Catchya at Copley!*

We leaped from the car and hit the ground running as a convoy of 4WDs pulled into the car park behind us. Car doors slammed. They were gaining on us, but we were still a few vital seconds ahead as we slid through the door and reached the counter first.

And that’s exactly where I needed to be to score one of the Quandong Café’s legendary quandong pies this late in the day.

Play fair? No way! Because if I missed out, things would’ve gotten UGLY. So as the wave of humanity washed up around me, I deployed my secret weapon.

That’s what ‘elbows’ are for, right?’

540 km (336 miles) north of Adelaide and deep in the South Australian Outback isn’t where you’d normally expect to find an oasis of civilisation.  After all, it’s the driest place in the driest state of the driest continent on earth

But the small town of Copley is no ordinary place. The Copley Caravan Park managers (and café owners!) made it easy to base ourselves there for a few days to discover its hidden secrets.  Like us, you might just find that the longer you stay, the longer you WANT to stay!

Not just to sample those fine quandong pies again. Or check out the array of Outback Scenic Loos!

Here’s a few of my favourite Copley things to do in a handy 4-9 Day itinerary.  Look out for the *STAY Another Day! signs for optional extra days if you’d like to extend your stay!

You’re welcome!!

Day 1: Explore Copley

Aroona Dam Sanctuary

I never saw the ‘before’ picture.

Back in the 1990’s, a 200+ person community project turned 44 km² of once-degraded bushland around the 5000 megalitre Aroona Dam into a Sanctuary. So now all you’ll see is the ‘after’ picture – the stunning scenery of the northern Flinders Ranges AND a scenic Aussie Loo!

All this makes the sanctuary a cool place to hang out, have a picnic, take a walk and spot the wildflowers. If you get lucky, you could also spot one of the yellow-footed rock wallabies reintroduced into the area.

The Retention Dam

It’s a tough choice between fishing and bird-watching so at the Retention Dam just out of town heading north.  So it’s just as well you can do BOTH.

Or neither!

Climb Flat Top

It’s big. It’s RED. It’s just out of town – and visible from pretty much everywhere in Copley. And if you can’t work out what the locals call a small mountain with its top sliced off, you’re just not trying.

Welcome to Flat Top (see photo above). There’s no marked walking track, but don’t let that stop you – the views from the top are sensational! Not that energetic? Walk around below it. Not THAT energetic? Sit out the front of the cafe and watch everyone else walking up or around it!!

Find the Head

To really experience the environment in which towns like this survive, drive up into the ranges west of Copley.

Better still, stop the car and take a walk along these remote country roads.

Expect a surprising array of wildflowers (in season), a starkly beautiful Outback landscape full of amazing colour, and a different perspective of Copley from the lookout point high above.

And the HEAD. But only if you get REALLY lucky

Day 2: THREE Iconic Aussie Tracks in ONE DAY!

Yes, you CAN drive the Strzelecki, Birdsville and Oodnadatta tracks in a day. And you don’t need a special rig, or even a 4WD to do it!

No, REALLY – as long as you don’t expect to actually drive the full length of each track, that is! But you can visit each starting point, and you can easily do it in one day from Copley.

AND see a lot of other great Outback attractions along the way.

Lyndhurst

Just 33 km north of Copley, you’ll find a bush philosopher’s gallery, an unexpected lake and famous bushranger Captain Starlight’s legacy.  They’re all wrapped up in the tiny town of Lyndhurst.

Drive out onto the Strzelecki Track’s tyre-shredding rock and stone ‘road’.  You’re now on the original route Harry Readford – aka Captain Starlight – used to drive 1000 stolen cattle from Queensland to Lyndhurst.

MORE about Lyndhurst and the Ochre Pits HERE

PS Don’t miss the scenic public loo!

Ochre Pits

Want a great sunset shot?

Then leave the Ochre Pits a few kilometres north of Lyndhurst for the return trip to Copley. The late afternoon sun makes the amazing colours of this Indigenous heritage site glow.  Like this.

