Day 200 - Hawker to north of Lyndhurst

What a place the Flinders Ranges are.  Today we braved the heat once again and headed north from Hawker to a few kilometres north of Lyndhurst, which is 205km north of Hawker.

231014 Sign on our trip north from Hawker

231014 Flinders Ranges north of Hawker

The mountains followed us a fair part of the way but as we approached Parachilna, the first town on the road, the outback plains started to appear.  The countryside deteriorated and saltbush and spinifex were the most common vegetation.  We did see a few sheep and a few brumbies and the compulsory emu with chicks.  

231014 Brumbies alongside the road - poor looking country

231014 A big brumby in excellent condition in spite of the poor looking country

231014 Plenty of these even in Lyndhurst - walking away as usual

Parachilna was really only a pub, the Prairie Pub, but it went some way to guide intrepid travellers to its door with a menu of "Flinders Feral Food" - emu, kangaroo and quandongs - and an inducement of "all day grazing".

231014 The town of Parachilna. Population? Our estimate 25

231014 Add for Prairie Hotel at Parachilna - kangaroo, emu, quandongs on the menu

The town of Leigh Creek popped up next.  This is a relatively new town built in the period 1979-1983 to replace the original town 13 km to the north.  The original town was replaced as the Leigh Creek Coal Mine expanded to mine the coal resource under the old town. Leigh Creek has a population of about 600.

231014 The Gnome - the little spot in bottom of the LH wheel

231014 Suburbia in Leigh Creek - a modern outback town 
and the only place with shade

The Leigh Creek Coal Mine has been operating since 1884 but open cut operations commenced in 1943.  The coal is now railed to the Thomas Playford and Northern Powers Stations in Port Augusta.  The mine is huge.  The overburden was obvious for at least 12 km alongside the roadway.  We could not access the mine.

231014 Overburden at Leigh Creek Mine

231014 Dark overburden at Leigh Creek Mine

231014 First water seen for days - in the vicinity of Leigh Creek Mine

231014 Second spot of water seen in days - everywhere else barren and dry

Lyndhurst was our next port of call.  It is an access point for Marree and the Birdsville Track and as well for the Strzelecki Track to Innamincka and Moomba.  We drove off the bitumen onto the gravel roads at the start of both these tracks and the roads were not good.  We did see some ochre cliffs on the road to Marree.  

231014 The start of the dirt road to Marree and then on to the Birdsville Track

231014 Ochre cliffs north of Lyndhurst 

231014  One of the tracks leading from Lyndhurst 

231014 Not that far away from the centre of Australia

231014 Dust all the way from Moomba

231014 We drove from the bitumen onto the dirt of the Strzelecki Track

We ceased our northern jaunt a few kilometres north of Lyndhurst. We had a sense of de ja vu as we drove southward to Hawker but the views were different so we were engaged with the countryside all the way.

Will we do the Strzelecki and Birdsville Tracks?  Maybe, maybe not.  The experience today exposed us to the harsh nature of the countryside and the risks associated with taking on such a challenge.

This completes our time in the Flinders Ranges and we value the experience.