It was time to just do the miles again. With big distances and not very much between spots we just kept the wheels rolling. However saying that it's amazing what you can find.
Our first stop was Kanyaka Station. We actually drove past then decided it was worth a look. The first place was called dead man rock. It was a permanent billabong on a creek bed with large rocks and lovely trees. It received this name because aboriginal people would bring their frail and sick people to lie under the rock before they died. There were ruins of a couple of huts, plus an old lime kiln for making the mortar for the buildings.
Then we drove on to the best preserved abandoned homestead in SA. We could There see walls of the homestead, men's quarters, shearing sheds, couple of cottages, wells other outbuildings and a cemetery. A fascinating look at a time gone by. The homestead was built out of carefully selected stones joined with lime mortar, some of the rooms were plastered. There was a cellar, dry stone garden walls and one palm tree standing sentry.
The place was first settled by Hugh Proby in 1851. Unfortunately during a thunderstorm animals stampeded and in his attempt to stop them he drowned in the creek. He was buried nearby. It was taken over by Grant and Phillips. Terrible drought hit the area in 1865 and he lost 20 000 sheep. At it's peak the property produced 41 000 sheep. The owner built a hotel to service passing traffic and 70 families lived there, children were born. There was a large store as supplies came from Adelaide.
The shearing shed was built of stone, a very strong looking building with substantial shearing quarters near by. The kitchen was on one end and what appeared to be a bread oven.
All around the area there are the remains of stone buildings, even townships such as Gordon, ( according to the tourist brochure). It was have been very tough. There is an imaginary line called the Goyder Line which separates the crop land from larger pastoral station country.
We stopped at Quorn for coffee, well I had tea and a scone with absolutely delicious quandong jam. Bought basic supplies at the local IGA and decided we needed to come back another time to further explore the area. Again there were some elegant old buildings in the town.
We drove the spectacular Pichi Richi pass and into Port Augusta. There is a train trip which runs on the weekends from Perterborough up the pass which would be lovely in winter or spring.
I don't think we've given Port Augusta a fair go, our opinion was formed years ago when we arrived and tried to shop on court day. Don't think any of us will forget the bloke who blew his nose a t shirt from a rack on display outside a shop. I'll never forget the look on our kids' faces, which was probably also mirrored by my face. Apparently they have world renown dry land gardens so one day we must stop longer.
Then we drove on through dry farm land that had sprung into life after above average rainfall. Every other time we've travelled it's been mid summer so it was nice to see it so green, the crops looked very healthy. There was a stunning contract between the beautiful blue skies, the green crops and the odd yellow field of canola.
Each little town would have a story to tell. No stopping for us today. I managed to take a photo of all the windmills at the entry to Penong. Lots of these towns have entry statements such as the big galah at Kimba. We finally stopped, watched a nice sunset and free camped at Minnipa. We were close to the road so a restless night as big trucks thundered through the night.
Today we travelled 530 kms and Rifter happily slept through out. Every time we'd stop we march him around so all off us could stretch our legs.
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