Farina – The Back-of-Beyond Bakery

I couldn’t believe my luck when I saw the ‘Bakery Now Baking’ sign on the side of the dusty road just 24 km north of Lyndhurst. It HAD to be an antique. Didn’t it?

Actually, no. You CAN combine outback travel with FAAAAABULOUS food!

How? Because in an astonishingly civilised move by the Farina Restoration Society, Farina’s derelict Bakery was the first building in this historic ghost town to be reconstructed. Now it operates for around 8 weeks a year raising funds to restore more of the Farina historic site.

Wander the open air museum, strolling the walking tracks or visiting the campground’s scenic loo combined with awesome goods baked on the premises.  That’s a killer way to make history fun.

And it’s all the better for knowing my significant personal contribution to the bakery fundraiser will account for a LOT more upgrades!!

MORE about Farina Bakery HERE

*STAY Another Day – Day #5! Return to Farina and book the 3-4 hour Farina Springs tour.  Travel in the Farina Station 4WD or Tag-along – the bakery will still be there when you get back!

Marree and the Postal Delivery Route from Hell

If you can tear yourself away from the fleshpots of Farina and drive another 45 km up the road, you’ll find remote outback town Marree.  It’s at the end of the Old Ghan railway line and start of the legendary Birdsville and Oodnadatta tracks.

Actually, ‘legend’ is a word that’s used a lot around Marree.

Especially about Tom Kruse, the (legendary) outback mailman.  His (legendary) adventures delivering mail along the 517 km of rocks, sand dunes and gibbers that make up the (legendary) Birdsville track in his (legendary) Leyland Badger Truck were immortalised in a (legendary) movie “The Back of Beyond”.

Experience the legend yourself, at least for a few minutes. Drive a short way along the Oodnadatta and Birdsville tracks which, together with Lyndhurst’s Strzelecki, mean you’ve travelled on three legendary Aussie roads.

In ONE DAY!

MORE about Marree HERE

Now all you have to do is drive back to Copley. The setting sun should be lighting up the Ochre Pits right around now

*STAY Another Day – Day #6! Drive back to Marree, then have a longer experience on the Birdsville Track and drive about 50 km to Clayton Station.

*STAY Another Day – Day #7! Alternatively, take a drive on Witchellina Nature Reserve. Three 4WD nature drives show you the rugged outback at its best.

Day 3: Wilderness Adventure

Saying Arkaroola Wilderness Sanctuary is an eco-adventure wonderland is a bit like saying Uluru is quite a big rock.

There are the painted hills surrounding the tourist village and stunningly scenic hikes through amazing gorges and chasms.  Super-challenging 4WD tracks through wild mountain ranges and historic sites and astronomical marvels courtesy of unpolluted skies.  Arkaroola is a total outdoor adventure package surrounded by the best collection of geological marvels in Australia.

Yes, it’d take more than just a day trip to see all THAT!

But if you want to see the very BEST of Arkaroola and you’ve only got a day to spare, then book in to the AMAZING Ridge-top Tour.  It’s a 4.5 hour drive to Sillers Lookout through rugged ranges on rough tracks in a purpose built 4WD tour vehicle. Be warned though – to do this in a day, you’ll have to leave early to get there in time! But it’s SO worth it!

MORE about Arkaroola’s Ridge-top Tour HERE!

Luckily, Arkaroola has its own campground with powered and unpowered sites. But if your rig’s not up to the 130 km all-weather dirt road east of Copley, leave it at the Copley Caravan Park and stay in one of the lodges or cabins. And if your vehicle isn’t up to it, leave that at Copley as well and hire a 4WD!

MORE about Arkaroola HERE

*STAY Another Day – Day 8! The road to Arkaroola can be an interesting day trip in itself.  There are Indigenous Cultural tours run by the local Adnyamathanha people at Iga Warta, Italowie Gorge walking trail and picnic area, views over Lake Frome and Grindells Hut in the Gammon Ranges.

Day 4: History and Heritage

As we sped, bouncing and bumping over a stretch of road so rocky I was practically levitating, I felt grateful for just one thing.

