Mawson Trail

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 11^th 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!