The Mawson Trail is a
900km off-road cycle trail leading from Adelaide to Blinman, in the northern
Flinders Ranges, the highest town in South Australia. Most of the
route is on dirt tracks, along fire trails, forest tracks, and back
roads, through some of the most spectacular tourist regions of South
Australia, including the Adelaide Hills, Barossa Valley, Clare and
Gilbert valleys, and the Flinders Ranges.
This map shows an
overview of the route:
For this trip I was
accompanied by my good friend Martyn Colebrook, who travelled over
from Sydney bringing his bike on the plane with him. We both have
Giant Roam hybrids, mine has already been ridden thousands of
kilometers off-road, including Cairns to Cape York and along the Gibb
River Road so I had complete confidence in the ability of these tough
bikes to handle the rough terrain of the Mawson Trail.
We decided to cycle the
route in reverse, from Blinman back to Adelaide. There were several
reasons for this. Firstly we figured that since Blinman is the
highest town in South Australia, the journey would be more downhill
if we started from there. Secondly, the Flinders ranges are probably
the most scenic part of the route so it would be good to do this
section first – so that in the event of us not being able to
complete the whole route due to bad weather, mechanical breakdown, or
injury, at least we'd have experienced the best part of the route.
Thirdly – the only public transport to and from Blinman is a
freight bus which only makes the journey from Adelaide once per week.
If we rode up from Adelaide and timed our arrival in Blinman
(population 18) badly, we could end up having to wait several days
for the bus, in a very small town with nothing much to do.
So it was that we
booked one way tickets on the bus from Adelaide to Blinman,
departing on Wednesday 11th March 2015. The bus company
assured us that taking our bikes in the freight trailer would be no
problem.
Day 1 – Wednesday
11/3/15
The bus left Adelaide
promptly at 7am. Apart from Martyn and myself there were only 2 other
passengers. The journey to Parachilna, where the service terminated,
took about 8 and a half hours, including a few stops on the way for
refreshments and to unload freight.
The Genesis
Bus
Parachilna is a tiny
place which seems to consist of just an old outback pub, the Prairie
Hotel. We bought a few supplies there the set off down a dirt road
for the 32km journey to Blinman where we would join the Mawson Trail:
Parachilna –
the journey begins...
By the time we were
ready to start riding it was 4pm and the temperature had reached the
mid 30sC. The initial few kms were fairly flat but then there was a
fairly steady climb all the way to Blinman.
Half way there, we
stopped at the Angorichina Resort to cool down with an ice cream:
We reached Blinman
shortly after 6pm.
After checking into the
historic North Blinman Hotel, we took a short walk up Trig Hill to
watch the sunset:
It had been a long day
so after dinner at the hotel we got an early night's sleep.
Distance cycled today
32kms.
Day 2 - Thursday
12/3/15
The Mawson Trail starts
and finishes right outside the hotel where we'd stayed overnight. The first distinctive trail marker is shown here:
Nearby there's an
informative sign:
From Blinman to the
next available accommodation, at Wilpena Pound, should have been
64kms, which seemed a nice easy distance to cover on the first full cycling day of the tour. I'd anticipated that the trail would be well
signposted all the way, so didn't take the time to check the route maps carefully.
This proved to be a bad mistake. During this first day we missed 3
separate turns, all of which should have been signposted but weren't.
The result was that we ended up cycling almost 50 extra kilometers by the time we reached
Wilpena resort at 7pm that evening.
The trail
follows the tarmac Flinders Ranges Way for about 17km south of
Blinman. Unfortunately the turnoff, along a dirt track, is poorly
signposted so we missed it, overshooting by about 5kms before we
realised our error.
The going soon
became rough,, and it wasn't long before we both had punctures.
Fortunately we had several spare tubes, and plenty of patches.
We soon became used to
seeing kangaroos, and the occasional emu. The scenery
became more dramatic as we approached Wilpena Pound:
Although the route
crossed many creeks, all were completely dry, unsurprisingly at this
time of year. Having ridden so much further than originally planned,
our water supplies were dwindling fast and it was a relief to find
this rain water tank at the Acraman campground:
We were so preoccupied
with trying to find our way to Wilpena Resort that we forgot about
stopping for lunch, so when we did eventually arrive we were very
hungry. Fortunately the kitchen was still open so we did manage to
get a good dinner.
Wilpena Resort
Distance today 113kms,
total so far 145kms.
