Camp VII – Parachilna Gorge
The day started very early (most actually do except we remain asleep in bed) with the chorus of local birds up and into full song before sun up. It was another beautiful clear morning and the opportunity to explore the ruins of Farina at dawn was too good to pass up, especially armed with a camera. Getting up so early also provided the opportunity to rattle around a bit to get back at those campers who decided to party on a little last night. Strangely, there were more reasons to open and shut the doors of the Prado this morning!
Clearly we were not the only ones up so early, as we stumbled upon a family of emus out to catch the “early worm”. We were unsure how to react as we stood eyeball to eyeball (actually the emus’ eyeballs were much further off the ground than ours) – should we keep perfectly still, should we run, should we raise up our arms to make ourselves look larger, should we curl up in a ball on the track? All reasonable questions when confronted by a mother emu protecting her 6 or 7 young. We will never know the right strategy to adopt as mother and chicks slipped quietly back into the bushes and went about foraging for their breakfast.
Farina is now a town in ruins. It commenced life in the late 1800s and was the last stop on the northern train line out of Adelaide. From here, outlying stations were serviced initially by camel trains, then trucks and eventually trains when the line pushed further north and became known as the Ghan. The state government subdivided the land and envisioned a town of some 300 buildings servicing the northern communities. In their haste to open up the land, they did forget to check to see if there was a reliable water supply. Various wells and bores were dug or drilled, all with some success for a period of time before they dried up or became salty. Extending the rail line north to Marree and beyond eventually spelt the end for Farina and the town died a slow death with the last resident moving on in the 1970s.
Farina has recently received a lot of attention and is being stabilised ( to minimise further decay) and promoted as a bit of a tourist stop-off point. The camping grounds are attractive and comfortable amongst the trees along Farina Creek, there are showers and flushing (yes, flushing!) toilets. A number of walks that have been marked out weave their way through the ruins of Farina, and information boards paint a picture of more prosperous times.
Compared with yesterday, our planned travel distance today was very short – just a brief journey down to Lyndhurst where we said goodbye to the last of the dirt tracks for a while and reacquainted ourselves with sealed road (even with a white line down the middle). From there we entered undulating countryside, with the Flinders Ranges growing ever present on the south eastern skyline. The overburden heaps that mark the start of the Leigh Creek open cut coal mine came into view and we were soon upon Copley which marks the turnoff to Arkaroola in the northern Flinders Ranges – a place we visited last year when the AFL Grand Final was on. Leigh Creek is a purpose built mining town just 5kms further on and we decided to head in to stock up at the local IGA grocer. A coffee at the local cafe confirmed that the one we had in Birdsville was clearly the best for 500kms (Birdsville would be 600kms from Leigh Creek).
We continued south to Parachilna, another dot on the now disused Ghan railway line north from Adelaide, turning off the highway to check if the Outback Grill at the local Prairie Hotel was serving meals tonight. Not only are they serving meals but we had to book a table! We turned off the main road from Parachilna and have headed east into Parachilna Gorge to set up camp for the night. We are 15 minutes east of the pub and looking forward to some local fare this evening.