Today started in the Wadlata Outback Centre, in the middle of Port Augusta. As well as being Port Augusta’s main information centre, it also has an incredible Tunnel of Time exhibition. From the outside, you really don’t think it would be so long and informative, but as you enter, you’re taken right back to the formation of earth at the time of the supercontinents. Then, with a general focus on the outback, we’re taken on a really interactive journey from the formation of Australia as a continent, through to how Aboriginal people lived on the vast, arid lands around the Flinders Ranges, and then to how Europeans first experienced the outback, and their journeys north and south, and east and west. There was plenty of interactive exhibits for the kids to enjoy – but more importantly, I think the kids probably got an entire year’s worth of history lessons in just a couple of hours! Sure, trying to retain in one big hit will be hard for them – but it was so well presented, and thoroughly engaging for them.
While we were at Wadlata, I had a chat with a couple of the information guides behind the counter – having just spent so much time looking at and understanding more of the outback, I wondered if we were missing something by simply heading north along the Stuart Hwy from Port Augusta to Coober Pedy. I did know the Oodnadatta Track is pretty passable for most 4WDs, and so I was curious about heading north to the town of Marree where the Oodnadatta Track starts, and then heading west from there to Coober Pedy – but I was conscious that would take longer, and so that was the advice I really needed. After a bit of chatting, it was clear that the only way to do it safely would be to stay overnight somewhere. Trying to get it all done in one day would either involve leaving really early and driving at dawn, or driving at dusk – something that most of you will know is not a smart idea if you want to avoid animal vs. car encounters. It was a bit disappointing, and I left with a twinge of regret wondering if I’d missed an opportunity in planning the trip months ago to include more of outback South Australia.
However, what did come up in the chat was finding a way to see more of the Flinders Ranges – just up the road from where we were in Port Augusta was a beautiful town called Quorn, deeper into the base of the Flinders Ranges. And that’s just where we went next!
The drive out to Quorn was stunning – only 30 mins north-east of Port Augusta, but you really start winding your way through the beautiful mountains of the Flinders Ranges that we’ve looked longingly at for the past few days. The road hugs the base of the different mountains, and as the railway line does the same thing around different mountains, you cross over it about a dozen times on your way in. Our first stop was for lunch – we headed to the Quandong Cafe. A simple, but lovely little cafe that specialises in including the beautiful quandong fruit into a few things. (Quandong is a native plant, and its fruit is colloquially known as native peach – because it tastes exactly like a tart, rich peach.) The cafe was quite busy actually (which was great to see), and we all enjoyed ourselves. I was the only one who had quandong with lunch – on my hotdog, I had quandong chutney. Debbie then enjoyed a quandong milkshake, which was quite unique, but delicious.
We wandered around Quorn for the next little while, starting at their Railway Station. While it is a working railway station, it’s really only used for the Pichi Richi Railway now, and so train traffic is virtually non-existent until those trips. So you’re able to explore the railway yards out the back, including looking at old silos, weigh bridges, tracks and signals.
We visited a few more of their old buildings on their heritage walk – there’s so many to see! And I was excited to stumble on yet another little local distillery, Flinders Gin! Of course they made a Quandong Gin, and of course I bought some.
As we headed back toward Port Augusta, we dropped into the Australian Arid Botanic Gardens. Before we walked around the gardens, we were keen to try their different native-flavoured ice creams for afternoon tea. The kids got quandong (boys) and lemon myrtle (Eliza), and Debbie and I splurged a bit and got a sample plate of all four flavours (the other two flavours were desert lime and wattle seed). They were delicious! A huge amount of ice cream, but really brilliantly flavoured.
We walked through a few different areas of the gardens, and really enjoyed looking at different native desert plants – there was a lot of signage up about different regions and groups of plants. We worked our way through to an incredible lookout at the back of the gardens, which was a perfect way to end the day. As we wandered back, we even found an amazing section on Sturt’s Desert Pea!
Tomorrow we get deeper into the outback – looking forward to exploring Coober Pedy!
