Having enjoyed the magnificent views of the Flinders ranges so much for the last few days we decided to continue our drive up through the ranges towards a tiny town called Blinman and then continue on down a dirt track running through a gorge to a place called Leigh Creek and hopefully a supermarket.
The drive certainly rewarded us with some breathtaking views and we slowly drove up the road stopping often to take in the vistas. On arriving at Blinman (population 23) we saw that the pub was full of travellers enjoying a beer in the sunshine and we quickly found out we could camp for the night right behind the pub. It didn’t take us long to decide to stop for a night and we set up and joined the other travellers for a beer and a delicious pie.
It was an interesting group who were at the pub, they were taking part in a rally for charity and had been having a great time driving down all the dirt tracks in the surrounding area. The rest of the travellers were also mostly planning on doing the same trip we were across the Oodnadatta track so it was nice to compare notes and plans. There is a definite sense of camaraderie with others doing the similar trips and while everyone was a little nervous the predominant emotion was definitely one of excitement!!
Our initial plan the next day was to relax and use the internet coverage to catch up on writing our blog but while our devices claimed to be receiving 4g internet nothing was working so we scrapped that plan and jumped in the Ute to go exploring.
We headed back down the road and turned down a dirt track towards Brachina Gorge. The road was pretty average so it was a good opportunity for us to practice driving on corrugated roads with potholes without the camper trailer in tow and by the end of the day we were feeling a lot more confident about driving in those conditions.
The gorge itself was spectacular and it was really special driving down it right along the river bed itself and again we took our time and stopped for lunch and thoroughly enjoyed our drive.
I really think this area needs further exploration at some point but at the moment the nights are just too cold. I’m fact we ended up spending our evenings in the pub nursing our drinks and staying warm while enjoying a Quandong pie. The quandong is local berry and the pie tasted a little bitter (similar to rhubarb) and was absolutely delicious. T