One of the longest day-walks you can do in the northern Flinders Ranges, the Oppaminda Nudlamutana trail starts along Arkaroola Road. This is one of three bushwalks I do on the northern part of our Flinders Ranges road trip. It’s best done as a one-way bushwalk, and the Arkaroola Wilderness Sanctuary has a “drop-off” shuttle that leaves at 9am each day (and 2pm, but that’s a bit too late for this hike). The minibus is full as it leaves the the Arkaroola Wilderness Sanctuary reception, but everyone except for me gets off at the Acacia Ridge trailhead and I’m on my own as I set-off down the track.
It’s easy walking along the track as it traverses a series of low hills, passing Checkpoint 7 after 1.5km – the old Arkaroola Road branches off to the right.
A few hundred metres later and the Oppaminda Nudlamutana trail enters the Vulkathunha-Gammon Ranges National Park, passing an old and disused water tank near the boundary.
Just inside the Vulkathunha-Gammon Ranges National Park is Nudlamutana Hut, which was originally an outstation of Bulcanoona Station (a pastoral lease which was taken up in 1856 before being acquired by the National Park in 1982). The stone hut now provides basic tourist accommodation.
The road stops at the hut, and the Oppaminda Nudlamutana route continues as a bushwalking trail – which is much more pleasant.
Climbing up to a saddle, the trail crosses a dry creek before ascending again. There’s not a drop of water in any of the creeks, and a number of trees appear to be dead. But there seems to be some regrowth after a severe drought that killed a lot of the curly mallee (Eucalyptus gillii) and other woody shrubs – a previous blog described this section of the bushwalk as “walking through the Valley of the Shadow of Death”.
To the north are a number of rounded domes that are characteristic of the Gammon Range.
Some of the closer mountains look very tempting as a vantage point over the ruigged landscape, and I decide to leave the track and make a bee-line for the highest (unnamed) peak.
There are some nice views as I make my way up the south-eastern side of the rocky peak, with the Oodnaminta Track visible in the distance. It’s pretty easy walking, until the very last bit where some careful scrambling up the near-vertical cliff at the base of the peak is needed to reach the summit.
There are spectacular 360-degree views from the top of the 550m-high Unnamed Peak, across the Gammon Ranges and Arkaroola Wilderness Sanctuary.
To the north and north-east is Arkaroola Village and the Arkaroola Wilderness Sanctuary.
The highest peaks include Mount Gee, Mount MacDonnell and Mount Painter, and just above Arkaroola Village is the smaller Griselda Hill.
To the east is Woonlough Crag and Mount Jacob, and on the horizon is the thin white line which is Lake Frome.
I continue down the north-eastern side of the peak, which seems almost vertical when looking back at the peak – but is a fairly easy scramble down.
From the base of Unnamed Peak it’s a fairly easy walk back down to the Oodnaminta track, which follows another dry creek.
Another kilometre or so and Checkoint 6 (or N6) is reached; here the Oodnaminta Track continues towards the west, and the Oppaminda Nudlamutana route heads in a generally northward direction. (Although the Oodnaminta Track is a bushwalking track from Nudlamutana Hut, it was once a road and is shown as a 4WD track on the topographic map.)
The bushwalking track gently ascends “over layers of Bolla Bollana tillite, with siltstone and quartzite layers, reflecting temperature variations in the glacial period”.
To the south is the Unnamed Peak, and Lake Frome on the horizon.
The landscape changes a little as the trail heads up to Mount Warren Hastings, where fractures in the tillite layer allow water to penetrate, and the moister conditions allow trees such as the Northern Cypress-pine, Gum-barked Coolibah and Mulga to survive.
Just below the summit is Checkpoint N4, with a trail leading up to the top of Mount Warren Hastings.
There are some outstanding views from the 575m-high Mount Warren Hastings summit, with a direction plate near the summit cairn pointing out the landmarks in every direction.
To the east and north-east of Mount Warren Hastings is Humanity Seat, Woolnough Crag and Mount Jacob, with Lake Frome in the far distance.
To the north is The Armchair, Mount Gee, Mount Painter and the Freeling Height
To the south is Mount McCallum (to the east of the Balcanoona Range), Mount McTaggart and Mount McKinley, with Mount Chambers in the far distance.
On one side of the peak is a sheer cliff, with a few grass trees clinging to the vertical wall.
There’s also a good view from the top of the peak of the Oppaminda Nudlamutana trail snaking its way through the valleys and ridges.
I’d happily stay longer on the top to enjoy the views, but the constant swarms of flies makes stopping a rather unenjoyable proposition, so I soon resume my journey northwards. Rather than following the trail, I continue along the rocky summit plateau, which has some interesting rock formations.
From the end of the Mount Warren Hastings summit ridge there’s a great view to the north.
Getting back to the track is a bit trickier than I anticipated (in hindsight it would have been quicker to re-trace my steps back along the summit ridge). After trying to follow the base of the cliffs back to the track, the slope gets too steep and slippery to continue. I end up carefully scrambling back down the end of the narrow ridge to re-join the track.
As the track descends the northern side of the peak, there’s a nice view back to Mount Warren Hastings and the long summit ridge.
The bushwalking track joins the Oppaminda Trail at Checkpoint N3; the Oppaminda Trail is an old (now disused) vehicle track which once connected Arkaroola Station and Balcanoona Station.
Along the Oppaminda Trail is an old vermin proof fence, which dates back to the 1926 when the Arkaroola boundary was established.
It’s easy but fairly dreary walking along the old vehicular track, which ends at Checkpoint N2 (the junction with the usually dry Wywhyana Creek).
A low rock outcrop next to the road offers another nice viewpoint… I start climbing the small peak, but while it’s not a difficult ascent, the heat and lack of shade is starting to tire me. I get just high enough to get a view over Wywhyana Creek, which is dry but sustains a number of tall trees.
The track makes a wide arc around the end of a spur; rather than continuing along the road I head off-track for once last time, crossing the spur and re-joining the road on the opposite side.
The rest of the Oppaminda Nudlamutana bushwalk follows an unsealed road through the campground and towards Griselda Hill, which towers over the Arkaroola Village (Checkpoint A1).
The official length of the Oppaminda Nudlamutana hike is 15.2km; with the detour over Unnamed Peak and a few other deviations, the actual distance walked was 15.9km. It took just over four hours with minimal breaks as most of the trail is fairly easy walking (but there’s very little shade along the entire trail).
DISTANCES based on standard route
0.0km Oppaminda Nudlamutana trailhead on Arkaroola Road
0.6km Junction with track to Wooltana Cave
1.6km Checkpoint 8 (Old Arkaroola Road)
1.9km Nudlamutana Hut
6.4km Checkpoint 6 (leave Oodnaminta Track)
7.8km Mount Warren Hastings summit (575m)
9.5km Checkpoint N3 (Oppaminda Trail)
12.0km Checkpoint N2 (Wywhyana Creek)
15.2km Arkaroola Village
Getting to Oppaminda Nudlamutana bushwalk
The easiest way to undertake the Oppaminda Nudlamutana bushwalk is by getting dropped off at the trailhead (which is 11.6km along Arkaroola Road from the village) and walking back to the village. A daily shuttle service leaves at 9am from Arkaroola Village to drop off bushwalkers at the Acacia Ridge and Oppaminda Nudlamutana trailheads. Arkaroola Village is 154km (2:30min drive) north of Blinman or 133km (2:10min) east of Leigh Creek in the northern Flinders Ranges.
More Information
- National Parks and Wildlife Service SA – Nudlamutana Hut bookings
- Flinders Ranges Walks – Oppaminda Nudlamutana track notes [PDF]
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