Tuesday, June 28, 2016

Road Trip - Adelaide, Port Wakefield, Port Germein, Port Pirie, Port Augusta, Glendambo, Coober Pedy, Quorn, Hawker, Gladstone - The Flinders Ranges.

 Castle Rock is a short walk off the road just outside of the township of Hawker in the Flinders Ranges of  South Australia. This Yellow Footed Rock Wallaby broke cover as I approached and I was able to shoot some frames for this short Gif.   Click on the image to enlarge and allow time for the frames to load.


Road Trip - Adelaide, Port Wakefield, Port Germein, Port Pirie,
Port Augusta, Glendambo, Coober Pedy, Quorn, Hawker, Gladstone
 - The Flinders Ranges.

Text&Images©billpurvis

Glenda, Leo (the dog) and I left Adelaide on Tuesday 21 June 2016
and returned on Monday 27 June 2016.

First stop ex Adelaide - Cornish Pasties - Port Wakefield

The Wakefield River

Lunch by the 150 year old 6 metre girth Pepper Tree

Foggy departure from Port Augusta the morning of the second day.
What is it? - A rare Tidal meter.

Wet at Glendambo
Maintain the warning signs?


Warning signs - the danger of open shafts - Coober Pedy.
One of the few remaining drive-in screens - at Coober Pedy




Main street in Coober Pedy

Down the Oodnadatta Road to The Painted Desert - if passable?? 200kms- or 198kms direct to Oodnadatta - if passable?
The back road to The Breakaways was not passable.
The Breakaways - Coober Pedy


Stick figure family - The Breakaways

An absolute treasure - Crocodile Harry's dugout -  featured in Mad Max Thunderdome.

Click link below to:
Crocodile Harry pictured in his cave and the locale for Mad Max














A curators nightmare - historic photographs suffering the elements






Fayes Cave. Faye and her friends dug her home by hand out of rock at the end of the day after she had finished working her claim at another site. She must have hit pay dirt because she was later able to subcontract the work for this swimming pool and have it filled with water trucked from Port Augusta. She sold her cave home which is now a museum, and bought an outback hotel. She died  recently.

Top Knot and tree, red in the sunset - Oasis caravan Park - Coober Pedy
Farewell to Coober Pedy

Hmmm which track? OK not this one.  William Creek was later isolated due to the road being impassable.

An oasis in opal town

Working diggings. The fields extend some distance from Coober Pedy.

The highway serves as an emergency airstrip for the Royal Flying Doctor Service which covers thousands of kilometres of the Australian outback.

Road trains are frequently encountered.
Through Port Augusta en-route to Quorn.

The beautiful hues in the sunshine - outback South Australia

En-route to Quorn - Flinders Ranges
Greeted at our site in Quorn by a magpie and mate . This one has a deformed beak but seems healthy enough.





The Galahs gathered - The Mating Tree - Quorn Caravan Park

We stayed 3 nites in the Quorn Caravan Park and thoroughly enjoyed it. We travelled to Hawker and returned to here.

A picturesque view en-route to Hawker.

Outback stockman - a life cut short.

Why are they called Rock Wallabies?

The walk to Castle Rock.

Castle Rock

Leo sniffs out a water hole in the rocks.

The mud wasp builds a home in the ruins.

Tombstone - Simmonston - the town that never was.

Simmonston - the town that never was.

Out running The Roadrunner.

The Road Runner


Careful - Mick might be watching.

Tim Green, winner of the Pichi Richi marathon - 42kms, collected his trophy and caught a plane back to Tasmania. Tim recently competed in the 100km North Face in the Blue Mountains. He reportedly was carrying an injury but crossed the line 'as fresh as a daisy'.
Click link below to:
Pichi Richi marathon news report

Quorn

Quorn

Quorn

Quorn

Quorn

Quorn
The Pichi Richi Railway Preservation Society has restored and operates trains
on the line between Port Augusta and Quorn.
Information regarding the railway can be found here: Pichi Richi Railway Timetable and history.

Condiment with wine
En-route back home via a stop at Gladstone.
Once the backbone of the State of South Australia

Native Bee
A Gladstone resident

The fleece of which the wealth was derived.