Today was a good day.
The anticipated distance on the road was going to be a shade under 500km. I ended up doing slightly more than that.
Yes, I also can remember in times gone by doing 800 or 900 km in a day. By myself. Those days are long gone. I appreciate the journey more and realise it's not a sprint. It's a marathon. And one to savour.
Morning tea was in Port Augusta. When driving around looking for a bakery (pie review below) I realised that I may have erred in choosing Whyalla over Port Augusta as my two day stopover. It's a much nicer town and feels more in tune with its self. I know how that sounds, but it's the truth.
Next stop was Wilmington. A small town with a bit going on.
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| Those cars you see outside are full scale models. |
It also had the "Sansouci Puppet Museum" which is apparently the largest puppet museum in Australia. It's also the only puppet museum in Australia. Unfortunately it wasn't open this morning.
After Wilmington I stopped briefly at Orroroo, to take a look at the "giant gum tree".
I'm not sure what to say. It was a gum tree. It was pretty big.
At Peterborough I turned on to the Barrier Highway and stayed on it for the rest of the day.
I had chosen Yunta to be the designated lunch stop. It had a pub (closed) and two roadhouses, one on each side of the road. Apart from that there was nothing but red dirt and scrub for miles and miles (kilometres and kilometres).
I stepped in to the Ampol Roadhouse, bracing myself for a dodgy dim sim or some soggy potato cakes. Instead, the Indian family that operated the roadhouse provided a range of curries. From Beef Vindaloo to Butter Chicken and from Chicken Korma to ... something else I had forgotten to note. I had the Chicken Korma. It was cooked fresh and was a taste sensation I was not expecting on the Barrier Highway today.
About 90 minutes after this tasty lunch I reached the South Australia / NSW border with the clapped out town of Cockburn. The 2016 census showed a population of 56 and I reckon most of those had left since then.
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| Note the signage on the right showing the border |
One of the things that I really appreciated today was the red colour of the dirt. I saw this a couple of days earlier first, when driving into Iron Knob, the town before Whyalla. I guess it's part of Australia's Red Centre?
The red is caused by the oxidization of the iron dust in the dirt. Whilst I "knew" this before I don't think I actually got what that meant. I tried to take photos but I think I mostly failed to capture how special it looked. So they're not going up here.
What this meant was one of the most enjoyable days driving that I have had just soaking up the views, driving through red ranges or along red plains.
The end of my journey, Broken Hill, came as quite a shock, seeing a largish population, and traffic. For the previous 6 hours, after leaving Port Augusta, there may have been only 100 vehicles in total. In Broken Hill there was a traffic jam as school pick up time meant plenty of cars on the road. Well, it felt like it.
I'm going to be here for a couple days, and am looking forward to exploring what is here.
PIE REVIEW
Today's pie is courtesy of Port Augusta French Hot Bread. The pie in question is the Egg and Bacon Pie.
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| I forgot to take note of the price. |
The mince was very well seasoned and the crust was firm. The bacon on top was plentiful and there was a bit of cheese on the top as well. The egg in bacon and egg pies can sometimes taste quite dry as the yolk can be overcooked. That was not the case here, The egg complimented the rest of the pie very well. This may feature in the top half of the list at the end.
Podcast of the day: News Weakly.
- Author, comedian and former ABC Melbourne breakfast host, Sami Shah, gives his unique take on news satire where he extends beyond the standard low hanging fruit to discuss news from other parts of the world. This podcast is recorded from the Singapore Writers Festival.
Total km travelled: 4,360
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