Day 3 – Friday
13/3/15
We started the day with
a 5km rollercoaster ride along a very rocky walking track, to begin
the climb up St Mary's Peak, at 1171m the highest point in South
Australia. It was very hot and the climb proved to be quite a good
workout:
Eventually we made it
to the summit:
Returning to the resort
at 2.30pm to find the restaurant closed, and a very poor selection of
food available in the shop, we set off for Hawker, the next town
along the route. We took our first shortcut away from the Mawson
Trail here, and rode the 55kms to Hawker along the Flinders Ranges
Way, rather than the 122kms it would have been along the Trail. If we
had had camping equipment with us, and more time available, it would have
been great to follow the Trail back up north in a big loop around
Wilpena Pound, but we had to be back in Adelaide in a week's time,
and we'd made the decision not to bring tents with us.
It was a very fast ride
to Hawker along the highway, with a brief stop at this scenic lookout
over the Arkaba mountain range:
- and we arrived at
the Hawker Hotel in good time for dinner. The menu consisted only of
pizzas, but fortunately they were pretty good.
Hawker Hotel
Distance today 66kms,
total so far 211kms
Day 4 – Saturday
14/3/15
From Hawker the trail
headed south east along a graded dirt road, through remote outback
country. The only settlement we passed through all day was Cradock
(population 8) 25km from Hawker, which has a pub and a few houses, but no shop.
Fortunately we were able to persuade the pub landlord to open up somewhat
earlier than usual so we could buy some more water to last us the
remaining 85kms to Quorn.
We weren't fooled by
this sign outside the hotel, you would be very unlikely to encounter
crocs this far inland:
Having learnt not to
rely too heavily on the trail signage, we referred to the maps at
frequent intervals and managed not to take any wrong turns all day.
Despite a sign clearly posted in this picture, it shows that the
track isn't particularly well defined in some parts:
There were various
remnants of the old Ghan railway:
You used to see
abandoned cars like this all over the outback, but they're a rare
sight now:
Quorn is an old railway
town, formerly an important junction on the north-south Old Ghan
railway and also the east-west route from Port Augusta to Broken
Hill. Many heritage buildings are to be found here including the
Railway Station:
-and four large old
hotels opposite
We stayed in one of
these, the Austral Hotel, and had an excellent dinner in Emily's
Bistro, a really nice restaurant in an old heritage building that was
formerly a general store, and which still has a working “flying
fox” cash and receipt transferral mechanism, something rarely seen
today. Crocodile followed by quandong pie - fantastic!
Distance today 110kms,
total so far 321kms
Day 5 – Sunday
15/3/15
The day began with a
steep climb across the southern Flinders Ranges, through the Richman
Gap. Getting to the top of this was cause for celebration:
After 40kms we reached
Wilmington where we stopped for lunch at the town's only hotel. Here
we met another cycle tourist, a Japanese who was travelling from
Darwin to Adelaide. His bike is visible in this picture. It was
heavily loaded with what seemed to be a lot of superfluous luggage;
Martyn and I both tried to lift it off the ground but couldn't, it
must have weighed over 60kg. He said he had broken 9 spokes so far, which was hardly surprising.
We suffered further
punctures that afternoon, due to widespread thorns, but the route was
fairly flat and easy to navigate. We arrived at Melrose, a pretty
town situated at the foot of Mount Remarkable, at around 4pm and
checked into the historic North Star Hotel:
Besides the
traditional accommodation in the stone building, this hotel featured
these very unusual cabins constructed on top of wrecked trucks:
We then set off to ride
up Mt Remarkable, along a track designated for walkers only. The
helpful owner of the nearby bike shop told us that it was difficult
and dangerous and that “we would probably break either ourselves or
our bikes” - needless to say that only encouraged us.
But it did prove a bit
too dangerous and after a couple of falls which could have resulted
in injury but fortunately didn't, we stopped climbing after about 2km
of the 10km track. There was still plenty of fun to be had from the
blast downhill though:
The owner of the North
Star was very friendly and hospitable and we enjoyed an excellent
dinner accompanied by wine from the local Belalie winery.
Melrose is a popular destination for mountain biking, which is celebrated in this sculpture.
Mt Remarkable is in the background:
Distance today 77kms,
total so far 398kms
Day 6 – Monday
16/3/15
We got off to a late
start, at 9.30 after Martyn's obligatory coffee at the bike shop, and
were faced with another steep climb out of Melrose. After about 30km
we entered the Wirrabarra forest where the going became very rough:
Lunch stop was at
Laura, where we sampled Golden North Ice Cream, the product which the
town is famous for. I wasn't really very impressed by it:
We found a great spot
for an afternoon rest:
The destination for the
day was Jamestown, about 5kms off the Mawson Trail, where we arrived
at 6.30pm. Accommodation was found at the Commercial Hotel.
Distance today 107kms,
total so far 505kms
Day 7 – Tuesday
17/3/15
Once back on the trail,
it wound through the Bundaleer Forest along a series of fire tracks,
then across open country where it was at times somewhat difficult to
follow:
Then the route followed
the Bundaleer Channels, a network of concrete – lined channels
feeding a large reservoir:
Yet another
puncture
Lunch was at Spalding,
where we were able to view the Barbed Wire museum in the town's only
hotel, certainly a high spot of the entire trip!
