ARKAROOLA - An epic 4x4 Adventure in outback South Australia | Vanlife Australia
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- Опубліковано 10 лют 2025
- Hey friends, in this episode we visit Arkaroola, and head out on an epic 4x4 adventure on the Ridge Top Tour. We stayed 3 days at the Arkaroola Wilderness Sanctuary, saw the endangered Yellow Footed Rock Wallabies, did a couple of awesome hikes, and even got out on the bikes to explore.
All this in a place we'd never even heard of before! Outback South Australia continues to amaze us, and we are really looking forward to exploring more.
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WHO ARE WE?
We are Nigel and Sue (NaS) Adventures, a couple of outdoor adventurers. We've been Overlanding Australia living in our self-converted 4x4 Sprinter van since January 2021. Join us as we visit the highlights, but also share some off the beaten path hidden gems, along with the day to day realities of living in a van.
Thank you so much to our supporters on Patreon - you can join the community here: www.patreon.co...
Keep up to date with our adventures on instagram at / nas_adventures
Or Facebook / nigelandsueadventures
Bushwalked in the sanctuary with special permission from Reg Sprigg back in 1980. Walked for three weeks, caching dry food and radiating from the cache. Did this three times from South to North, finishing on top of Ben Bonyathe and climbing down the Northern ridge. Fabulous country! Unforgettable bushwalks :-)
Great episode , thanks so much guys , love your work xx
Thanks for being here Lisa 🧡🧡
Arkaroola and Balcanoona truly big sky country. I travelled that exact same road from Leigh Creek in a western star fuel tanker supporting a B206 awesome video.
Another great episode . I toured the Flinders Ranges in 1978 on my bike with a 500cc engine . ( saves pedaling ) I rode all the tracks and was surprised when at the Arkaroola hot springs a bloke pulled up in a HT Kingswood with his family . The Kingswood was back in the camp ground that evening ... Who said you need a 4x4 to go exploring...
It’s such an amazing area isn’t it?
Thank you. This video is really good.
Glad you liked it! We loved Arkaroola, such an amazing hidden gem.
A great place to visit. Stones hanging from posts are usually attached to keep the post in the ground in a dip, where the post has little grip in poor holding ground. That’s my story. Cheers!
Yep I think it definitely had something to do with keeping the fence in place. We just couldn’t figure out why it was there in the first place!
That was great. Thanks! Can’t wait to go there one day.
Glad you enjoyed it. We hope you love Arkaroola as much as we did 😊
Well, that was definitely spectacular scenery. Very special. I can't say I've ever seen anything quite like it either. Great to be able to see it via your videos. Those wallaby's were special too. For some reason the clarity in this video seemed to be extra good. Maybe nothing has changed, I just really noticed how clear the videography was. I've always thought it was good, but something just stood out this time, so maybe it was just the scenery (unless you have a new camera). Thanks for the chance to see this beautiful area. 🤗💖
What sort of device are you watching on Lynne? The last 2 videos I’ve been able to upload in 4K, which is much higher resolution than normal. It’s just the files are very large so it’s hard to upload that hi res when we are on the road.
@@nigelandsueadventures I was watching on my MacBook Pro. I normally watch on my phone so that might have made a difference too.
@LynneCarey ah probably!!
Wow! Definitely spectacular. I would have been hanging on for dear life on the back of that 4x4!! Nigel is such a gentleman pushing your pushie up the hill 😀
I know. He’s a keeper isn’t he? I’m so lucky 🧡🧡
Lots of rocks hey :-)
What a truly majestically place! Sue, maybe walking poles may have helped with the steeper bits, but that loose surface sure looked troublesome! 😅
Hey Lee, I do have poles, I just forgot to take them! Bad move.
@@nigelandsueadventures l dont own a set Sue and should but sure needed my walking stick at Undarra Lava Caves
@@Lee-astrololee yeah that can be a bit sketchy getting down into those tubes!
Wow , what an incredible place, the scenery was absolutely amazing, and those wallabies…..so beautiful, never seen one before. Awesome vid.
They were really beautiful. We saw a couple on the 4x4 tour as well.
A great spot had never heard of it before , well done on the bike rides
Thanks 👍 we really need to get the bikes out more!
Good morning to both of you. Thanks for sharing and the work. It’s beautiful country but so barren,I guess that is what makes it so beautiful. The Patriot is well worth watching and I encourage all on your channel to see your videos 👏👏👍👍😘
Good morning Patrick, thank you for stopping by this morning. We missed you on the Patreon chat last night, hope to catch you in the next one.
@@nigelandsueadventures yes I did as well Thank you
OMG your videos are so informative thank you so much.
Glad you like them. Thanks so much for watching. Are you planning to visit this area?
We left our kettle outside overnight in June 2018 and it froze solid! Good video guys 👍
Oh my gosh! I hope you had a heater in your van.
Love ya shows gee u guys are having a good time touring around , travel safe 👍
Cheers David! Stick around, next week we show you the other side of travelling Australia, when things go wrong!
@@nigelandsueadventures 😮
Good afternoon, my boots have so much history 😁 I never knew that and I've been wearing his brand for age's, the wallaby are a beauty animal, cool colours, gosh they almost went into extinction but thanks to Reg Sprigg and the sanctuary, I was just reading about the Sprigg family and their journey "absolutely amazing" and those rocks hanging on the waratah's" might be anchors just incase it falls over 😂 these outback journeys you take are so breathtaking, thanks for taking us with you, until next time take care out there and enjoy✌🏼 🤠👍🏻
Yeah the Sprigg family have done a great job! Doug still does the wallaby welcome and drove the mini bus to the start of the Acacia Ridge Walk.
