Finally a creek crossing with water!   Our Aroona camp site view of the Heysen Range.

Two weeks earlier it was hard to believe that the roads were all closed due to the heavy rains they had received which had flooded the creeks and cut them through. There is no such things as bridges in these parts as most of the time they are dry and often even form the road itself. We only had one crossing that had any water but have been here before when things were really deep and flowing too. We camped again at Aroona Ruins as we like the nice shaded areas there and it is not as popular as other places around. We had the whole place to ourselves once again and saw a nice sunset and sunrise here.

           Hannigans Gap PAR trail.

There is a series of trails in the Flinders Ranges called PAR's ( Public Access Routes ) that started 10 years ago when we were last here. These are all on private land so you must respect the land owner and leave gates as you found them and not leave the marked tracks. You are allowed often to camp within 50 meters of a track but check up first. We had back then been one of the very first to ever do one and had to get a hand drawn map and follow a few ribbons tied to scrub to get to interesting sites. But now they are all on detailed maps that you can buy anywhere for 4wding in the Flinders Rangers.

50 kms long and 4 hrs to complete

The one we chose to do this time was Hannigans Gap PAR which runs north of Blinman. We had a little trouble finding the start as the sign had been removed. We double checked with our GPS but happened upon a station owner from a neighbouring property that was on the way to play a game of cricket. He said there was a sign there but someone had removed it but it was the right track. It is quite possible that it was by the owner of the property as he had since opened a paid trail that crossed this one so you see a similar area and wanted people to use that instead. The GPS point is 31°03'47.6"- 138°47'18.9" for the start off the Narrina Road.

Thank goodness I use a Treg 4wd hitch!

The track needs good ground clearance and wheel travel as the track has never seen a grader so is full of wash aways etc. It is not that hard just slow work as you have to keep the speed down at all times. The hardest section is if you drive up the track that leads to Hannigans Gap which runs up the creek for a lot of the way and climbs in and out  the steep banks. Might have been worse at the time when we were there as the creek had been flowing less than a couple of weeks earlier and no one had driven it yet. Unfortunately you are stopped just short of the gap and cannot even walk in but you do get a nice outlook along the way.

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