From Spalding the Mawson Trail
heads east in a big loop towards Hallett before turning back west and
south towards Burra. To save time we decided to cut off this loop and
headed directly to Burra via the sealed Goyder Highway, a fast
journey of 44kms which we covered in around 1hr 30mins despite a
fierce headwind.
Arriving at Burra, an
historic town formerly a significant copper mining centre, we checked
into the Burra Motor Inn then had a good dinner at the Burra Hotel.
Bridge over
Burra Creek – first water we'd seen in a long time
Burra Town Centre
Distance today 99kms,
total so far 604kms
Day 8 Wednesday 18/3/15
From Burra we rejoined
the Mawson Trail heading west towards Clare. A steep climb over the
Camel's Hump Range led to a great view over the Clare Valley:
After 40kms we reached
the town of Clare, where we stopped to buy some more innertubes. The
Mawson Trail then follows the Riesling Trail through the valley along
a disused rail corridor, passing close to many wineries. We limited
ourselves to stopping at just one, O'Leary Walker, which is in
a beautiful setting, and enjoyed a leisurely lunch:
From here it was
straight on down the former rail route, all the way to Riverton:
Accommodation, and a
good evening meal, were to be found at the Riverton Hotel:
This was probably
not a great place to have locked the bikes, but fortunately they were
still there the following morning:
Distance today 92kms,
total so far 696kms
Day 9 Thursday 19/3/15
The hotel didn't offer
breakfast but directed us to the cafe nearby which styled itself as a
“delicatessen”. However this had a very poor selection of food,
so it wasn't a great start to the day.
Leaving Riverton we had
another big climb, over the Light Range, then enjoyed a good downhill
into Kapunda where we stopped briefly to look at the historic mine
workings:
We were now in the
Barossa Valley and unable to resist sampling the grapes which hung
everywhere:
Passing through Tanunda
we stopped to admire the Barossa Bike Hub, a great public amenity for
cyclists, offering maintenance tools, bike lockers, spares, and cycle
hire:
Lunch was another
leisurely affair, at the Jacob's Creek winery:
Martyn had to be back
in Adelaide by the end of the day, as he was flying back to Sydney
the next day. So we decided that we would finish our ride in Gawler and
then take the train back to Adelaide from there. Thus we missed out
on the last 100km of the Mawson Trail as it loops east around the Adelaide
Hills.
The route from Tanunda
to Gawler is along a well surfaced bike path:
We arrived in Gawler
around 6pm, had a celebratory drink there to mark the end of the
ride, then caught the train back to Adelaide, arriving an hour later.
Distance today 99kms,
journey total 795kms.
It was a very enjoyable
trip and I can thoroughly recommend the Mawson Trail to anyone who
wants a varied, scenic cycle touring experience. The route has been
well devised to give maximum exposure to great countryside, virtually
all of it being away from traffic-bearing roads. There are plenty of
towns along the route and hotel accommodation is easily available,
although for those willing to carry a tent there are many camping
sites available. You need a rugged bike capable of taking some
punishment, and front suspension is highly recommended, but a full-on
mountain bike certainly isn't essential, our Giant Roam hybrids coped
perfectly well. Apart from a few punctures we had no problems with
the bikes.
It would have been
great if we'd had a bit more time so we could have done the whole
route without any shortcuts, and also one or two rest days along the
way would have been welcome, as there were many places we'd have
liked to spend more time in. Instead of taking just 8 days from
Blinman to Adelaide, if I were doing the ride again I would probably
allow 2 weeks.
The signage along the
route could do with some improvement, the further away from Adelaide
the worse it gets. Some of the route is a bit hard to follow and
there were places where I had to rely on my phone GPS to relate our
position to where we were on the maps, but we managed not to get lost
at any stage of the journey.
It was a bit of a shame
that we didn't encounter any other cyclists, or walkers, along the
entire length of the Mawson Trail, apart from a few joggers on the
Riesling Trail section through the Clare Valley. It's a world-class
cycling resource and really deserves to get more use. Maybe the high
temperatures puts people off riding it in the summer months;
certainly January and February would be too hot to ride it but by mid
March it was okay. It would not be a pleasant experience in wet
weather as most of the tracks would rapidly turn into deep mud. So
I think it's preferable to ride it during the dry summer and be prepared to put up
with the heat, rather than to risk encountering heavy rain at other times of
the year.
Thanks for reading this
far. If you have any comments or questions they are most welcome. I'm
happy to report that Martyn has now got the cycle touring bug so
maybe we will go on another trip soon!
