MAWSON BIKE TRAIL: Flinders Ranges in the Outback region of South Australia
The picture postcard images of the majestic Flinders Ranges . . . A peaceful, timeless land offering the ideal retreat from the rigours of our often busy and chaotic life. There are various ways of exploring this living museum . . .
A laid back 4-wheel drive tour, tag-a-long or do it yourself . . . You can take in the views from horseback . . . Or set and even gentler pace on foot along the Heysen Trail. . . . or . . . you can see it this way . . .
This is part of the Mawson Trail - an 800 kilometre bike track which begins in Adelaide, traverses the Mount Lofty ranges and winds its way through the Flinders Ranges to the town of Blinman. The saddle of a mountain bike is not only an ideal way of experiencing the breathtaking landscape of the Flinders . . . it's also an ideal way of improving your fitness . . .
“So is this the sort of stuff that you do? I wouldn't normally ride in a creek bed because it's too hard!”.
Obviously the degree of difficulty varies depending on the geography . . . and the strength of the muscles in your legs! / your level of fitness!
The Mawson Trail takes riders along country roads, fire tracks and many unmade station access routes - into some of the more remote parts of the ranges.
It was developed by the office Department of Recreation, Sport and Racing with help from volunteers from the Adelaide Mountain Bike Club.
“It came out of an initiative not long after the Heysen Trail was formed, probably about 86, and they put in a trail for the bushwalkers so they wanted to put something together for the mountain bikers”.
It's fitting that the trail is named after Sir Douglas Mawson, one of Australia's greatest explorers, probably best known for his work in Antarctica.
His exploration of the great southern continent spanned more than two decades between 1907 and 1931. he and his various parties endured almost inhumane conditions to explore, map and study Antarctica.
Of all the places Sir Douglas Mawson travelled and explored - the Flinders Ranges was the place he returned to the most.
It's where his passion for geology began - he considered the Flinders a “giant open air classroom”.
“Well, Douglas Mawson would have had a field day out here . . . literally. He used to come out here with his geology students from Adelaide University on field trips and they'd examine the geology of the region. And over his career, he covered a lot of the territory from the Northern Flinders all the way to the Barrier range in Broken Hill”.
“He was very passionate with this area in particular wasn't he?”.
“Yeh, absolutely, He was very keen,... a bit of a contrast to the Antarctic... to this country though."
Certainly is, and a lot of contrasts on the Mawson Trail?
Absolutely, there's so many different riding experiences - you can be out the back of Burra and see for miles and then you can be in creek beds and dropping in and out of the gully's and through forests and tall pine plantations.
And I noticed before a few of the people were sort of heading off to the back gully's as well, that's a bit of fun. Absolutely, there's some real um fun sections of single track and up over ridges. Actually in the Forest they've got what they call a challenge loop, so if people are really keen on the day they do the leg across there, they can go out and do an extra couple of K's. There's some pretty tough riding up and down the Flinders Ranges.
You can hit the Mawson Trail anytime . . .
But during “The Year of the Outback”, thousands of cyclists will converge on the trail for “2002 Bicycles - An Outback Odyssey”.
There'll be a number of rides - ranging in degrees of difficulties and length, including the “Full Mawson” - a 13 day challenge from Adelaide to Wilpena.
Contact “Bicycle SA” for more details. Phone 61 (0)8 8411 0233
For any other info please email info@postcards-sa.com.au
