It was time to think about the fact that I'm due back on the east coast by 8th January. So what did I do? I had heard good things about the Brachina Gorge, so I turned north again. This gave me two more nights roadside (A & C) and - between them - a drive through archeological time and along the most challenging road of the trip, with some wonderful scenery: Brachina Gorge (B). Archeology features are signed, but I think I missed some signs and due to a breakdown in their numbering system I couldn't work out which was what. However I didn't need to worry because later I discovered that there's full information here.
A drive through Brachina Gorge After that I stopped in Hawker (D) for a cup of coffee and some fresh veggies, then drove straight to the town of Cradock (E). The publican said that there's a permanent population of 14, with seven living in the pub: I think he has a large family. There's camping available around this friendly pub, which just happened to be serving Christmas dinner that night. What good fortune for me! To get onto the Barrier Highway towards Broken Hill meant going through Peterborough (F), which is the most interesting town for railway enthusiasts, and which was throwing a number of Christmas parties. Whilst here I turned back a second time to explore Magnetic Hill (G), where there's supposed to be a strange optical illusion in which you think your car is going uphill backwards while you are rolling downhill. Or vice versa. It didn't work for me ... but I've since realised that's because I should have pointed Berth up the hill and rolled backwards rather than forwards. ... Maybe? Yunta (grey spot) was the next town and I was puzzled that every house has a huge shed, so I asked the bloke having a beer outside the pub and it turned out that people work as contractors on the surrounding sheep stations and need to store their own equipment. Here I turned back a third time, tho more briefly: I was so disappointed to find that Centenary Park, where vans stay overnight, is squished between the highway and the railway line with all the attendant noise, that I left before breakfast. I headed two blocks to the edge of town where I spent the morning gazing along the backroute to Arkaroola, a route so rough that I had been counselled against taking it when I left there. ... Anyway, if I had I would have missed out on a lot of good stuff. A few hours later I crossed the border into NSW (I). From Cradock to NSW Night 292 - Hucks Lookout, a little north of Wilpena Night 293 - somewhere beside the Outback Highway Night 294 - beside the Cradock Hotel, Cradock Nights 295-6 - Peterborough Caravan Park, Peterborough Night 297 - Yunta Centenary Park rest area
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This section of the journey turned out to be one of the best sections of the whole trip. It tired me but not the redoubtable Bertha. It started with a final look at Port Augusta, then another northern turn, but this time keeping to east of Lake Torrens. Soon I was driving through a tight gorge up into the Flinders.
Quorn (A) welcomes tourists, as the nightly light show on the silos and the great choice of cafés indicate. It still has its nineteenth century aspirations on display in a number of built-to-last public and private buildings and the extremely active railway society that runs tourist trips through the Pichi Richi Gorge. The caravan park was really relaxing. There was a public pool (too cold to swim), cafés, great discounts for seniors on pub lunches, and a bush tucker garden being developed. Hawker (B) also welcomes tourists, tho with fewer resources in the town it makes up for it with the stillness of the wide valley. There is the Jeff Morgan Gallery with his close-to-photorealistic panoramas. The public pool is at the caravan park, and very welcome since the weather had turned temporarily hot. The valley beyond Hawker was compelling in its stillness, the beauty of the surrounding mountains and the remains of stone farm houses: monuments to failed attempts at farming. Leigh Creek (C) is a coal mining town beside a defunct coal mine in the Northern Flinders. From 1943 to the 1980s it was a state government mine with a closed town. Then the mine was sold to a private company and the town was opened to public visitors. The mine was closed in 2015 and unwanted houses crushed and buried in the mine. A small close-knit population remains. Copley is a small town just up the road. It was where I turned onto unsealed roads. For pictures of my drive north see: Port Augusta - Quorn - Hawker - Leigh Creek Iga Warta (D) felt like visiting family, such was the welcome! It was a chance to really meet some Adnyamantha people and to learn about how they have been oppressed on their own land, and to be shown the country that they have cared for over centuries. I was taken to an ochre pit from where they traded red, yellow and white ochres to people who came down from the north and to see ancient rock paintings. The Welcome to Country was special, as was sitting beside the campfire every night. There is a museum, art gallery, and swimming pool as well. Most impressive was was the illustrated Adnyamantha-English dictionary compiled by owners Uncle Terry and Auntie Josie Coulthard and talking with them about it - also meeting Uncle Cliff Coulthard, who this month is receiving an honorary doctorate of archeology from Flinders Uni. Iga Warta - Camp peacock struts its stuff - Exploring Mount Searle When South Australia was colonised, the government surveyors mapped out all the land they considered 'useable' leaving the most remote areas alone. Arkaroola (E) is so rugged that it lay unsurveyed just beyond the most remote pastoral leases. The managers of these properties pushed feral animals beyond their boundaries, where they were disturbed only by a few itinerants. One of these was fossicker RW Greenwood who happened upon a strange greenish mineral, and sent a sample down to Adelaide University for identification. There Sir Douglas Mawson (not long back from the Antarctic) used an instrument Mme Curie had given him when he was studying with her in Paris to identify it as uranium. Thus Arkaroola, at the same time as it was becoming overwhelmed by feral goats and camels, became the focus of sporadic mineral hunting by both government and commercial parties. The state government granted a lease to Greenwood's sons with the brief of bringing the feral animals under control. Mawson continued visiting the area and brought students on field trips, one of whom was the notable geologist and conservationist Reg Sprigg, who ended up purchasing the property and lobbying the state government to grant it protection. Meanwhile no commercially viable quantities of precious metals have been found and many significant geological treasures have been. There are six sites on the property under consideration for World Heritage Listing. Around Arkaroola - Arkaroola Campground It was a relief to get back onto a sealed road again on reaching Blinman (F). The township now has a population of just over 20, but that has shrunk from a one-time high of 1500. The town is proud of its heritage and has preserved the history quite beautifully. There is a lovely miner's cottage and the tour of the old copper mine is second to none. The road south through Blinman I remembered Wilpena (G) from a previous visit about twelve years ago when one was allowed to drive into the Pound, which is completely surrounded by a circle of mountains and then still had open paddock areas. Now the Ikara Flinders Ranges National Park covers a much wider area and entry into the now wooded pound is only allowed by foot. Visitors must stay at the Wilpena Pound Resort, which has accommodation to suit all budgets. I have never seen petrol bowsers inside a national park before, nor has a camping fee included free boxed drinking water. The Indigenous Rangers Program appears to work well; Ikara is the Adnyamantha name for the Pound, which was a traditional meeting place. At Wilpena Pound Nights 266-269 - Quorn Caravan Park, Quorn Nights 270-271 - Hawker Caravan Park, Hawker Night 272 - Leigh Creek Caravan Park, Leigh Creek Nights 273-280 - Iga Warta Campground, Iga Warta Nights 281-283 - Arkaroola Village Caravan Park, Arkaroola Nights 284-285 - North Blinman Hotel Campground, North Blinman Hotel, Blinman Nights 286-290 - Wilpena Pound Caravan Park, Ikara Flinders Ranges National Park |
AuthorIn mid 2018 I started recording each night I sleep in Bertha: sometimes just for myself, sometimes to share with friends and other travellers. Archives
February 2024
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