Twice as Long as Flinders in Port Augusta.

By the time we leave Port Augusta, we will have spent twice as long here as Mathew Flinders did when he visited in The Investigator in 1802 and yet nothing will be named after us. Flinders was here for 3 days and we will have spent 6. In those 3 days some of his party managed to walk to the top of Mt Brown, the highest peak in this part of the Flinders Ranges (named after his botanist Robert Brown), 24 kms away. I guess he deserved to get his name on it after that effort. We were going to stop for 4 days but tyre trouble, thanks to a poor wheel alignment has seen that extended.

Mt  Brown is the Pointy one in the middle. The view from Shoreline Caravan Park.

When we were at Pildappa Rock I luckily noticed that one of our rear tyres was starting to come adrift but spotted it before it blew. When we arrived in Port Augusta we discovered it is a very rare tyre. The blokes at every tyre place in town shook their heads in collective bewilderment at what would possess anyone to use a tyre of that size (225 60R18 for the tyre enthusiasts amongst you) and it turned out there are none in South Australia so our replacement has to come from Melbourne. Since discovering that I have checked every Suzuki Vitara I've seen and most seem to have the same tyres. Since Vitaras are not uncommon I can only assume they are very good tyres and don't need replacing too often. Hope so anyway.

The upside is that we have easily filled our time here. We booked into the Shoreline Caravan Park, on the shore as the name suggests and we visited the Dry Land Botanical Garden where the cafe serves delicious bush food themed fare (think quangdong jam etc). We've taken several bike rides round town and rode the Pichi Richi steam train up to Quorn. Today I paddled up to the head of Spencer Gulf where Flinders ascertained that it was not an entry to the Inland Sea. I can confirm that.

Quorn Railway Station bathed in sunlight. 

On Sunday, there was a Bargain Bonanza type flea market in town so Trish took a stall to try and sell some of her Uthando Dolls and felt art. I went to the Wadlata Interpretive Centre which takes a good 3 hours to see everything. An informative video presentation claimed that some of earths most primitive life forms began right here in Port Augusta and looking around at the patrons of the flea market, it seems that some are still here to this very day. Topped off a great day by watching the unbeaten Dockers stay that way in a game against the Bulldogs.

Finally, if anyone is actually reading this blog (and the page view counter suggests you are) feel free to add comments at the bottom of the posts so I know you are there. Just play around with the buttons there and you'll work out how to do it. If you post as Anon, perhaps put your name in the body of the comment so I know who it is. Be nice to communicate.