Port Augusta to Broken Hill

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Oh no, Bernie and I dressed sort of matchy matchy today with both of us in tops and bottoms in shades of grey. I was dressed first so not my fault! Bernie claimed that he had no other clean clothes, so grey top and bottom it had to be. At least we didn’t have matching artwork or slogan’s on our tops. We have seen a few couples getting around in gear like that which looks a bit naff!

Another 400 kilometres today to travel between Port Augusta and Broken Hill. We took a quick stop in Wilmington which is just a few kilometres north of Melrose where we were on the 12th and 13th of March! I think we’ve driven in a big circle?! In fact, I think we had driven almost to Wilmington when we turned into the access road for Alligator Gorge. This morning’s stop afforded us the opportunity to photograph some of the town’s classic old buildings while stretching our legs.

In Orroroo we visited the Giant Red Gum which has a girth of 10.89 metres and is estimated to be in excess of 500 years old. From the giant tree we drove up to Tank Lookout for a panoramic view over Orroroo and the Flinders Ranges. On our way back from the lookout we stopped at the Early Settler’s Cottage ‘Solly’s Hut’.

We continued to Peterborough where we took a look at the Steamtown Heritage Rail Centre. Peterborough is one of only a few towns where trains travelling on all three railway gauges used in Australia could be serviced. Peterborough boasted a unique triple gauge turntable which, unfortunately, we were unable to see as it is undergoing restoration.

The story of how Australia’s trains come to be running on three different railway gauges – narrow (3’6”), standard (4’81/2”) and broad (5’3”) – is pretty ridiculous. Short version, an Irishman was in charge of building NSW’s first railway line so he chose the gauge used in Ireland, whereas South Australia and Victoria used the gauge that had been agreed on in Great Britain. Since Federation in 1901, there have been many recommendations and attempts to standardise the rail gauge used in all Australian states and territories, but still there are discrepancies.

After lunch in Peterborough we finally tracked down the statue of Bob the Railway Dog, a stray dog who was seen travelling by rail throughout South Australia, Victoria, NSW and Brisbane between 1883 and 1895. Bernie took off down the main drag on foot looking for Bob while I was still photographing one of the other engines in town. By the time I found Bernie, and Bob the Railway Dog, Bernie was heading back to the car … where I thought he would wait for me to catch up. Hmmn, by the time I walked back to the car there was only a vacant space where the MU-X had been parked. I sent a text to Mr Impatient to say ‘… I’m back where the car was, where are you?’ He arrived moments later saying he was trying to be nice and pick me up to save me the walk all the way back to the car. Shame we missed each other! No idea how that happened because there weren’t many cars on the main drag and virtually no other pedestrians!!??

There’s not much else between Peterborough and Broken Hill. Bernie drove, I dozed. When I was awake I managed to time it for when there were some wedge-tailed eagles about. We saw a couple flying and another perched on the railway line. It was a hot, dry day with frequent willy-willys twisting about in the roadside paddocks. The boredom was relieved a little bit when a goods train heading for Port Augusta passed us!

We made the obligatory border stop at the Border Gate shop at Cockburn and took the cheesy photo of the New South Wales/South Australia sign beside the shop. We were planning to buy an ice-cream to support this small border post, but the shop was closed. We’re not entirely sure if it was closed because it was Sunday or if it’s permanently closed. Hopefully the former, but more likely the latter, which is sad.

On the final stretch before arriving in Broken Hill we passed an escort vehicle, then a second escort vehicle. Oh, OK, maybe it’s going to be something really big? After a third escort vehicle we suspected that we might be going to need to pull over? That’s about when the police escort appeared - on our side of the road - leaving us no option other than to pull over to the side to clear both lanes of the highway for the oversized load. Yep, it was BIG!

The other thing we noted was that the roadside vegetation changed from being dry and brown to green. I can’t say lush, because it still wasn’t lush, but definitely greener. We suspect that this change was brought about by the rain that fell in the Broken Hill area a few weeks ago causing flash floods. There was a definite demarcation between where the rain fell and the area further west that missed out.

Now in Broken Hill for the next four nights with quite a few places of interest on our list of things to do and see.



Steps for the day: 7,134 (4.9km)

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Comments

[Barry cotton]

Hi Tracey and Bernie i am enjoying your blog about south australia especially when you were in Kadina , Moonta by great grandfather on my mothers side were incharge of the mines up there and also on my fathers side they were railway men in
worked for the railways in Peterbough there is even a street named after them (cotton st )