Praise be we weren’t travelling in OUR car!

But our travelling companion’s 4WD managed the drive south of Copley without mishap. As we drove a network of dirt tracks through the stunning northern Flinders Ranges, we explored some significant sites in South Australia’s colonial history.

Puttapa Gap

You won’t see anything much just driving through the gap where the old Transcontinental Railway line once ran through the ranges en route to Beltana.

Stop the car and discover some of the old structures around the rock cutting and the classic outback country through which it once ran.

Beltana

Shifting the railway line a few kilometres away was the end of the viability of State Heritage Area town Beltana, built in 1870. The town is still inhabited, but an interpretive trail leads past some of the remaining building ruins.  These include the old Dunesk Mission building with links to the Rev. John Flynn, instrumental in founding the Royal Flying Doctor Service.

Sliding Rock

22 km further on along that rocky stretch of road above is the ruins of a copper ore mine at Sliding Rock.  It’s got the only combination loo/visitor information depot I’ve EVER seen in OZ!

This remote State Heritage listed site with its duelling chimneys – one round (Cornish) and one square (Welsh) – hunks of copper ore and picturesque setting is a great place to explore.

*STAY Another Day – Day 9! Return to Sliding Rock and keep going to the privately owned Warraweena Conservation Park with its own campground and series of self-drive 4WD tracks.

SO … with its amazing array natural attractions, small towns, historic sites, hikes, self-drive tours, wildflowers, scenic loos AND the opportunity for Bakery mega-overload, Copley just might be the ultimate accessible Outback destination!

FAST FACTS

• Where:  Copley is 540 km (336 miles) north of Adelaide in the Northern Flinders Ranges
• Stay:  Copley Caravan Park, or nearby Leigh Creek Caravan Park.  Other campgrounds are at Lyndhurst, Farina, Marree, Arkaroola, Warraweena
• When:  The best time to travel is from May to October when temperatures are cooler and more attractions are open
• How to get there:  Self Drive is the best option.

Want MORE?

• Copley Caravan Park
• South Australia’s Outback
• MORE Copley Photos on Flickr

*The phrase “Catchya at Copley” is from the excellent tourist brochure produced by the Copley Caravan Park.

The post Catchya at Copley! Things to Do and See in Outback South Australia appeared first on Australia by Red Nomad OZ.

If you’re passing through Lyndhurst when nature calls, you can’t miss this little Outback Beauty – it’s right on the highway next to the Lyndhurst town sign. That’s how I knew it couldn’t possibly have been there back in 2013 when I first went to Lyndhurst.

So after crossing my legs for 25 km (15.5 miles) while driving back from my second trip to the awesome Farina bakery, I just HAD to stop.

And not just so I could check it and its classic outback setting out as a possible contender for my as yet unwritten second book of Aussie Loos with Views (read about the FIRST one HERE), either!

Aussie towns don’t come much smaller or more Outback than Lyndhurst. But that doesn’t mean there’s nothing to see – so if you’re stopping for a loo break, stay a bit longer and check out the other Lyndhurst attractions!

Like what? Like THESE!

Lyndhurst Personalities

Lyndhurst doesn’t need a Red Nomad OZ to put it on the map – it’s already got a pretty high per capita proportion of Aussie larrikins.

Like cattle duffer (read: bushranger) Harry Readford who drove 1000 head of stolen cattle from Longreach in Queensland through Lyndhurst to Marree in 1871, thus pioneering the modern day version of the Strzelecki Track. An amazing feat – not least to the jury at his trial who acquitted him, despite compelling evidence of his guilt. While he’s not from Lyndhurst, Harry certainly helped put it on the map, and his legend lives on in Captain Starlight – a character from classic Aussie novel ‘Robbery Under Arms’.

Modern day visitors won’t find Harry Readford, but they CAN find another legendary Aussie character at his talc sculpture gallery just out of town on the Innamincka Road.

Or not! For some unknown reason, Talc Alf wasn’t at his gallery the day we dropped by so you won’t hear from me whether or not his theories about the origins of the English alphabet are valid!

