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.

The Old Town Hall in Peterborough.

A steam locomotive outside the Steam Town Museum.

Everything in Peterborough is railway orientated. This is the Traveller Information Centre in the middle of town.

Another of the steam locomotives that once worked the railways of the area.

Part of the free RV Camping Area in Yunta.

Directly across the road from the RV Camping Area is the Yunta Hotel. Very Convenient!

Southern Flinders Ranges, S.A.

We have turned a corner in our travels, we are now heading towards home, although we won't reach there anytime soon! Mainly we are biding or time waiting for the School Holiday patrons to clear out of The Flinders Ranges before heading there ourselves. We pulled into the small caravan park at Crystal Brook to fill in a couple of days and found ourselves camped beside a couple from Bundaberg. Australia truly is a small Country. A little piece of Trivia, apparently Crystal Brook has the most train movements of any country town in Australia.  ANZAC Day came about while at Crystal Brook, so we rugged up to attend The Dawn Service with about 300 others. The local RSL was astounded at the turnout, the largest for many years. The previous ANZAC Day, 2013, there were only 4 remaining RSL members and 3 of those passed away during the ensuing twelve months. The local community rallied around to support their RSL Club and the organisation now boasts 70 Members!

Made a few more kilometres north along Spencer Gulf and pulled into another small town, Port Germein. This port is potentially great for fishing and especially for Blue Swimmer Crabs. One distinctive feature is the 1.5 kilometre long timber jetty. Officially, 1532 metres as it stands currently. There was another 150 metres to the jetty until it was storm damaged. The Jetty was originally constructed to load sailing ships with bagged wheat grown in the area.

Moved another 170 kilometres closer to The Flinders Ranges to make camp at Hawker. We can now see our destination. Hawker is a small town now totally geared up for the tourist traffic heading to The Flinders Ranges but it was once a railway station on the Old Ghan Line between Port Augusta and Alice Springs. Jeff Morgan, an artist in the town, has painted an awesome Panorama of Wilpena Pound in The Flinders Ranges. It took 4000 hours to complete the art work in The Panorama. If you are ever in Hawker this Panorama is a MUST see attraction. If the weather is kind to us we plan a 30 minute aerial tour of Wilpena Pound. Hopefully you will see photographs of this in the next Blog Post.

The pretty shopping centre at Crystal Brook.

The gardens and Memorial Pavillion in Crystal Brook, the venue of the ANZAC Dawn Service.

It is only a short walk from the caravan park to this historic railway bridge at Crystal Brook.

The old bridge makes way for the new!

A commemorative sculpture depicting the shipping history of Port Germein.

At 1532 metres, the Port Germein jetty seems to stretch out of sight. It is great exercise, over 3 kilometres out and return.

Arrived at the end of the jetty to find this large fellow waiting for scraps from the fishermen on the jetty.

The final 150 metres of the jetty is storm damaged and little remains. These piles wobble around in the swell so I guess they will disappear in due course.

Looking back towards Port Germein from the seaward end of the jetty with The Southern Flinders Ranges in the background.

The old Original Lighthouse was once positioned on the end of the jetty. After the storm it was rescued and is now secure on dry land.

The Hawker Hotel.

The Booking Office for Bush Pilots Australia aerial flights over Wilpena Pound. Hopefully, weather permitting, we will get to use their services.

The Flinders Ranges from the fringes of Hawker.

The Old Ghan Railway Station at Hawker.

The water tower that was used to refill the tanks on the Old Ghan Steam Engine.

One of the Murals that is also on display at The Jeff Morgan Panorama of Wilpena Pound. This outstanding mural is 15 metres across. I hope they didn't mind me snapping this copy.