Heysen Trail - Adelaide to WIlpena Pound

As a kid I spent a fair bit of time outdoors and didn't mind spending time on my own exploring or riding my bike all over the suburbs around Canberra. My first major trip on my own though, was not until I was 21 years old.
The trip I chose was a route called the Heysen Trail. The plan was to catch a bus to Adelaide and then ride a bike North all the way to Parachilna and finish at the roadkill cafe before taking the tourist bus from Wilpena back to Port Augusta. I had a series of maps with linear instuctions and very little navigational abilities. The bike I has was a Raliegh mountain bike which I'd picked up for free. I wacked some pannier racks on it and she was good to go.
On the morning of 25th June 2008 after a long bus ride from Canberra I was in Adelaide. I went to the markets and got some food, enjoying the excitement and freedom of my first trip, and an unfamiliar town. I then jumped on my bike and rode along the Torrens River east into the Adelaide Hills. It wasn't long before I was into farmland and I ended up camping on a hill overlooking the city. I remember thinking at that stage that my bike and gear were heavy and the ride out of Adelaide was actually pretty tough.

The next day I headed along dirt tracks into Birdwood where I checked out the Motor Museum which was pretty cool. I then headed on into the Barossa Valley. Rolling down into the green valley along a farm track first thing in the morning was great. I stopped in for some wine tasting and having passed through both the Clare and Barrossa valleys I ended up with five nice bottles of wine in with the rest of my kit.
After the Barrossa things started to flatten out a bit. On average I was doing about 100k a day. I had a rucksack as well as my pannier bags and the wieght of it on my seat meant 8-10 hours was more than enough in the saddle. I watched as the grass turned to dirt and the dirt turned from brown to red. I rode some stretches on tarmac for a change. The trucks always gave my a wide berth which I appreciated.
Once I started getting into the desert country it was pretty exciting. I was eager at that stage to get to Wilpena Pound and ditch the bike for a while. In the end it took my 6 days to ride from Adelaide to Wilpena Pound. I don't have a really good recollection of where I camped most nights because I just followed the linear instructions in the brochure type map set that I had and didn't think about it much. I certainly passed through a lot of towns on the way because I bought a burger with the lot and an iced coffee at each one and stocked up on licorice allsorts and water from the servos. I had hardly touched my rations so my bags were actually heavier than when I started (including the wine).

Once at Wilpena Pound I set up camp at the resort camp ground and started doing day walks of the area. After two days of this I got bored and grabbed my rucksack and sleeping bag and went for an overnighter in the gorge. This was the highlight of the trip. The gorge running out of the pound has amazing cliffs hundreds of metres either side and it is an exciting scramble down into its interior. I hit a dead end a fair way in at a drop of 10m.

I decided to head to Parachilna the day after returning from the Gorge. It had been raining on and off throughout the trip (being winter) and the road was muddy. I made it about 10k out of Wilpena before my bike clogged with mud completely ending my trip. I pushed it back to camp and arranged to head to Port Augusta the next day.
I missed the bus but rang the tour guide and he drove from Port Augusta in his ute. A great bloke. I think the business was Gulf tours. Port Augusta was a bit of a culture shock. I was glad to get on the bus and start the long trip home.