Section 3: Six Impossible Things Before Breakfast

The trek from Quorn to Crystal Brook has been difficult, beautiful and graced by kindness, support and the benefits of excellent postal service. 

The seven days it has taken have felt closer to a fortnight with the first three days involving big climbs up and down Mount Brown and Mount Remarkable while also seeing us cover nearly 90 kilometres in distance.

We’ve also seen a significant change in the landscape as we move further away from the the desert and into a much less arid part of South Australia.

My thoughts upon crossing over into pastoral country - looking almost like the English countryside - was that it felt like stepping out of a Heysen landscape and into a Constable.

Leaving Quorn we hiked through Pichi  Richi Park, notable for its sweeping views and it’s incredibly rocky ground which required one to only intermittently enjoy the views so as to save one’s ankles. Regardless of the hazard, it is a beautiful place and provided a good challenge.

We had been blessed with good weather all day, however, the 1000m ascent over Mt Brown brought with it it’s own weather system and after 400m of climbing, we were hiking through the clouds which sat upon the Mount.

This provided a misty, eerie atmosphere which was great fun and a welcome distraction from the challenging climb.

As the summit grew closer, rain and wind set in making it bitterly cold and reducing visibility to 30m. Too cold to hang about on the summit for long, I did my best to follow some poorly placed blazes down a slope of wet rocks toward Catninga Shed where we were staying. 

I knew I wasn’t far but managed to lose the trail. The map on my phone was no help either as my fingers and phone screen where too damp to function! It was late in the day and I was losing light and needed to get to shelter.

Thankfully, a gust of wind blew some of the cloud clear for me to see a faint outline of the shed below. I stomped in soaked through to Sim getting a fire going in the shed’s pot-bellied stove. A good moment.

The weather that night was foul and we we fortunate to be under cover. The shed also had two bunks, one with a thick foam mattress to offset my leaky one. Once I’d dried off and eaten dinner I was in my bag and fast asleep.

It’s amazing how such rudimentary things like a warm, dry place to sleep take on such importance out here.

The following day dawned foggy and cold with the final throes of the storm still lingering about.

We had a big day ahead of us, having to hike 33.5km to Stony Creek. I pulled on my still-damp clothes - now also smelling of woodsmoke and shed and headed out into a pea soup morning.

Wet sheep kept me company as I walked up and down hills emerging to high rolling hilltops and Wilmington far away on the plains below. The wind was blowing fiercely and we had a quick lunch at Hawk’s Nest tank, ultimately descending to take a combination of roads, tracks along farm fences and finally the track to Stony Creek campsite. The campsite was tucked up against the foot of a tall hill with the ground covered in moss, making for a soft pitch and an excellent night’s sleep.

It was damp overnight but we had to climb and descend Mt Remarkable that day so I stowed my wet tent away and started the day with a steep climb over a ridge, down on to an access track with roller coaster undulations. The morning was constant climbing and descending and I was feeling it before we’d reached the outskirts Mt Remarkable. 

At this point I’d like to make an aside. The Heysen Trail has something of a masochistic nature. Wherever possible it will take the longest, hardest route between Point A and B probably to make sure you’re really embracing nature or suffering or whatever.

True to form, the trail took me deep down into a valley to make sure that climbing Mt Remarkable would be a ‘proper challenge’. Kudos trail, kudos.

The climb was actually pretty good, on track that would be familiar to anyone who has walked through the Mt Lofty Ranges. I had a change of heart about the trail at that moment, thinking that I had been too harsh in judging it.

Until I began my descent where the trail then mocked me for my naivety by having me traverse several kilometres of bastard rocks the size of railway ballast. There were some lovely views of Melrose far below in between the acrobatics and cursing.

Rolling into Melrose meant a hot shower and dinner at the pub. Such a great town and a real hub for mountain biking and hiking. Can’t wait to get back there.

We also had surprise visitors with my mate Lachlan and his kids Arlo, Fraser and Lindsey meeting us for dinner. It was great to see these guys and spend some time catching up on events and learning about their road trip to Wilpena.

The genius of the road trip is that Lachy’s wife was away for the week so he decided to clean the house, hitch up the caravan and take the boys touring so that the house was pristine for when Mum got back. 

The other reason I love Melrose is because my new air mattress arrived before we left meaning I no longer had to pump the old one up three times a night. I believe there’s now video of my joy at this momentous occasion circulating on the internet somewhere.

Thank you to Australia Post. You’re the real MVP.

So from Melrose we had a relatively short hike to Murray Town where we were met by the incredible Sabine Kloss and her partner Nick.

Sabine is the Brand and Philanthropy Manager for Diabetes SA and we have worked closely with her to set up the fundraising vehicle. She’s an amazing person and we’ve become incredibly fond of her.

Sabine and Nick not only brought us beers but prepared us a full charcuterie board and then proceeded to cook chicken, veggies and a full lamb roast in a campfire oven. It was spectacular.

As the night drew on a storm blew in and Sabine handed out blankets and Oodies to keep us warm while we sat under a tin roof around the portable campfire she and Nick had brought to cook dinner on.

Not content with this effort, Sabine then got up early to cook us a full breakfast before we set off for the day.

The  exceptional hospitality, incredible food and excellent conversation have made this one of my favourite trail memories so far. Truly above and beyond.

Thank you Sabine and Nick, you are wonderful humans.

From Murray Town our destination was the Go Kart Trak shelter with the trail taking us through fields, along back roads, through rolling plantation forest populated by herds of sheep and up onto Go Kart Trak which gave us views of Port Pirie way down on the plains below.

The next day was also spent hiking along the ridge via the Go Kart and Western Boundary Trak. This was a another day of ridge top roller coasters with lots of climbing and descending. I had anticipated an easy day given the relatively short distance but the Heysen Trail always has a swift kidney punch ready for the unprepared.

We passed by huge broadcast and mobile towers, and it was great to hike a part of the state that I’ve had my eye on every time I’ve driven to the Iron Triangle.

We arrived at Beetalo campsite around 3pm, setting up camp, doing our camp jobs and Finch even getting a fire going which we are our dinner by.

The wind was picking up as it got dark and we both retired to our tents to get warm and stay out of the elements. Not a great sleep due to the strong winds overnight but at least a cosy one.

The final day of Section 3 was a bucolic affair with green hills dotted with sheep and fields full of crops. It was very much a landscape terraformed in the English fashion and the well packed dirt roads made for good time.

Arriving in Crystal Brook marks the end of Section 3 and the end of the Flinders Ranges. Its exciting to be making progress but also bittersweet to be leaving behind such an iconic and beautiful part of South Australia.

My amazing in-laws, Dave and Jan met us in Crystal Brook having come up to recover items from the car crash a few weeks ago and to drop some things off for me. They were delightful as always and Sim and I thoroughly enjoyed dinner with them, hearing stories of their adventures in the Far North of SA and Dave’s visits to the Deutsches Museum with its fully working steam engine suspended from the roof.

Despite the challenges of this section, I couldn’t be happier with our progress. We set out to do a difficult thing on an ambitious timeframe and we absolutely got it done. We are getting faster at covering daily distances and more proficient at making camp and utilising our equipment.

An added bonus is that we are also consistently in mobile range so after the relative isolation of the first two sections, it’s been great to talk to our loved ones more regularly.

We’re also loving the catch ups with people on trail!

We have definitely found our groove and are making the most of it. Even though it’s a longer section, I’m excited for the trek from Crystal Brook to Burra and reaching the 500km mark and beyond.