Hot – both days the temperature was 40C – evening wind.
I am fairly confident that these are “Adelaide Rosellas which are only found in and around Adelaide. They don’t have a large range. After our experience with the cross bred Rosellas (Eastern & Pale Headed) on the Gold Coast, I am a little wary when they don’t exactly fit the colour scheme.
Our camp site, the park entrance taken late this afternoon and today’s sunset. We missed out yesterday due to the cloud cover.
The town precinct of Port Augusta has some lovely heritage buildings and a nice waterfront on the old wharf sections. It is unfortunate that you do not see this aspect of the town when you drive through as the main road takes you past very shabby areas.
The entrance to the Information & Wadlata Outback Centre. Above right – street view in Port Augusta.
You read reviews where people don’t think it is value and go through it in 30 minutes. This may be the case if you are not interested in history and are expecting something else. We spend hours there. There is lots of reading and watching of video. They even had the original movie about Tom Kruse the Birdsville Mailman and this goes for 64 mins alone. We already have the DVD and have seen it, but sat through about 20 mins of it. In tandem it covered indigenous and European history of the Flinders Ranges. The journey is from the past to the present time.
Fossils found by Reg Sprigg. A famous geologist and conservationist who was taught by Sir Douglas Mawson. He founded Arkaroola as a Wildlife Reserve. Reg Sprigg was also involved in setting up SANTOS (South Australia Northern Territory Oil Survey) Most people probably have never heard of him, but you can’t travel the Simpson Desert and not come across something that isn’t attached to his name.
It was interesting that they noted the Afghans were not from Afghanistan, but came from India. Glen sitting in one of the original seats in a Ghan carriage. It was surprising how large the carriage was. The seats had plenty of bounce in them and were comfortable, but then it was for a few minutes not days.
The famous Birdsville Mail Truck. Tom Kruse used sheets of steel to get up the sand dunes – the original Max Trax. He travelled the Birdsville Track fortnightly through everything that nature could throw at him.
This was a typical farmhouse kitchen with a pedal radio.
Port Augusta was a lot more scenic and interesting than I expected. The Arid Land Botanical Gardens and the Wadlata Discovery Centre were both fantastic and well done. The information centre guide knew absolutely everything there was to know from here to the NT border. I was impressed with her comprehensive knowledge. She gauged peoples abilities and gave them the information they required. She gave us desert maps and guides to access 4wd tracks for our set up. I am glad that we obtained this information here and didn’t try to get it in Adelaide.
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