We absolutely love the outback, glad you’re enjoying following along 😊
@@nigelandsueadventures Oh wow that's great, I wondered if that was Doug in your video 'thanks for that 👍🏻
@@Megan7088-6 He's a character for sure.
Rode up the Mawson Trail to Blinman, then onwards to Arkaroola. Attempted to ride the Ridge Top road, but seemed to walk it than riding it lol 😂. Went out to the copper mines and smelter. Enjoyed the Observatory, gazing the Milky Way
Wow!! That would have been an epic ride. How many days?
@nigelandsueadventures about 3 weeks to Blinman, spent about 5 days in Wilpena Pound, climbed to the top of St Mary's Peak and traversed around some of the walks within the Pound, rode north through the Aroona Valley, Chambers Gorge to Blinman. Stayed in the Blinman pub and got invited to a celebration from a local station owners at the pub. Rode to Arkaroola, spent about a week there, met a guy camped there who had a mountain bike strapped to the bullbar of his 4wh drive, got him to riding it around the area. We both had interests in rock fossicking, so headed to malachite and azurite mines and checking out Bolla Bollana copper smelters. Talked Darren to riding along up and down the Ridge Top road, because we didn't wanted to spend the money on the tour. We didn't get all the way, but we certainly gave it a good try. We explored a uranium mine past Split Rock. So probably spent about a month all up.
We camped at Wilpena Pound and it was so so good.
We are really looking forward to heading to the Flinders Ranges. Our trip there got postponed as we had some problems with the van which we needed to head to Adelaide to sort out.
@@nigelandsueadventures bugger. Enjoy the trip when you can. We look forward to another visit
@brigittedossor8167 thanks! We are really looking forward to it
Great stuff love your work . question for you, is the drive from copley to arkaroola suited to 2020 rav4 do you think .
would depend on the road conditions at the time. When we drove it, I would have done it in my Kia Rio!
Actually these in fact all of the Flinders Rangers are a tenth of what they were at their peak. Fore example Saint Mary's Peak now is about 1160M above sea level so it was 11600m, Mount Everest is 11850m, just can't get enough of the Flinders, grew up in the area, moved away for work nearly 40years ago still miss seeing the ranges every day.
We absolutely loved the Flinders too. I’m not sure if you saw our video in the flinders Ranges, we actually did a huge detour to come back there as we had to bypass after our visit to Arkaroola.
@@nigelandsueadventures OOPs Mount Everest id 8850m. I will have to go back and find that episode.
Guys did you know that just outside of Arkaroola is Beverly uranium mine, right next to a National Park?
Yeah the guide talked a lot about the search for uranium back in the 50s and 60s, and how they didn’t find any in the hills but the first place they drilled on the flat lands… bingo. He didn’t mention Beverley particularly though.
You should watch our episode on Hiking Mt Bruce in WA to see how they carved that mine into the NP, it’s such an eyesore!
Great clip How much did the tour set you back ?
Thanks Gary. From memory it was $190 each. Not cheap, but well worth it.
You still didn't get night sky or sunrise or sunset or moon rise I dont know what do with two lol Still it alright vid🤠
sorry Kevin! We will do better next time. To be honest, it was way too cold to be outside, and we didn't even think of looking at the night sky. It was not full moon when we were there either. Hopefully we will have warm conditions when we head to the flinders ranges next month and we can redeem ourselves! :-)
Did you learn anything of the indigenous history of the area ? 💕👍🏽
Not as much as we would have liked. We learned much more in the NT
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I Love a sunburnt country poem
There are many famous Australian poets which have produced iconic pieces which have helped to shape and remind us of the beautiful country that we live. Dorothea Mackellar’s famous poem “My Country” is the perfect example of this, capturing the beauty of the Australian landscape. Written in 1906, Dorothea wrote My Country whilst on a trip to England where she was clearly missing her homeland. This poem was a hit from day one, being published in the popular British paper “The Spectator” under the original title of “Core of My Heart”. Only 23 years of age, Dorothea later had a successful career in Australia writing a collection of poetry books and novels.
Dorothea returned back to Australia after her trip and lived in Sydney until her death in 1968 at 82 years of age. Dorothea’s enduring legacy is her poem which help its readers envision Australia as sunburnt country which we love.
Many Australian’s are familiar with this poem but not in its entirety so we’ve produced the full version here. My Country is often also known as “I love a sunburnt country’ after the most famous section of the piece.
My Country - I love a sunburnt country
The love of field and coppice,
Of green and shaded lanes.
Of ordered woods and gardens
Is running in your veins,
Strong love of grey-blue distance
Brown streams and soft, dim skies
I know but cannot share it,
My love is otherwise.
I love a sunburnt country,
A land of sweeping plains,
Of ragged mountain ranges,
Of drought and flooding rains.
I love her far horizons,
I love her jewel-sea,
Her beauty and her terror -
The wide brown land for me!
A stark white ring-barked forest
All tragic to the moon,
The sapphire-misted mountains,
The hot gold hush of noon.
Green tangle of the brushes,
Where lithe lianas coil,
And orchids deck the tree-tops
And ferns the warm dark soil.
Core of my heart, my country!
Her pitiless blue sky,
When sick at heart, around us
We see the cattle die -
But then the grey clouds gather,
And we can bless again
The drumming of an army,
The steady, soaking rain.
Core of my heart, my country!
Land of the Rainbow Gold,
For flood and fire and famine,
She pays us back threefold -
Over the thirsty paddocks,
Watch, after many days,
The filmy veil of greenness
That thickens as we gaze.
Dorothea Mackellar
So true hey? I never knew more than the one verse that we all know
I grew up with it in school whole peom we were taught it the whole thing So the younger generation miss thèse day sad
@@kevinbennett3954 I will have to check with my sons if they learnt it at school.