For an alternative holiday, why not try a station stay in South Australia’s Flinders Ranges, where you can make it as active and adventurous, or as slow and serene as you like.

Branching from the town of Hawker, a little over 380 kilometres from Adelaide, there are two roads to choose, The Outback Highway or Flinders Ranges Way, both of which will lead you to a number of stations stays, and all of them conveniently listed on the Station Stays SA accommodation guide and touring map.

Overall there are 27 stations listed with varying accommodation options and experiences to offer visitors. The first thing to be aware of when travelling in this area is to keep a very watchful eye out for kangaroos and emus roaming, leaping or running across the roads. This is a wildlife heavy area which is fantastic to see, provided you do see them in time.

On a recent caravan holiday to the Flinders, we tried a few different station stays, all with unique reasons to visit and stay a while.

Willow Springs Station

On the Flinders Ranges Way we stayed at Willow Springs Station which begins with an impressive 3 kilometre long driveway before you even make it to the office. There we were met with resident kangaroos watching us drive in, and soon after we settled in to our private campground with a flushing portaloo, picnic table and campfire ring.

Groups and individuals staying at Willow Springs are promised their own private, unpowered bush camping site which only you or your group have access to during your stay. Perfect. Once you’re set up you can choose to take a walk on the marked walking trails on this 70,000 acre property, or take a self-guided 4WD tour on their Skytrek track, a loop drive for the more adventurous 4WD enthusiasts which takes around 7 hours to complete.

While you’re staying at Willow Springs you also have access to a small camp kitchen and full ablution block including hot showers. They also have other accommodation options and 2WD access is also possible.

We chose to use Willow Springs as a base to explore more of the Flinders Ranges, which the hosts at Willow Springs give you plenty of great tips and information about.

For a taste of Flinders Ranges that anyone with a 4WD can tackle, take the turn off to Bunyeroo Gorge, around 10 kilometres south of Willow Springs and be prepared for some pretty spectacular scenery to unfold.  As you drive through the gorge trail, you will get incredible views of the Heysen Range and Wilpena Pound with a couple of lookouts along the way where you can take in the eye popping vistas.

 As you drive you’ll spot kangaroos and emus and then the first stop at Bunyeroo valley lookout. Park and take a short walk to this lookout, then just a short drive further on, is Razorback lookout. This gives an absolutely stunning view that you’ll want to spend some time taking in.  The drive is picturesque at every twist and turn and it crosses back and forth over creek beds, which is why you should check before attempting it after rains, in case the roads are impassable.

The scenery includes incredible rock faces, massive gum trees, and scenes which rival what you can see in the Northern Territory. Keep an eye out and if you are still and quiet, it’s even possible to spot yellow footed rock wallabies.

The Bunyeroo Gorge scenic drive runs into the Brachina Gorge trail which we continued on, before ending up on the Outback highway around 30 kilometres south of Parachilna.  A must do is to stop in at the Prairie hotel and try one of their own brews or stay for lunch and try the iconic feral mixed grill.

To round off this scenic trip, take the Parachilna Gorge drive, a distance of around 30 kilometres, which takes you back to the Flinders Ranges Way and into Blinman. This road condition can vary too, so it pays to check with locals before driving it. In Blinman another popular spot to stop at, is the North Blinman Hotel where their homemade pie and pint offer is too good to refuse.

In Blinman you can see an original pug and pine constructed house, take a mine tour and also visit Wadna, a gallery and shop featuring local Adnyamanthanha aboriginal works. On the drive south on the Flinders Ranges Way, stop to take in the amazing rock formation and views from Great Wall of China lookout and look for the turnoff to see the Appealina ruins.

Put on your itinerary for another day, to drive up to Stokes Hill lookout in the morning and you’ll see heaps of roos as you make your way up to the top of the hill. You’ll get a fantastic view of Wilpena Pound, and then as you head back south along Flinders Ranges Way, detour again to Hucks lookout for more majestic views which the morning light enables you to capture the best in photographs.

On the drive you’ll also see signs to look out for quolls but as yet I haven’t been lucky to see one ever in the wild.  The next stop to make is the Cazneaux tree, a tree famous thanks to the photography of Harold Cazneaux, which now also has an interpretive walking trail to follow, explaining his work of capturing the Australian landscape in photos, and the significance of the area.

Many of the Eucalyptus trees in the Flinders are spectacular as you can tell by the scale using our Landcruiser and a 6 foot 2 man for scale.

After a day of exploring the Flinders it’s good to be able to relax back at your private bush camp with a campfire and tales of your day’s events. Just don’t be surprised if you gain a few extra visitors as we did when a group of apostle birds swooped in en masse.  These surprising, medium sized grey birds are called apostle’s because of their habit of turning up in groups of 12 or more, which is a bit unsettling at first but they just winged in, searched around on the ground for food for a while then left as quickly as they’d arrived.

When you’re caravanning at a station in the Flinders, Hawker is an easy town to return to if you need to use a dump point and refill tanks with water. While you’re there, you can also support the town by buying fuel, groceries and enjoying great coffee and food in the Flinders Food Co café.

Edeowie Station

Our next stay was at Edeowie station, accessed off the Outback Highway, with another impressive entrance road with far reaching views to the western side of Wilpena Pound. As well as the stunning views, private bush camp (with shared long drop loos) and campfires, we also took advantage of taking a drive on the station’s 4WD track. Called the Bunyeroo 4WD loop it runs through the station property and they just ask you to radio them before you leave and on return, to ensure that it all went well.

The loop is around 23 kilometres and took us about 2 hours to complete, including photo stops and time spent looking at ruins. The drive isn’t available to take after rains as you do drive through a few creek beds. The drive was fun and challenging enough for 4WD enthusiasts, without being too challenging, so perfect for us.

Amongst the ruins to be found on this station are the incredible remains of the old Edeowie township, including the old hotel which is still a substantial ruin. Amazing stuff.

Merna Mora Station

The next station stay we tried was Merna Mora station, also accessible from The Outback Highway. As with a lot of the other stations, this one offers a caravan park with powered sites, non-powered sites and bush camping options.

We chose to bush camp and were pleasantly surprised that we could choose wherever we wanted to set up along the side of the Moralana Creek but we still had access to amenities, just a short walk over the dry creek bed. Luxury!

It’s very obvious that Merna Mora is a working sheep station and despite visitors the sheep roam freely through the camping areas, with lambs in tow. This would be a wonderful spot for a family with young kids to experience.

This was another station where campfires were welcome and we made the most of the clear star filled nights and panoramic daytime vistas to enjoy the serenity of an open fire, even cooking up a damper one afternoon.

Staying at Merna Mora you can also pay to drive on their designated 4WD tracks around the property, but it’s totally optional, and you can choose tracks according to your expertise and time wanted to spend.

Alternatively, you can take the Moralana scenic drive and be absolutely amazed at the amount of kangaroos and emus to see along the drive. This scenic drive was a highlight of our Flinders Ranges trip. This dirt road drive of around 26 kilometres one way, also goes between The Outback Highway and Flinders Ranges Way and was easy enough for even conventional vehicles to take.

The road goes through a part of Merna Mora Station and then through Arkaba Station, with terrific ranges views along the way as well as plenty of wildlife. It was a perfect way to finish our latest trip to the Flinders Ranges and on the following day as we left Merna Mora and thanked the station owner over the radio, for the chance to stay and share their beautiful part of the Flinders, he replied… ‘Glad you appreciated it, tell some of your mates’! So consider yourself told.

Go and experience the Flinders your way,

Glenys