We are back to fine weather again and hopefully the road into Leigh Creek will be dried. We don’t mind the mud, but it’s hard to get off the car when there is limited water around. We took our time packing up and let everyone else hit the road before us. Before we left we had showers so we are sorted for tonight.
The road from Arkaroola into Leigh Creek was dry and only very few muddy spots which we could avoid. We could see where the Friday leavers were slipping and sliding before they closed the road. The road to Mt Hopeless is still closed, so we are glad that we had decided the other day to just go straight to Leigh Creek and then head north from there.
All up we have spent three weeks in the Flinders Ranges – a week each in the Southern, Northern and Arkaroola. We certainly got to see a lot of the ranges in that time.
We called into Leigh Creek, restocked, got Glen’s script, and refuelled and filled our water tank. We drove past the Leigh Creek coal mine. It is huge. Our map showed that there was a viewing platform, but the road in said “no entry” – the mine has been slowly moving south for 30 odd years, so maybe that is why it is now closed. It is an absolutely huge open cut mine and it would be great to see it from the air.
We passed through Lyndhurst and what a tiny little rundown settlement it is. Nothing there to pull over for. Just a few kilometres out of Lyndhurst is the Ochre Pits. This was amazing as it was so much bigger than I imagined it would be. It has to have been in operation for quite a long time. This was a main trading item for the aboriginals.
The above two are almost a panorama of the left hand side of the pit.
It was like a large quarry, obviously used for thousands of years. Every colour was there.
On the way to Farina we could see the earthworks of the original Ghan railway line. The line was moved further 200 kms west in 1980 and no longer passes through these towns.
Farina offered up so many photographic opportunities. Probably the same photo has been taken by every passerby, but I was happen with mine.
The underground bakery – it has been restored and they actually bake and sell bread from here (when the volunteers are here).
The building above left and views from the inside. The stone work is being restored.
All that is standing of these houses are the fire places.
I like this one the best.
The one below has been made out of rock and corrugated iron and that is the original timber floor.
A photograph from 1915 of the General Store.
This has to be the earliest grader that I have ever seen. It was not motorised and would have been pulled by a team of bullocks. I doubt that it would have been horses because the entire grader is solid steel. You can see the pulling yoke for hitching up at the front.
Farina Camp Ground - Our camp site – it has shade, flushing toilets, hot showers, and grass – all for $5 per person per night. We are happy that we stopped here and didn’t bother to drive onto Marree and camp behind the pub. We may do this on our way back through Marree to do the Birdsville Track. The track is currently closed, so hopefully no more rain and it will be good to travel on when we finish our loop camp trip around here.
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