Day 63: Yanyanna Hut to Aroona Hut

Daily distance: 25.2km
Total distance: 1152.1km

The wind in our little tin hut during the night sounded wild, however I dont think it was that bad. Waking up was easy this morning but getting up was tough! Once we were up, packing up was a dream inside a nice warm little hut. The weather was all misty but dry.... or as dry as mist can be, that is. As getting out of bed was tough we set off a bit later than normal, but this worked in our favour when the sun came out a bit later.

The track started off from the hut onto the Bunyeroo Road for a very short distance before turning right onto the Yanyanna Track and headed in a northerly direction. We stayed on the Yanyanna track for about 8km, passing through some really great open country full of Red Kangaroo and Yellow-footed Rock Wallabies on the rocky slopes. The Heysen Range was still on our western side with the ABC Range on the eastern side and where we were walking was as flat as a pancake. We passed the old Elatina Ruin (homes built for sheep herders in the 1800's) before coming to the Elatina Hut which is also a ruin but has been restored for Heysen walkers,  and is now called Middlesight Water.

We stopped at this awesome little hut and had morning coffee and a small bite. As we had made good time in getting thus far we decided to continue to Aroona Hut thus making the walk to Parachilna Gorge a lot less. There is a Heysen reroute at this point but we decided to take the old route which I have on my GPS. It was a fantastic decision as we followed Etina Creek as it wound it's way through the valley. This part of the Heysen Trail is on the Flinders National Park Trezona Trail so is well marked and very easy to follow. Two kilometers later we got to the Trezona Trail Head, which is where Joe Public can park their cars and start the walk. Here is also a camping ground with rainwater tanks for those adventurous hikers. From here we followed the route markers for the Aroona Trailhead and Heysen trail.

It was an absolutely fantastic walk! Flat, sunshine, spectacular scenery and all along a well marked, easy walking path. We crossed creek bed after creek bed as we meandered up the valley. After about 6km we came to the Molena Ruin from where the route turned west again cutting through the ABC Range on it's way back to the Heysen Range. True to form,  the last couple of kilometers of the trail were up and down a very very steep hill before reaching the hut. At least they are consistant!

This hut is very different to the others and has a lot more ventilation. No doors, no windows, no fireplace and nice big gaps between the poles that make up the walls. (Sounds like where I lived in the Caprivi) However it does have a very nice roof under which we have put up our tent.