Copper prices collapsed and people left… Check out a town where the copper mine closed. Blinman has a permanent population of less than thirty people yet is a hive of visitor activity.
BLINMAN HIGHLIGHTS
- Visit a copper mine for an interactive experience detailing the hardship and difficulties facing a mine in the middle of nowhere.
- Join a camel trek and discover your inner adventurer.
- Stay on a working station. You will find out what’s it’s like to manage cattle station in a semi-arid landscape.
- Savour the first bite of delicious pies from the Blinman bakery (as road tested by nzjane).
- Plan your outback journey with a stopover in Blinman before heading to Arkaroola Wilderness Sanctuary and the stunning northern Flinders Ranges.
- Sign up for a scenic flight over massive lakes with no water (kilometres of glistening salt pans).
- Go backcountry with the locals on a 4 wheel drive odyssey.
- Explore Blinman with a grand self-guided walking tour (time allowed 1 – 2 hours), selfie snaps with rusting mine equipment and empathy for young lives lost in the faded heritage cemetery.
- Heritage fans will enjoy locating the grave of explorer William Kekwick (1872 ) who was the second-in-charge to John McDouall Stuart when he crossed Central Australia.
- See if you can get a peek into the locked original miners hut (next to the Blinman Bakery). The Dugout is original although nzjane wonders about the timber floor.
- Explore the district with a day trip to Chambers Gorge. The family will enjoy the billabong (waterhole)e desert ranges between Blinman and Arkaroola. Located about 60 km from Blinman. There is a very basic campsite and well preserved ancient Aboriginal rock art (40,000 years old).
- Make it easy for yourself and Book a tour of Parachilna Gorge or Dingly Dell. Explore the beautiful Chambers Gorge for a chance to see Aboriginal petroglyphs.
- It’s Australia after all with ‘it’s next big thing’ monument. ‘Big Kibble Bucket’, a 2.5-metre copper structure by Adelaide artist Leanne Hamilton, is constructed from local recycled copper items from the Blinman.
BLINMAN DAY TRIP TO PARACHILA
1 HOUR, 32 km (winding narrow road)
Beautiful, dramatic red tinted desert gorges. Awesome photo moments. The road is narrow, winding with a number of creek crossings. A 2 wheel drive vehicle is suitable however care and attention is necessary. And explore PARACHILA for its feral food offerings.
Always check Outback Road Warnings – Department for Infrastructure and Transport – South Australia before departing.
BLIMAN, SOUTH AUSTRALIA TOURS
BLINMAN COPPER MINE
Fascinated with the past and harsh conditions of the 19th century miners. Book a tour and go underground. Blinman mine experience will take you back to the 1880s when hauling copper to the smelter on the surface was a daily exercise. Tours run regularly, with seasonal changes.
SCENIC FLIGHTS
Tours available – Guided and self drive – Alpana.
Scenic Flights – “Fly with a local!”
Superb immersive experience with the sheer size of the Australian outback in full living colour. nzjane.com
CAMEL RIDES, TREKS AND…
Camel Rides – Flinders and Beyond Camel Treks . Contact Ryan and Natalie for more information
email: info@flindersandbeyondcamels.com.au
Phone: +61 467 198 825
4 WHEEL DRIVE OFF ROAD ADVENTURES
Blinman is an ideal central base from which to explore one of Australia’s most magnificent scenic regions. Self Drive and escorted 4WD tours are available in the area. Blinman – Facebook.
DO YOU WANT ENDURANCE, HARD SLOG ON MOUNTAIN BIKE?
South Australia’s Mawson Cycle Trail is an authentic mountain bike trail through the Australian outback. Blinman is a key feature of this trail. Essential trail equipment, plenty of water and insect repellant, a downloaded map, paper copy and the spirit of adventure.
Remember to inform people where you are going and report to interested parties on a daily basis.
Start Point Gorge Road, SA
End Point Blinman, Flinders Ranges, SA
Distance 900km
Time 2.32 Weeks – Cycling
Time 3.62 Weeks – Walking
Starting just north of Adelaide and travelling to the Outback town of Blinman in the Flinders Ranges, the Mawson Trail is the ideal option for mountain bikers wanting to travel through the picturesque scenery of South Australia’s remote rural areas. Close to nine hundred kilometres long, the trail includes little-used country roads, State forest and national park fire trails, farm access tracks and unmade or unused road reserves. It avoids traffic and bitumen roads and leads cyclists into the remote areas of the Ranges.
Blinman services include a General Store, Post Office Agency and the North Blinman Hotel with accommodation and dining.
The best way to explore Blinman is to include the town as part of your Flinders Range outback adventure.
Approximately 40 minutes from Wilpena Pound
The town with less than twenty people has plenty of accommodation options available, both in the town and surrounding district. Check out Accommodation – Blinman Progress Association
Blinman Cemetery
The Blinman Cemetery is weathered and fading. The stories of women who died in childbirth, the horrible death of miners due to explosives and mine accidents. A great place for evocative cemetery photographs.
Miner’s Cottage
Silver faded weatherboards and a limestone fireplace (1862). The cottage, in part, is a wattle and daub cottage. The rusting iron bed has a tick mattress (stuffed with twigs) and a timber floor. Perhaps originally the floor was simply beaten earth and the mattress was not on a 1920’s bed frame.
Travelling north to Arkaroola from Blinman,
Via Leigh Creek and Copley B83
5 hours, 385 km
The shorter Flinders Ranges Way while a shorter route it is a rough unsealed narrow road. Scenic outback, definitely
2 ½ hours, 154 km
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