Are We Closet Train Buffs?

The tyre turned up at last and we're off again. Bad news too was that the wheel in question is slightly out of alignment and can't be adjusted but if we rotate the tyres every 10,000km, which isn't so bad, that should be ok.

We headed up Horrocks Pass out of Port Augusta to Wilmington which has a puppet museum run by Brian who appears to be turning into a puppet himself. Well he has a face and haircut that was reminiscent of most of his ventriloquist dummies but tact prevented me from pointing that out to him. From Wilmington on, we are travelling in what is to us virgin territory. The route we had traveled so far was the one we took when we came over in 2003 for Erica's 50th birthday just when she was first diagnosed with cancer but now we were into new country.

Up and over the Flinders Ranges it is pretty country. Smooth green rolling hills although I suspect that much of the time they are more brown than green. They have recently had some unusually heavy falls of rain which has brought on the green which makes it lovely for us.

We stopped at Orroroo for lunch. It would've been worth it for the name alone but they have a lovely walk along a spring fed creek gorge which has some Aboriginal rock carvings in one spot and then further on an outrageously sentimental poem, full of o'ers and ere's, also carved into the rock, in 1896 by a young man who was about to go to America to make his fortune with a chainless bicycle he had invented! You couldn't make this stuff up.

We spent the night in Peterborough, once the central point of Australia's north-south and east-west railways and a meeting point for the country's three different rail guages. Their old railway yards and roundhouse is now Steamtown, a railway museum which has a nightly Sound & Light Show with a one hour video of the history of railways in this region. So having rode the Pichi Richi steam train we now had the Steamtown experience. I'm now full bottle on the difference between T and Y type trains and of course familiar with the Garrett engines. However, I think that is sufficient so I shall refrain from visiting any more rail museums etc for a while.

Matilda declares that she is a train buff too.

Peterborough also has a motor cycle museum in the old Baptist Church which I visited as well. No Ducatis but a very nice 1977 Laverda Jota which was the owners first bike. Lucky him.

The town also has some of the cheapest real estate in the country. The "Institute" which served as the original town hall and is a two story building about the size of Albany's Town Hall and has been restored as a private residence for some time, is currently for sale for $278,000. It looks in good nick too but sadly I don't think Peterborough is really the place for me despite that bargain price.

Peterborough Town Hall has a large quilt on display made for the centenary of Federation ànd depicting all the significant  buildings in town. I could see Trish's mind working and suspect Albany might end up with one similar. 

Out of Peterborough the hills stop rolling and turn into wide open saltbush plains with the occasional low range in the distance. It's still pretty green but with tinges of brown, Goats seem to be the livestock of choice in these parts with the occasional sheep. Fat and healthy looking goats they are too. After about 300kms of these goat filled plains and we have arrived in Broken Hill.