4x4 Adventures in Flinders Ranges - Stay at the Merna Mora Station
Continuing our adventure, we visited one of the most popular destinations in the Wilpena Pound area of the Central Flinders Ranges, the Merna Mora Station. Our team was blessed to have witnessed this natural beauty and here are some of the highlights of our trip there:
Where is the Merna Mora Station?
Merna Mora is about 43km north of Hawker on the Leigh Creek Road. It was established in 1889 by the Fels family as a pastoral business. Today it operates as a sheep station (and we mean thousands of sheep!), cattle station and as a tourist destination.
MAP OF THE MERNA MORA STATION
Day # 4 - CAOS Film Day
After breakfast, we started filming with the What’s Up Down Under crew, keep an eye out in June for the start of this epic season. Our first scenes were shot at Merna Mora with vistas of the rugged range of Flinders Ranges in the background.
After lunch, we busied ourselves with the filming of two exciting CAOS ranges; our Aussie Made BLUE RIDGE Range and our 4x4 Awnings and Shower Tent. After a big day of filming we were definitely in need of a scrumptious dinner with the WUDU crew at the camp kitchen.
If you’re thinking of heading to Merna Mora Station, Camping sites are available (powered and unpowered). If you need a site that has a power supply, you can try the gums on the banks of the Moralana Creek. The area was once a polo cross field which is why it is generally flat, perfect for a camping ground. Bore water is accessible too, this is not for drinking, so don’t try it.
Day # 5 - Campfire Dinner
We started our fifth day with a hearty breakfast. After that, we set off filming some more of our gear; NOMAD and BLUE RIDGE Canvas Bags, and CAOS Adventure Series Storage Cases.
After lunch we headed out for a drive on one of the 4WD tracks around Merna Mora Station (the Historic Track) with Nick & Dave, be sure to look out for the CAOS 4WDs driving some rocky Flinders Ranges Tracks in the upcoming WUDU episodes. We wrapped the day around a campfire with CAOS Awnings set up in the background, it doesn’t get much better than that.
Day 6: Driving Bunbinyunna Track
After wrapping the 79 series and Wrangler Rubicon in CAOS branding before the trip we would’ve been crazy not to get a walkthrough video in these scenic surroundings, so that’s exactly how we started Day #6.
After lunch, we headed off for a scenic drive to the Bunbinyunna Track on Merna Mora Station. The track goes around the outer ranges around Wilpena Pound approx. 32km. Then we went back to Merna Mora Station for dinner at the camp kitchen.
Day 7: Departure
Ending our epic trip at Merna Mora Station, we departed at approx. 8:10am heading to Hawker. We refuelled all vehicles in town, and then grabbed an excellent take-away coffee and some delicious fig and almond slices at the Flinders Food Co. Cafe.
Afterwards we decided to take a virtual reality trip around the whole Flinders Ranges! We explored the incredible Jeff Morgan Panoramas Gallery, which featured stunning hand painted panoramas of various Flinders Ranges scenes along with an incredible collection of interesting rocks, fossils, minerals and crystals.
The gallery was named after Australian Panorama Artist Jeff Morgan known for his incredible depictions of the spectacular Aussie outback scenery.
On the way to our next destination we stopped for a while at the Rawnsley Lookout to check out the funky shoe tree. Then we hit the road to travel to Willow Springs, with a detour for lunch at Arkaba Rock.
The team arrived at Willow Springs Station approx. 2:45pm. We set up camp at one of the Station’s camping areas.
We took a scenic flight around Wilpena Pound, our pilot’s name that day was Mark and this was his 1400th flight around Wilpena Pound! Owned by the Reynolds Family, Willows Springs is a cattle and sheep station covers an area of 28,300 hectares (70,000 acres).
After just one week we had already had an epic experience travelling and exploring The Flinders Ranges, but the trip was far from over. Follow us on Facebook and Instagram to find out what happened on the next leg of the trip.
See you next time!