CEJ’s South Australian Bushwalking Website

menu_book picture_as_pdf book Chris Jones Resource Web Australia South Australia

Issue_13_October_2015-72

Mt Bryan from the eastChris Jones

It’s been over 15 years since I last walked the St Marys Peak loop in the Flinders Ranges National Park, but it is still the best walk that I have done in South Australia. It takes in a brief walk alongside a creek into Wilpena Pound, and a stroll through that giant amphitheatre. There is a moderate walk up to the lip of the Pound, and then a climb up a spur to the top of the peak.

CEJ’s South Australian Bushwalking WebsiteChris Jones

72 | BWA October 2015

From here you can see the Pound spread out beneath you, with the Elder Range beyond in the west, and the Flinders and ABC Ranges to the north. If you are lucky you will see wedge tail eagles and tourist planes circling below you.

From here the track descends the outside of the Pound. You need to use hands almost as much as feet for quite some distance until it gradually drops to the scrub below. Eventually you reach the camp site five or more hours after you left.

The walk is a great experience, and the colours of the hills and sky at different times of day are fantastic.

Another very scenic walk is on the Heysen Trail from Waitpinga Beach to Kings Beach. It takes in the popular surfing beach at Waitpinga, and continues along mostly cliff tops with great views of the ocean and the coast west of Victor Harbour. The walk is outstanding on a sunny day, and you may see whales from the cliffs during winter. See my blog post for more details.

While great, at about 24 kilometres return this walk is possibly a bit longer than many people will want to do. At 8 kilometres return, Kings Beach going west along the trail might suit many. This takes in some of the best scenery in this coastal section of the trail. The turn-around point is marked by a wonderfully placed picnic table facing west back along the coast. See here for more details.

For years I enjoyed day walks on short trails, but decided I would like to start day walks on sections of long-distance trails in the state. Yes, that means in many cases my walks are there and back again, but the different views and times of day usually keeps the return interesting.

The 54 kilometre Yurrebilla Trail in the Adelaide Hills from Belair Railway Station to Ambers Gully on the Torrens was my introduction to longer trails. It goes through Belair National Park, Brownhill Creek, Waite Arboretum, Cleland Conservation Park, Horsnell Gully Conservation Park, Morialta Conservation Park, and eventually Blackhill Conservation Park. Depending on desired walking time and fitness, it can be done in 5 to 10 trips.

The Lavender-Federation Trail goes from Murray Bridge past Truro and might eventually reach Clare. It goes through lots of farming areas, but also has a short walk along the Murray River, a wetland, and climbs to some hilltops with great views such as Mt Beevor. It also passes Monarto Zoo, so you can see giraffes and other exotic animals in the distance. I have done about one and a half stages of this walk in eight day walks.

I have also completed a respectable chunk of the Heysen Trail – from Cape Jervis to Melrose (except a section leading into the Wirrabara forest), and some miscellaneous bits in the Flinders Ranges National Park. So far it’s taken about 85 day or part day walks on the trail. Can I get the whole way with day walks? Unlikely, but fun to consider!

BWA October 2015 | 73

My blog is there to share some of my walks since about 2006. The home screen is an introduction to the site. There is a recent walks page; an all walks page; a short trails page; and also pages for each of my day walks on the Heysen, Yurrebilla, and Lavender-Federation trails. Select a walk to see track notes plus any available photos, maps, and links to related walks.

The blog started with just data and a few notes about each walk. It soon included a few select photos from walks, links to maps, and eventually tracks drawn using recorded GPX data in Google maps. Someday I might add a page for showing a random walk and a page for searching by region and keyword.

The site code is a hand-brewed monster of my own creation. For the technically minded, a PHP script operates on an XML database, generating pages that pull in HTML and pictures as required. PHP is a general-purpose scripting language great for web development. Pages allow mixing standard HTML and scripting that can easily read web page parameters, has good pattern matching, and works well with XML.

I hope people can get walk ideas from my blog for a weekend, day, or even an afternoon walk. They can “go to the hills”

or sample interesting sections of some of the longer trails in the region. Long distance walkers can get detailed information about some trail stages. South Australia has a surprisingly varied terrain – get out there and enjoy it!

Chris lives in suburban Adelaide. He considers himself lucky to have had a full time job in computers for over 25 years. At weekends he often wants to get away from screens and has long enjoyed outdoor activities including cricket, skiing, and walking. He has always preferred day walks both locally and on SA long distance trails.

Kings Beach - Waitpinga walkChris Jones

74 | BWA October 2015