Apex Park

We headed north west along the straightest of straight roads, through the other copper town of Wallaroo before passing through Port Pirie (a lead town) to the head of Spencer Gulf at Port Augusta, our most westerly point of this trip.

We first headed out to the Arid Lands Botanic Garden, at the start of the Stuart Highway (and 2,700 kilometres from Darwin).

The Matthew Flinders (he sailed up Spencer Gulf, and, yes, named it after an ancestor of the late Princess of Wales) Red Cliffs lookout provided great views of the waterway, and the garden itself was a wonderful walk through a succession of arid Australian climates.

The Wadlata Outback Centre was our next stop, a fascinating and detailed journey through time in the outback and the animals and people that inhabit it. All the usual historic outback aspects were all featured - flying doctor, school of the air, Oodnadatta postman - with vivid and clever displays.

The following day we caught the Afghan Express to Quorn, a cold, ratting, bouncing, smoky, 90-minute trip on the Pichi Richi Railway.

The scenery of the South Flinders Ranges was beautiful, but by the time we reached Quorn the weather had turned cold and windy, so after a quick lunch and an even quicker walk around we took refuge in a pub before boarding the train for the return trip.

There were some delays on the way back due to some damage to the tracks, so we were a little late getting back to Port Augusta station, which took no time reminding us of the dark side of the outback world with the number of discarded wine cask bladders by the tracks. In fact, there were many people wandering around the town with nothing apparent to do and with open bottles of liquor in hand. Not only was it confronting to our sensibilities, it is a bloody national tragedy.

Nonetheless, we enjoyed the offerings of Port Augusta, and look forward both to the next part of our trip and to maybe returning in the future.Read more