Day 20 of the "I came all the way to Iron Knob and and all I got was this sticker" Tour 2012

---

---

We woke up in Port Augusta on the morning of Day 20 and headed directly to The Wadlata Outback Centre. This is an Exhibition Centre in the middle of Port Lincoln and the Information Centre is attached, hence why we went straight there! We find them a fantastic outlet for finding out what’s worth visiting in the locale.

The Exhibition to its credit was fantastic and we spent a good couple of ours learning about how the Australian Continent came into being and how life sprung into life here. We were also thought about the first explorers in Australia. Eyre was the first European to cross the Nullarbor, Stuart and another lad called Stuart who first travelled from the south coast to the north coast of Australia. We learned of the railroads and their importance in history and generally of life in the bush, both from Aboriginal and European points of view. The Exhibition was fantastically laid out and displayed. We even saw fossils of the earliest known sea creatures. Well worth the entry fee. It was a pity we didn’t stay longer, however, with the entry fee we received a voucher to enter the exhibition for free within the next 6 months so we might go back in the morning to view what we missed today.

After the Exhibition we talked to another very kind lady at the Information Centre who gave information on what to do and see locally as well as on our way to Adelaide. Advice in hand we went to the Botanical Gardens where there was a great view of the Flinders Mountain Range, The Red Cliffs of Port Augusta and The Ghan Railway Line. We took a few photos here and headed to a local fishing shop for some bait.

Unfortunately, after looking forward to a nice evenings fishing, the lady at the store told us that unless we wanted to stand at the pier all day looking at the water there was very little point on going fishing in Port Augusta, due to “slim” in the water that wouldn’t be gone til next week! I didn’t even ask. We just headed to the lookout tower in the town for some more views of the town, the Flinders and the town itself. More photos and then a big discussion on what we’d do for the rest of the evening now that fishing was out the window.

We decided that seen as we had a bit of time we’d head back the road to Iron Knob and check out the Organ Pipes. I drove and Coley slept. It was only 70 km’s back the road and we were there in about half an hour. We pulled into a town that looked like it belongs in the deep south of America. There were more potholes on the main road than there is in Knopogue. We eventually found the Information Centre as we couldn’t see any sign for the Organ Pipes. We hoped out of the car just as 3 elderly ladies we jumping into there’s. “Are ye here for the Mine Tours?” one asked me. I told her we were and she explained that they were closing early as it had been a long day (It was 3 o’ clock at this stage). Fair enough says I, but we weren’t here for the mine tour (although this this sound interesting), we were here to see the Organ Pipes and could she point us in their direction. O, she said, the Organ pipes are in Kimba (which is another 200 km’s back towards Perth), are you on your way to Perth? We are said I, we’ll catch it on the way, hanging my head in embarrassment now at this stage like! One of the other ladies came over at this stage and gave us a couple of Iron Knob stickers to apologise for us not being able to do the tour as they had closed early. We thanked them and jumped into the car. The worst of it was, they would have seen us turning towards Port Augusta and must have thought those lads have no chance of making it to Perth!! They showed up looking for the Organ Pipes which is 200km’s away and now they’re away back to where they came from!

We arrived back in Port Augusta safe and sound and decided to lick our wounds back at the campsite and spend the rest of the evening sorting out Rego and transfer of ownership of the Seaside Rover and updating the blog!

---