Mt Ive and Gawler Ranges NP

April 30th

Locheil to Mt Ive Station via Port Augusta and Iron Knob. We just followed the road today to reach Port Augusta. Just on the outskirts of the township is Sundrop Farms, a 20 hectare greenhouse that turns seawater and sunlight ( with a most interesting solar array) into energy and water. Then use sustainably sourced carbon dioxide and nutrients to maximise the growth of the crops. Because they don’t need soil they can grow their produce on degraded land in arid areas previously considered too barren for agriculture.

We refuelled in Port Augusta and drove on to Iron Knob where we stopped for a wander through their local museum, about the only place operational in the whole town. Quite an interesting little museum and a very “has been” town. It was once quite a thriving place and is considered the birthplace of the Australian Steel Industry. The iron ore was first mined by BHP in 1899 and was substantial enough to support a national steel industry. An average of 1 million tonnes per year was taken from the Iron Monarch mine and most of this was processed at the steelworks in nearby Whyalla. After driving around the town we stopped for lunch near an electric shovel which would have been huge in its heyday but is small in today’s world.

From Iron Knob we turned west towards Ceduna. We managed to travel 400m and Philip made an impromptu turn Right at the Mt Ive Sheep Station sign! This unintentionally became our first run of dirt and gravel roads. We were only a few kilometres in and we drove past Corunna Shearing shed where they were busy shearing. Got a big wave from the guys in the yard as they pushed sheep up the ramps from the outer yards. Then onto Mt Ive Station where we are camping for the next couple of nights.

We woke this morning to a gorgeous sunrise. Then Philip cooked a lovely breakfast before we packed the car for a round trip through the Gawler Ranges National Park (250 k.) Old shearing sheds, Old Paney Homestead, Stone Dams, Organ Pipe rock formations and finally a trip out to Lake Gairdener, South Australia’s 2nd largest Salt Lake. We had to purchase a pass from Mt Ive to access Lake Gairdener. $30 well spent. It was a great day lots of different landscapes, road conditions and vistas.

May 1 Saturday (Election night in Tasmania)

We spent part of the evening listening to Tasmania Election Results. Another Liberal win.

May 2 Sunday.

Today’s destination is Ceduna, approximately 250k away. The first part of the trip is retracing part of yesterday’s loop to Yardea station before we continue on towards Hiltaba Nature Park, 770 square Kilometres, and then turn south towards Ceduna. Today’s trip started off with viewings of Kangaroo, wombats, (quite different looking to Tasmanian wombats. (Pointier heads, bigger ears and much darker fur.) emus which ran across the road in front of us and sheep. Again we had another varied trip. Scenery changing all the time. Creek bed crossings, corrugations, graded roads and dust in various colours, red gold and white.

From leaving Iron Knob to arriving in Ceduna we did 560 k on dirt, rubble, sand roads. A great shakedown trip for the many gravel roads ahead of us.