Tuesday 21st April 2015 – Farina – Fine clear skies – 7c to high 20’s C

Another great day, we were going to pack up and head up to Marree, but the quality of the camp site and with over 90 bird species as well as a lot more time to examine the ruins, we decided to camp another night.

After breakfast we did a walk to the old Ghan railway line and then up to the township.  It was quite a historical moment to walk along the old Ghan line with all of it’s associated history.  The more we walked around the township it was evident what a thriving little place it would have been in it’s day.  We were passed by a Emu with about 4 or 5 young and at an information shelter, I saw a large male, female and juvenile hopping across the plains.  Nothing like seeing the coat of arms go past you. 

The old Ghan line – -   There was a rail triangle here to swap gauges as the first line through was narrow gauge and then the gauge changed to wide gauge to carry more rolling stock.  During WW2 – the trains increased from 3 trains a week to 56 trains a week, the Great Northern Line (Ghan) was invaluable moving troops and goods north.  After the war saw major road work surveys (done by Len Beadell) to access the inland, as Australia realized how vulnerable we were, by only having one central route  to the north.

We walked the line :)   Had to put on my circus clothes (to hide the fear of falling)  to walk across this old bridge which was quite high with very old sleepers spanning it.  I checked first and felt better when I found steel girders underneath. The sleepers were dodgy – see the first one.

 

These photos are from the railway precinct.

The volunteers have done a great job with all the street signs.  Above right is what is now left of the Exchange Hotel.

We can see what appears to be lettering on the hotel but cannot make out what it reads – it must of have had another name as well as the Exchange Hotel.

 

The volunteers are coming up here for Anzac Day on Saturday so the camping area will be full.  That musts signal the start of the 6 weeks (I think I read somewhere) the time they come every year.  We will be on our way tomorrow – crowds don’t appeal to us.

The war memorial overlooks the camping ground which is very large.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You would wonder why there is a war memorial here, but as I climbed up to the plateau the information shelter has all the information on both conflicts.  There were a lot of volunteers and I even noticed that one chap enlisted in both wars.  He was 49 when he enlisted in WW2! even being wounded in WW1 didn’t stop him.  The son of the general store (name of Bell) was one of the first casualties in WW2 – shot down at the very start of the war trying to rescue the wife and children of De Gaul – it was totally pointless as they were safe and on a ship to the UK.  The entire crew lost their lives.  They were in the UK to pick up and bring back to Australia an aircraft and found themselves involved in the conflict right at the start.

Late this afternoon, we walked the 4 km round trip to the Farina cemetery.  It covers about 2 acres and is on top of a desolate rise.  There are many unmarked graves – they were probably marked by timber in the day, but it has all but gone.  The restoration has seen new timber crosses erected on know grave sites.

Looks it is going to be very popular over the Anzac weekend, as it was only us and our neighbours this morning and now we have more than a dozen come in today.  There will be a queue for the showers tonight.

Our camping neighbours are also with Qld plates and come from Reedy Creek – no where to hide in this world that’s for sure.

I only managed one bird photo – a white cheeked honeyeater.

I can’t get anywhere close to them, they just take off and disappear into the foliage.