Heading to South Australia

4th July, 2025

Departure day on the Spirit of Tasmania. Two very excited young people and a couple of eager to travel adults. After a short delay at departure due to a medical emergency we were off on a very smooth sailing. Neither Em or Hugh were impressed that we had a 5.45am wake up call but this meant we we on the road early. We were 4th off the ship and on our way.

First stop is Bendigo for breakfast with Kevin and Isabel and to check out their new home. Very nice home and a lovely couple of hours catching up before we hit the road and head towards Kaniva our stop for the night.

A stop at Dimboola to see the Silo art and another stop at Murtoa to visit the Stick Shed, a very interesting grain store. This is the only remaining grain store of this type. It was built during World War Two. It was constructed over four months in 1942 and was designed to store 92 500 tonnes of wheat. It measures 265 metres long, 60 metres wide and 19 metres high. Inside it has 560 wooden poles for support which are made from unmilled mountain ash, laid out in 10 rows. It is a very impressive building.

Then on to Kaniva where we are staying with friends Kerryn and Alwyn. Kerryn informed me that we had been friends for 52 years. And we still had plenty to talk about. Philip, Alwyn, Hugh and Em went for a tour of the farm and some of their machinery. Hugh checking out the cabs on the harvesters and sprayers. It’s always great catching up and sharing our travels with each other. We may even cross paths later in our trip.

6th July.

After a relaxed breakfast and more talking we left to head into South Australia and then north to Burra. Stopping at Bordertown for groceries, had to stock up on veggies etc as we couldn’t bring any from home. We had a pretty long day arriving in Burra about 4.30, ready to start the real touring tomorrow.

Supermarket discussions, tailgate lunch and ice creams at Leigh Creek

7th July.

We head up to the old Heritage Copper Mine for a look around before heading north towards Peterborough, Orrooroo, Hawker, Parachilna and Leigh Creek. Lots of emus along the roadside with goats and sheep and a few roos. We kept Em and Hugh busy with them googling history of the areas and station details which made the trip more interesting. We have learnt from Em that Sir Sydney Kidman had a one eyed horse ( she can remember this from a podcast listened to 3 years ago), drove past Sir Hubert Wilkins birth place (he was a polar explorer), many stations around this area have around 30000 acres and Leigh creek has a population of 92 and still has an operational school with 42 students.

Tonight’s bush camp is just north of Leigh Creek and we were blessed with a gorgeous sunset.

8th July

First stop today are some Ochre Pits on Mundownda Station just north of Lyndhurst. These are stunningly coloured cliffs with a palette of rich Australian colours from reds to browns, yellow to white. The cliffs are clay with ferric oxide giving the range of colours. The colour is darker and redder with higher levels of iron oxide, the white has little or no iron present.

Next stop is Farina, an abandoned town that is now being preserved. The highlight of this stop is the underground bakery. And of course we had to make some purchases. Boston buns, pasties and sausage rolls and a pull apart loaf.

At Marree we wander along the old Ghan rail line and check out Tom Kruze’s (the Birdsville Mailman) truck and some display boards about Lake Eyre, then out to the cemetery to see some of the old graves. Here the area is divided into European, Aboriginal and Afghan which is quite unusual for a cemetery in Australia.