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What kinds of things do you want to see/do? (besides taking advantage of the pristine skies up that way)
If 4WD/bushwalking, then you'll need more time than what you have listed.
E.g. at Wilpena (or using it as a base)
- walks into and about the pound, the St Mary's Peak walk is an all day affair.
- a number of 4WD tracks including the much talked about and enjoyed SkyTrek (Willow Springs) which takes all day. There are other tracks on the various properties.
- trip down to sacred canyon for rock carvings etc.
- road up to Hawker there is the Kanyaka (spelling?) ruins, some Aboriginal rock art, to the west of there is some other nice Flinders bits that are not part of the usual pound views from others.
- flight over the pound
- Bunyeroo Valley is an absolute must, as is Brachina Gorge (camping along both is allowed).
- trip to Aroona ruins (Hans Heysen and all that)
- Parachilna pub for an interesting meal (not cheap but tis good)
- Parachilna Gorge with Glass Gorge
- Blinman for historic mining town
At Warraweena (turn east from Beltana)
- lots of great 4WD tracks that offer quite varied scenery and history plus bush huts for camping. If you have arranged it with Stony (the manager) you can also shoot the odd goat.
Around Arkaroola
- the mentioned Ridgetop tour (half day, about $100 per person) takes you to the top of Mt Painter with views to the Parlana Hot Springs, Lake Frome and the desolate west/north-west. The Ridgetop tour is not self-drive.
- The self drive Echo Camp backtrack (about $40 per vehicle) takes most of a day and nice scenery ending up with views over Lake Frome etc, just not as high as Mt Painter.
- trip to the former resort of Parlana hot springs where radioactive decay ensures the water comes out of the ground at 83C - the kangaroos around that water hole were the healthiest we'd seen compared to the other waterholes, still I would not swim there.
- trip to the various former mining ruins around the property and the "Noodle" waterhole (can not remember how to spell its correct name).
On the eastern edge of the Flinders there is Chambers Gorge and a few others. Are you planning to come up from the Yunta road? There is some interesting mining history plus a whole lot of nothing.
To the west there is the Nilpena station (edge of Lake Torrens) that has a self-drive track onto or near Lake Torrens.
Any particular reason for putting Woomera in there? It is not exactly that close to the Flinders comparitively speaking. At Woomera itself there is the rocket park in the centre of town which is worth about an hours looking around (free). There is also the museum (cost) and a shop with various interesting tourist items including lots of Len Beadell material.
The Flinders is fantastic, whether it is the southern region (Melrose, Mt Remarkable), the mid (Quorn, Hawker, Wilpena, Blinman) or the north (Warraweena, Arkaroola etc).
I'd recommend Ron and Viv Moon's Flinders Ranges book, have found it handy.
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