Can Go Around Australia: The Barrier Highway, S.A.

Mixed phone service in Central and North Eastern South Australia as well as the extreme West of New South Wales makes for difficult or at least random internet/phone connections. This is normal life for the locals and travellers alike in these areas and the telephone companies care not. Nor do Governments, commercial TV is all but non existent in these communities as well, unless the people subscribe to satellite TV and even that is unreliable in inclement weather.

So, to catch up with our travels I'll go back to our departure from Hawker. Our final night at Hawker was a "corker", rain pelted down all night and was still raining in the morning during the time of packing up our camp and hitching the caravan. We looked like a couple of drowned rats when we finally leapt into the car and drove out of town.

We were en-route to Peterborough but stopped at the delightful and very friendly small town of Orroroo for lunch. The town provides adequate parking for RV vehicles close to the centre of town. We had lengthy 'chats' with locals and other travellers while walking along the Main Street. Following another heavy rain squall we drove out of town and onto Peterborough, our destination to camp for a couple of nights.

Peterborough is, or rather, was a major railway centre as it was the junction of four rail systems, Intra State and Inter State. The town boasted major maintenance workshops and was an essential part of the freight and passenger systems of South Australia up until the 1970's. Peterborough now relies on the tourist trade and now brands itself as "Steam Town". Located at the old Railway Workshops is a Museum and each evening they present a "Sound and Light Show". This one hour presentation captures your total attention as it portrays the entire history of 'Railway' in the town. This is a "must see" presentation if you are passing through the area.

On reaching Peterborough we have now joined the Barrier Highway. The Barrier Highway branches off the Main North Road north of Gawler and provides excellent highway travel through to Broken Hill in NSW. From this point on we are truly homeward bound but our final stop in SA was at Yunta. This small highway town provides camping for RV travellers in the centre of town. The Yunta Hotel was 'cosy' and friendly on a chilly Sunday afternoon and the large BP Roadhouse has the cheapest fuel around.

The wide tree lined Median Strip in the centre of Orroroo.

The major part of the Orroroo Main Street, including the Coffee Shop where we had lunch.

In the previous blog post you saw a kangaroo and an emu sculptured from 'Corrugated Roofing Iron'. These two horses are sculptured in the same medium by the same person. During a stiff breeze, like this day, the two heads nod around and appear to follow you.

This River Red Gum on the outskirts of Orroroo is claimed, by the locals, to be the largest in Australia. Apparently it takes at least 12 people to link hands around the base. Anyway, it sure makes Judy appear very small standing at the base.