Blinman

Thursday 13 August 2015

Woke up to a very cold morning. There was ice on the windscreen of the truck. Today the truck will be renamed "Swiss Inne-ternational" - get the picture it was that cold!!  My  gloves went AWOL but were later found under the seat belt. By the time we were ready to pull out the SUN was shining and it was a beautiful day. We were all happy chappies.

 

Blinman was just a few kms from where we had camped so it was a short stop at the small town to take pictures and for some, a hot coffee and treat. Some more beautiful historic buildings and friendly people at the bakery. Once again the pastoralists and tourists would be the major source of income in this small town.  A few from the convoy spent the night at the self contained cottages rather than set up camp in the cold and wet.  We had such perfect driving conditions and enjoyed our drive through the majestic Parachilna Gorge. A snake like drive with lots of twists, turns and creek bed crossings mostly lined with red river gums.

 

We wandered through Beltona Siding where the old Ghan railway went through. The railway station is now a private residence under restoration by a middle aged couple. They live close by and plan to retire here. You would certainly have to really want to live  in such a remote place as it is a long way from all services.  The unsealed road into Beltona Siding was over gibber rock country and Herb punctured 2 tyres in his modern vehicle within about a kilometre of each other. Fortunately he was lent a spare to enable him to get to Copley to buy 2 new tyres.  We followed the old Ghan railway for part of our journey.

              

An hour or so was spent at Leigh Creek refuelling both the truck and our stomachs. The coal mine here supplies coal for the power station at Port  Augusta. There is a rail line between the two towns to transport the coal. We heard that there will be quite a few workers out of work both at Leigh Creek and Port Augusta as wind power will be replacing coal power.

 

The afternoon drive was through the valleys with unusual rock formations on either side. Then we climbed the hills to the top where the road plateaued and we had 360 degree views. It reminded us of our trip to Canada and Alaska  when we drove on the Top of the World Highway. These hills were not as big but it had a similar effect. We wiĺl be staying at Balcanoona Station for 2 nights and have a lay day tomorrow.