Tasmania, The Journey home, Wirrabara to Kimba

24.04.2024

Sunday 21 April 2024
Off early for a walk to visit of the Producer Markets in Wirrabara. Lots of fresh produce locally grown and produced. Picked up some last minute groceries and The Sunday Mail paper, hooked up and we are on the road again.

Wilmington to Quorn, South Australia
Had a short break in Wilmington before continuing our journey to Quorn. First stop was at the Railway Station/Information Centre to pick up our tickets for the 2.30 Tour of the Railway workshop.

We found a lovely bush camp for the night $18 a night and maximum stay of 2 days. Ian set up camp as Deborah prepared lunch and a lovely cup of tea.

A little light reading then off down town on foot, we go, to take a walk through town. Have a close look at these front windows.

A few buildings around town and the new town centre & water feature with Ampitheatre.

The Anzac Memorial Area.

We found the Library for Ian at the school for everyone to visit.

The 2.30pm Tour of the Pichi Richi Railway Workshop & yards. The workshops span across several sheds. Each holding various steam and diesel electric engines and multiple rail carriages, some in varying states of repair. They are always looking for volunteers to help. The tour was extensive and took over 1.5 hours. They even have a carriage from WWI that has etchings done by soldiers carried by the trains. Plus a sleeper carriage that has a ladies and gents end. Deborah inspected the plumbing and seating. Ian quietly waited.

Amazing renovation work is done here and they currently have 3 working steam trains, plus the diesel electrics. Here we also show an undercarriage of a W class plus the steam chamber being readied to install back on to it.

Many engines were built in England, others USA and others in Australia.

One of our favourites was the Coffee Pot train. We had tried to book a trip on it, but as it only goes a few times each year we were out of luck. It's called a motor carriage rather than a train, but it is really a steam driven engine. They even have a coal stash in the yard for it and the other steam engines.

Quorn, South Australia, the Silo night show at Quorn.
What we can tell you is these silos of a day are just that, with no painted pictures on them but at night as the sun goes down the light show begins. Like at the drive in theatre you drive and park up, turn your radio to 87.6 and watch & listen to the show, for about 30-40 minutes. This show also incorporated an Anzac Tribute.

https://quornsilolightshow.info/

Monday 22 April 24
We headed off on the road towards Iron Knob but along the way we thought we would revisit, 8 years later, The Australian Arid Land Botanic Garden, near Port Augusta. The plantings have expanded 2 fold. The area and plants and wildlife are impressive. Still a number of plants flowering, places to relax and sculptures to admire.

We passed wind turbines in the distance.

A salt lake.

It is noticeable the dryness out here. It hasn't rained in a while.

Continuing our journey we noticed in the distance as we were driving towards Iron Knob at the top of the hill 2 bursts of dust fill the air, which turns out to be the planned mine explosions today at 2pm.

We drove in and parked up for the night at the Iron Knob Community Run, donation campground. It has a camp kitchen, new toilet and shower block, hot water not attached yet. But as today reached 28 degrees we decided a cold shower would be refreshing tonight and it didn't disappoint. We visited the Post Office next door and met Markus the Postal Officer come general store person. We bought a drumstick ice cream each at $2.50 each, bargain and a dozen fresh and large free range community garden eggs at $4.00 bargain. We got the info on the land we had been passing on the left side, which is owned by the Army. All we could see driving past was danger, no entry. Markus tells us they have war games over there at particular times of the year, only known to the Army.
Below is a photo of Deborah's latest new friends. Not counted in the 150 residents living in Iron Knob.

The camp

Tuesday 23 April 24
Today we leave Iron Knob after a very warm night, something we haven't been used to during our trip around Tasmania which got down to 17. But firstly Ian inspects the van.

Deborah checks this structure out in the distance, it was confirmed it was used to load trains back in the day.

We take a stroll about 1km to the Iron Knob Tourist Information Centre and Museum. A compact display of the history of iron ore mining and other activities in the town. We also got to watch an informative video covering the main events in the mining journey of the town which established the iron ore and steel industry in Australia.

We hit the road, after arriving in Kimba for our morning tea stop we decided that, due to the strong headwinds, we'd stay the night. So we parked up in the Kimba Recreation Oval donation camping area. This provides nice ablutions which included access to $2 hot showers. A walk around town to the op shop and the Workshop 26. It's where Industrial meets country in an abandoned tractor shed. You meet the makers and creators breathing life into this unique country town in the heart of Eyre Peninsula. Local artisans, produce suppliers and secondhand antiques are on display and for sale. You will find Ian sitting by the fire waiting for his cuppa and the movies to start.

Tonight we took the opportunity to see the Kimba Silo artwork lit up. Very nice and a different reflection from our previous daylight viewings.