Along the last section of the dirt road, there was much
to see. The ruins continued, as did the Ghan train line, but we also came
across things like the "Dog fence" which runs for thousands of klms
to keep the dingoes out of properties. This was cool and the boys talked about
it for a while until we saw an old Ghan carriage, a robot made out of engine
bits, two small planes upended in the ground, and another structure that we
couldn't work out. We didn't drive in and read the details about what it was,
as we had lost a bit of time already stopping, so we got some pictures and kept
moving on. For an outback track, things like this certainly keep you
interested.
Once on the road again we went through Leigh Creek which
is a coal mining town much like Tieri in Central Qld. They move 10,000 tonnes
per day into Port Augusta and the coal from this open cut mine supplies 40% of
SA's power needs. It was pretty big. The boys go crazy when they see mines now....
Into the Flinders Ranges after lunch bound for Wilpena
Pound. Without knowing it we came in from the west and did the main 65k drive
track through the National Park. Beautiful scenery right the way along and many
photo opportunities taken, albeit overcast and a bit spitty.
When we checked in at Wilpena, they showed me the map and
we realised we could have been here sooner coming another way, but we'd nailed
the big drive anyway.
No powered sites because the FJ Cruiser car club were
there. There was about 30 of them all numbered and all looked quite cool. They
call them the budget Prados because they have the same running gear as Prados,
just not the bells and whistles but they looked great and I like them.
We settled for unpowered which was OK with the option for
a powered site tomorrow. I said to Nat let's do some walks in the morning and
perhaps move on somewhere else given we had seen much of the park on the way
in.
Pressure off now, we have 4 days to get to Adelaide for a
4-5 day stop, so whilst it has been a big week we don't regret it one bit.
Jase.....
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