. 🤣

Leading up to Christmas we got a couple more walks in around the Blacktown area and then over Christmas took a bit of a break.

In the new year we’ve already done a few walks around Glenbrook in the Blue Mountains National Park, for our first one we were going to do the Euroka Clearing walk but the weather wasn’t great so we decided to turn around before we got there to be on the safe side.  Hopefully we’ll get back there one day soon.  The following week we did the Jellybean pool, which turned out to be a really easy walk, again the weather wasn’t fabulous and we were trying to get from Jellybean pool to Blue pool, I was sure you could walk between the two but the track looked a bit hairy in a few places so not sure if we missed a turn off. 🤷‍♀️

Last Saturday, we did the ‘Red Hands Cave’ walk, our initial plan was to do the direct walk to, and from which should have taken approximately 2 hours return but we missed a turn off and ended up doing a slightly different walk which made it longer and a little harder, so it was a good mistake to make really, good for our training.  In the end we took about 4 ½ hours but along the way we stopped a lot for photos, taking in the environment and enjoying being in the outdoors.

We’re working on putting together a calendar of events, you’re welcome to join us if you’re interested.  As a way to help with our fundraising, if you would like to join us on one of our walks we do ask for a $25 donation per person, which of course goes straight to the Heart Foundation.  Tickets can be purchased through our Eventbrite booking tool.  (note for self – put link here).

We’re also planning a couple of Bunnings BBQs, one in Marsden Park and one in Penrith, dates to be confirmed.  We’ll let you know when once we have more details.  If you would be interested in volunteering some of your time to help out at one of the BBQ’s please let either Seema or myself know. 

What would also be really helpful is if you are able to help us out with contacts of people or companies who would be willing to donate the supplies needed for the BBQ’s, such as sausages, bread, sauces, drinks, serviettes etc again, please let either Seema or myself know.  The less expenses we incur, the faster we get to our fundraising target.

Another potential event we’re hoping to organize is a market stall selling Heart Foundation merchandise, if you would have the time to volunteer that would also be really appreciated.  When we have finalized dates for all of these events we’ll keep you informed.

Our first blog

Welcome to our first blog post and thanks for visiting this page.

Seema and I are both excited about our upcoming adventure and looking forward to getting to the Flinders Ranges next year.  In the meantime, we’ve got some training to do!!  So, to prepare, we’ll be going for walks every Saturday gradually building up the length, intensity, difficulty etc as well as breaking in new hiking boots and getting accustomed to carrying our day packs!!

Like everyone, thanks to lockdown, we had to put things on hold for a few months, so we’ve only just started our training and fundraising in earnest but have lots of plans to keep us busy for the next seven months until we head over to Flinders.

A week ago, we went to Windsor Downs Nature Reserve for our first walk, which was a nice flat, easy walk to get started and was great to get outside in the fresh air.  (It was also kind of exciting driving further than 5km from our houses to go somewhere)!  That was an adventure in itself!  Following the success of that, we agreed we’d meet up weekly to build momentum and get as much training as we can.

This weekend just gone; we went to Yarramundi Reserve with the intention of doing a good bushwalk, but I unfortunately had a wardrobe malfunction!  I wore my hiking boots for the first time in about 15-20 years and wanted to try them out to make sure they would still be good for the trek, we were walking on the beach part of the reserve, through a lot of sand and all of a sudden, I felt this weird weight in my shoe, lifted my foot to discover the sole had started coming apart from the bottom of the shoe and was flapping about and I could no longer walk properly.  I felt like a clown wearing shoes about six sizes too big due to the way I had to walk!  I wish I had a photo of it now but didn’t think of that at the time.  In a way I was glad it happened at the beginning of the walk, so we didn’t have far to go back but I would’ve preferred it happened after we got a walk in for the day.  When I got back to my car, I shook my foot, so I didn’t bring any sand into the car and the sole came off completely, so that was the end of that.

We haven’t discussed where we’re going this coming weekend, possibly back to Yarramundi for take two!  We’ll work something out.

Our plan is to update this blog about once a month leading up to the trek, as we get closer we might do more often and when we’re on the trek we’ll update it at the end of each day.  We’ll let you know what we’ve been up to since the last blog post and what our plans are for the next few weeks and any fundraising activities coming up, we’re madly brainstorming at the moment so we’ll keep you posted.  Now that things are opening up again, we might do one or two Bunnings BBQ’s in our local area.  When we firm up a few more ideas we’ll let you know.

Trek Flinders Ranges for Australian Hearts

We’ve taken on a challenge to Do it for Heart!

We are passionate about saving Australian Hearts and need your help to create change. That’s why we are fundraising for the Heart Foundation – and hope you’ll support us in this.

Heart disease remains Australia’s biggest killer, claiming 48 lives every day. Your donation will help the Heart Foundation to transform Australia’s heart health by:

• Funding life-changing heart research

• Supporting health professionals working to prevent, diagnose and treat heart disease

• Providing heart-healthy programs and resources for everyday Australians.

  
  
  

Please make a donation today, click the donate button. Every donation, big or small will help get us closer to our goal.

All donations over $2 are tax deductible and you’ll get a receipt by email as soon as you make your donation

Thank you for your support.