Flinders and BeyondCamel Treks

Multi-day treks into the Flinders Ranges and beyond run the old way: camels carrying all food, water and camping gear on traditional pack saddles, no vehicle support, no fixed camps, walking pace the whole way. Ryan and Natalie McMillan run the business as a family operation out of Blinman, in the ranges' rugged north, with trips ranging from a three-day introduction for families through to genuinely remote multi-week expeditions into the Strzelecki and Simpson desert country and out toward Lake Callabonna and Lake Frome. Longer routes typically pair the walking leg with a return 4WD transfer, since the country covered has no other way back. This is unhurried, self-contained desert travel in a landscape that punishes anything less — cracked claypans, gibber plains, saltbush flats stretching to the horizon — with treks scheduled through the cooler months when the outback is walkable rather than lethal. Places on the longer expeditions are limited and go early.