Heading to Flinders Ranges in September

[Mokman]

G'day all heading up to the Flinders in Sep with the family for a few days of R&R.
I haven't been up there in over 20 years, we are staying at Rawnsley Station will be doing day trips etc. and the obvious like wilpena pound but nothing too out there as taking the little fella but will post a trip report when return.
Everyone is pretty pumped to be going so that is good !

[Bob]

That is a great part of the Country. Hope you and the family have a great time.

[Stropp]

yes some really good country up there, my home town is Quorn.

[warner01]

I just got back from bendleby ranges in the lower flinders. loved it. youl have a great time up there. only downside is its never long enough and fuel is soooo expensive. take lots of pics for us computer travelers.

[Mokman]

Hey guys sorry for no replies for the last few weeks. Work has been bleeding me dry before I knocked off for holidays!

So just got back from the Flinders a few hours ago...... gotta say I am a twit for taking 20 years to get back up there! The place was amazing all had a great time and the little fella is hooked on the place (when not having stomping fits trying to swipe away flies (funny as hell to watch though!)). The folks up at Rawnsley Station were amazing full credit to those guys and a big thank you to them!.... now to the low down.
day 1: left our place late eg 11:30am from Marion SA had the GU all loaded up... mostly with the wifes cr@p, I mean really who needs a 60lt duffle bag and a 140lt half full bag of clothes! oh well I pulled out of the driveway shaking my head and thankful to be finally moving! reached Port Augusta @ 16:30 not too bad time considering stopped for lunch and toilet stops with the little fella leaking worse than a broken tap, filled up the LPG tank and I was pretty happy with consumption working out to 22.7 l/100 km considering the weight in the back and stuff up on the roof rack into a head wind!
Anyway finally got into Rawnsley @ 17:50 with the light fading fast paid for the site for 4 nights and proceeded to head out to the bush camping sites finally found a site well and truly on our own at the back of the station all on our lonesome which is what we were hoping for ( not trying to be unsociable but wanting to spend time as a family bonding and so the little fella didnt wander off annoying people who may not want to be disturbed). So as darkness approached first things first torches out chairs and fire wood unstrapped from the roof rack got the fire started and sat the little fella down to lay down the camp rules and what to do and not to do. Got the wife to chuck little fellas favourite food of snags in the trusty hot plate while I got the tent up . when once the tent and bedding was sorted I finally had a cold snag and some bread ( but atleast the coffee was hot) and taught Ryan songs he really loves row row row your boat! by this stage it was way past his bed time so got him to bed but he was a little frightened of the wind through the trees so we all went and hit the sack early hoping for a early rise. Around 4am one of the guy ropes snapped, so of course I am having to tie off a snapped rope to stop the tent from falling in on itself. It was annoying considering it was only a slight to moderate breeze!.
Day 2 : Woke up to the amazing sights and got the chance to see that we had actually camped up in a really good spot ( was prepared that in day light things might not have looked so good!) so got the fire started and breakky on. Got to looking at the tent to try and work out what had happened as it just clean snapped halfway along the rope no fraying or wear I expected as much as it is a tent I bought 18 months ago from anaconda and this is the first time it has been used. so after checking over the rest of the tent everything looked all good, I went onto setting up the rest of our campsite and Ryan was in charge of where everything went which was amusing and after a lot of negotiation we had finally something resembling a camp site after lunch we all went for a hike for a couple of hours there was plenty of wild life out and about and Ryan was amazed by the Emus as this was the first time he had seen one up close. finally spent the rest of the day mulling around the camp site and just taking in the views. The second night was a hoot! we had moderate wind gust of approx 30 km/h coming in from the north for most of the night and again the tent was not holding up this time the frame was buckling in the wind and collapsing the tent so at 2am I was back out side this time moved the Patrol between the wind and the tent while this improved things the tent was still buckling so in the end I tied the guy ropes to the roof rack and the bull bar and bob's your uncle we were all good again!
Day 3: woke up to some amazing scenes again fire on again with bacon and eggs on not long after (now this is camping!) so started working on the tent and still set up perfectly but the tent could not stay erect in a gust of breeze so after the morning breeze died down we went for a drive into hawker for lunch and then into Wilpena Pound as the the Wife and Ryan have never been before things are a little different there from what I remember but still an amazing place for a wonder around around 4pm the breeze was back so we decided to had back to the camp site before the tent became unstable again, once back at the site the tent was completely blown down by the stage I was furious as the wind was not that bad but my little fella was getting nervous about being in tents because of this so I reassured him that all was ok and told him if he wants he can sit in the Patrol and watch a movie on the tablet which he was happy to do. Well the tent recovery ended badly I got it up 3 times and each time the tent went right over from a different direction each time as the wind was changing direction every few minutes by this stage Ryan saw what was going on and was getting more upset by the minute so the decision was made to pull the pin as breeze was stiffening and I did not want the little fella being put off of camping for life over it! so packed up the camp site in record time and headed to the out laws who live in Crystal Brook. we arrived at their property a few hours later. I have to say I was really impressed with the ladies at Rawnsley Park when we dropped by to let them know that we were leaving due to equipment failure they were fantastic the proactively provided a full refund on the nights that we weren't staying and on the firewood we didn't use which we didn't ask for or expect!
to make things worse when dismantling the tent I found the tent poles were all bent out of shape .... from a breeze! so I am now in the market for a new tent.

But the good news is we all had a ball! And Ryan told me before dozing of to sleep tonight that he loved our camping holiday .. bless his cotton socks he nearly brought tears to his old mans eyes.

Photos will be up in the next couple of days cheers,
Dan

[growler2058]

I need to get back up to the Flinders.
Been waaaaay to long

[TPC]

Good write-up Mokman, Flinders really is a great place to go.
I have stayed at Rawnsley a couple of times and like you I found them great there and it is easy to find your own secluded spot.
Bugger about your troubles with the tent but good to here the little guy still enjoyed it, my kids have all grown up and moved out now but they still talk about how much they used to love our camping trips with them and now love taking their own kids camping.