Four days on the road and one day in the Flinders Ranges on my motorbike, May 2024

I headed off solo from Apollo Bay on the BMW R1200GS on a Tuesday morning in early May, fully prepared and feeling fine for two weeks on the road in South Australia. As planned, I rode 1150kms to Hawker in the Flinders Ranges in the first two days. But the onset of vertigo (which did not resolve in 24 hours) saw me back on the bike after two nights and one day in Hawker, heading for home in Apollo Bay. I covered 170kms in the Flinders Ranges on the Thursday, during which I achieved one goal of the trip which was to photograph a wedge-tailed eagle. I rode the 1150kms back home over the Friday and Saturday. I plan to complete my May 2024 SA tour as soon as possible.

I rode 2,468 in five days, and my motorbike now has 258,090kms on the clock. It is a late 2008 model which I first rode in early 2009. It has never come home on a truck and continues to run smoothly and reliably.

As day trips go this was a lot of effort for, as it turned out, one day in the Flinders Ranges. But it was a good day.

Winding up through the Otway Ranges in the early morning light.

L: avenue of trees in the main street of Camperdown, Victoria. R: avenue of eucalypts near Balmoral in Western Victoria.

Balmoral eucalypts disappearing into the vanishing point.

On the way from Murray Bridge to Hawker, early in the ride there is a winding road that climbs into the Adelaide hills. At the bottom of the climb is the small town of Palmer, and 10kms of winding road later is the next small town, Tungkillo. An exhilarating ride on dry bitumen with no cars and clear morning skies.

Approaching Tungkillo.

Angaston (bakery stop).

I rode the final 4kms into Burra with the instruments (the km range figure) telling me I had run the tank dry. But calculations revealed that after the indicated km range reaches zero, there is enough fuel in the tank for another 30kms. Rounded out, this gives a range to actual fuel exhaustion of about 340kms The GSA model variant of my GS has a 30 litre tank. My GS carries only 20 litres. Accordingly I carry a 5L jerry of fuel when going on long trips in remote areas.

Iconic South Australian rural scene.

Boiling the billy roadside near Orroroo.

The Flinders Ranges appeared on the horizon as the shadows lengthened and the country became drier.

Video

Arrival in Hawker with a sensible margin before last light. First stop was the servo, which is also the local grocery shop, hardware store, newsagent and information centre.

My accommodation in Hawker is always at the Outback Motel. Spacious, comfortable and reasonably priced. I have always secured a room here without booking ahead.

The Flinders Ranges east of the Outback Highway between Hawker and Leigh Creek.

The Flinders Ranges and the Outback Highway between Hawker and Leigh Creek.

Strong cloud street – joy for sailplane and hang glider pilots. Forced landing options in this area, less joyful.

I parked beside the road whenever I saw a wedge-tailed eagle in the vicinity. Most flew off as I dismounted.

But I was eventually rewarded with a sighting of this mature adult wedge-tailed eagle on the western side of the Flinders Ranges, between Hawker and Parachilna. This bird is the subject of the next post on this blog:

https://southernoceanblog.com/2024/05/18/wedge-tailed-eagle-flinders-ranges-south-australia-may-2024/

This was enough to make me want to break out the water colours.

Between the Outback Highway near Parachilna and the western end of the Parachilna Gorge is a 10km rifle-barrel straight dirt road. The GoPro was mounted on the top-box for this shot. This is a screen shot from the video immediately following.

Video

This video shows me leaving the Outback Highway and heading east towards the Parachilna Gorge. In my five day tour I was on the bike for just under 40 hours in total. Watch this if you want to try your hand at 3 minutes on a straight dirt road. I find the solitude very peaceful.

The view east towards the visible dip in the profile of the Flinders Ranges, which is where the Parachilna Creek winds down through the hills to the flatlands.

View of the bone-dry Parachilna Creek bed from the dirt road through the Gorge.

The corrugations and loose gravel and rocks on the road were best handled standing on the footpegs. Standing offers greater comfort and control on these dirt roads than the seated position.

Well-graded sections of the Parachilna Gorge road were comfortably ridden seated.

Blinman Bakery. Best Cornish pastie.

The sealed road which connects Blinman and Hawker is part of the Flinders Ranges Way. Hucks Lookout is on a ridge at the northern end of a wide valley that extends down past Wilpena Pound, Arkaroo Rock and Rawnsley Park station to Hawker. Just after passing Hucks Lookout this sealed road descends quite steeply to the valley floor with linked high-speed curves.

This photo and the one following were taken late in the day on the Friday – the first day of my two day return trip to Apollo Bay. These shots were taken between Tungkillo and Palmer.

Seems everything is photogenic in the golden hour.

Video

This video shows 4 minutes and 33 seconds of the five days I spent riding 2,468kms on various roads from Apollo Bay to the Flinders Ranges for a day then back to Apollo Bay. The video was mounted low on the bike which gives the illusion of a speed higher than my actual speed.

This May 2024 solo ride, was my ninth ride to the Flinders Ranges on the GS. The earlier rides were in August 2023 (with Hughbert), May 2023 (solo), August 2022 (solo), April 2022 (with Andrew), April 2021 (solo), May 2017 (with Noel), June 2015 (with Noel) and November 2009 (solo).