But as I’m possibly the only traveller to pass through Lyndhurst South Australia without meeting TA, you’ll find records of other encounters online. Click HERE for Dr Karl Kruszelnicki’s account of his encounter with Talc Alf!

And if TA’s nowhere in sight, meet a few locals at the Lyndhurst Hotel/Motel and Caravan Park or recently re-opened Roadhouse!

Railway History

Although the section of the Great Northern Railway aka ‘The Ghan’ that once made Lyndhurst an important freight centre no longer operates (a re-location 200 km (124 miles) to the west will do that!) some memorabilia remains.

And if you’re lucky enough to be travelling with a railway obsessive enthusiast, you’ll get to see it all!

If it’s not your lucky day, look out for the old siding and stock yards between the dunny and the pub, and the old track embankment and station sign out by Talc Alf’s gallery.

Once the town was established as the main railhead for stock transport, it soon expanded. But who needs a store and post office when summer temperatures regularly exceed 40° C (104° F)?

The pub is unlikely to have been built if not for the railway, but am I the only one to find the presence of the pub and absence of the railway ironic?

The Lake

A lake of this small size wouldn’t generally rate a mention anywhere else. But in a town with those killer temperatures – 46.3° C (115 F) on 6 Jan 2013 – I mentioned earlier? And an annual rainfall of around 232 mm (~9 inches)?

Down in a hollow behind near the old railway stock yards, the dam was a pleasant, albeit unexpected surprise. And all the more scenic for its dry and dusty setting!

The Strzelecki Track

To travel the Strzelecki Track, I’d need new tyres, spare parts, extra water, survival gear – actually, make that a whole new rig!

So even though driving this iconic Outback road-trip, once an Aboriginal trade trail, was off the agenda I still got a thrill from driving a little way (read: 1 km!) up the track.

The last fuel and facilities stop before Innamincka, nearly 500 km (310 miles) away, Lyndhurst’s position at the start (or is that the end?) of the Strzelecki Track makes it a scheduled stop for travellers from either up or down the track.

But with a surface like THIS (see above), just watch those tyres!

The Ochre Pits

The classic outback landscape around Lyndhurst can be stunning. But it’s at its most spectacular just 5 km (3 miles) north on the main highway at the Ochre Pits – especially in the late afternoon light.

Used for trade, ceremony, ornament, medicine, art and burial (according to the sign on site), ochre remains an important part of Aboriginal life and culture. Ochre from these pits was traded along what is now known as the Strzelecki Track – a route following the waterholes – meaning the site is protected under the Aboriginal Heritage Act.

I’d seen Ochre Pits before – but never one this big, or with so many colours.

And against that amazing blue South Australian winter sky?

Awesome! Take a break and experience Lyndhurst’s main attractions on your trip north to Marree and the Birdsville and Oodnadatta Tracks; South to the Flinders Ranges and Adelaide; or north-east along the Strzelecki Track to Innamincka!

FAST FACTS:

Where: 606 km (376 miles) north of Adelaide; 33 km (20.5 miles) north of nearest town Copley; and 80 km south of Marree.

When: Temperatures are very hot in summer (Dec-Feb) so travel is recommended for the cooler months

How to get there: Self-Drive. Lyndhurst South Australia has the last facilities before Innamincka, 500 km (310 miles) away up the Strzelecki Track.

Facilities: Food, Fuel, Accomodation, Camping facilities, Toilets, some supplies available from the Roadhouse and/or Lyndhurst Hotel. It’s also only 25 km north to the Farina ruins with its seasonal bakery!

Want MORE?

* Lyndhurst South Australia

* The Strzelecki Track

* Marree

* The Farina Bakery

* MORE Lyndhurst photos on Flickr

Oh! Nearly forgot. There’s one more thing to track down in Lyndhurst – its very own UFO!  Can YOU find it?

The post Larrikins, Landscapes and Loos! Lyndhurst South Australia appeared first on Australia by Red Nomad OZ.