Friday 17 Oct, Hawker, South Australia – 15km to Jarvis Hill Lookout and back
Woke up feeling tired and a bit sorry for ourselves as we realised that to continue with our trip would be reckless. Yesterday ended well, but it definitely could have gotten a lot more serious – and Nigel really wasn’t in a good way.
We started the day with a big breakfast at the Flinders Food Co to cheer us up before contacting a transport company to get u slack to Adelaide. Adrian very generously offered to come to pick us up, but he had already done so much that we didn’t want to take advantage. We got hold of a transport company that could collect us on Sunday, so we would use the time in between to recover and just chill out.
We aren’t very good at that – so by 2pm we headed out walking – heading for Jarvis Hill lookout to give us views of the area. We soon realised it was too far to walk (14km round trip) so we returned to collect our bikes. Even then it was tough going with a very steep gravelly hill to climb to the car park to the start of the hike. We had to push our bikes up the hill as our legs didn’t have pedalling strength – even on unloaded bikes. Reflecting on yesterday we realise we both probably had a bit of heatstroke yesterday….not helped by the fact that we were wearing headnets to keep the incessant flies at bay. (What do these flies feast on when there are no humans around?!).
We parked our bikes in the car park and after a short rocky climb we made it to the Jarvis Hill lookout with stunning views of the surrounding Flinders range.
We even had a lovely conversation with an older couple who were also on the short hike to the lookout point – and they confirmed (not that we really needed it!) that the temperatures at the moment were unseasonably high and that we had made the right decision to abandon the rest of our cycling for safety reasons.
Back to base at the motel and a microwave dinner to use up our supplies before another early night. Still feeling pretty shattered.
Saturday 18 Oct, Hawker – Cradock – 50km
We had tried to organise a 4-Wheel drive tour or scenic flight tour to make use of our time before we leave tomorrow but everything was booked unfortunately – we were doing things last minute, so it was to be expected. But not wanting to waste the day and we were both feeling stronger so we decided to get the bikes out early and do a short trip before it got too hot. We got back on the Mawson Trail and cycled 25km to Cradock on a fairly flat gravel road – which was very enjoyable apart from the super annoying flies. Great scenery on a long flat road….
….lots of dead kangaroos, but equally plenty of moving blue tongue lizards…
We arrived in Cradock, which has nothing except for a pub – but has had a vibrant and interesting history, with lots of heritage signs to tell the stories.
Temperatures were starting to rise, so we only stayed a short while before cycling the 25km back to base. The return journey was a bit tougher as we had a head wind and it was a gradual incline most of the way, but compared to Thursday we had no problems. However we had reconciled our decision to quit the Mawson Trail as the heat was starting to feel unbearable again and we were glad to get into our air-conditioned room.
We had booked dinner at the local cafe/restaurant (the Flinders Food Co again) that evening – not expecting anything great but wanting a change from our motel room. But OMG – what a treat. Probably the best meal we have had in a long time…scallops and black pudding starters followed by kangaroo (on the right) and duck…
Not at all what we expected in the middle of nowhere – and when we got talking to the lady serving us, turns out she was the owner and her husband used to be the chef/owner of Badger & Co – a great restaurant in Edinburgh! It’s a small world when you start to talk to people!
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