The Gawler Ranges National Park

Today, I’d like to take you with me to the Gawler Ranges.
Not many Australians have been there, which is understandable, because the nearest city of substance (Adelaide) is a good 600 kilometres away..
The first time we came there was when we were on our way to Western Australia, to go to the Gunbarrel Highway. It was one of those (very rare) wet days there, and we were lucky not to get stuck for some days.. To give you an idea, just look at the first couple of photos of of our webpages that are dedicated to the Gawler Ranges..
Then, two years later, we decided, again, to go to WA, and again the Gawler Ranges were en route.. This time, the weather was more favourable for us.
The National Park has a lot to offer: aboriginal history, more recent history from the ‘early settlers’, scenery and wildlife.
There is the old Paney Homestead and there is the Pondanna Outstation, both well preserved.
Nature features inlclude the Kolay Mirica Falls and the Organ Pipes, and of course wildlife galore! Emus, kangaroos, birds, you name it.

(Please, click here or on the photo to see more photos of this location)

Today’s picture is one of abandoned machinery at Pondanna Outstation. The rusty apparatus (I don’t know what it is used for, so I’m not giving it a name) combines well with the red sand, the odd dusty tree and the ever present blue sky.
Typical Australian landscape indeed, and one of our favourites…

Old Peake Telegraph Station

The ruins of the Old Peake Telegraph Station are off the Oodnadatta Track in Outback South Australia. It is a rough drive, even for 4wd vehicles, but it is definitely worth it!

The Telegraph Station use to be a major centre on the Australian Overland Telegraph Line in the early 1900s, but is now as remote and deserted as can be. A small pocket of date palms and some white-washed ruined buildings are all that is left.

The Australian Overland Telegraph Line was a 3200 km telegraph line that connected Darwin with Adelaide (or rather Port Augusta) in South Australia. Completed in 1872 the Overland Telegraph Line allowed fast communication between Australia and England.

(Please, click here or on the photo to see more photos of this location)

The surroundings of the Old Peake Telegraph Station are very harsh and makes you wonder how people could survive …

Trilby Station

Trilby Station is located on the Darling River near Louth, south of Bourke, New South Wales.

It has always been a hard life trying to make a living of the land in this area, the more so in the last years with one of the the worst droughts ever experienced since white man came to Australia.

Trilby is still a working sheep station, but as an other source of income has opened its doors to travellers. It offers a range of accommodation, the best option (at least to us and by far) camping on the Darling River and watching the bird life.

If you are there at the right time you can pop in and see the School of the Air, operated from Broken Hill, life in action (if the kids haven’t grown too old by now and if Satellite Broadband hasn’t caught up with the whole thing).

There are interesting self-drive tours to do at Trilby and neighbouring Dunlop Stations. A lot of relics from the past can be found, such as abandoned homesteads, plant, cars and … the odd double-decker.

(Please, click here or on the photo to see more photos of this location)

The folks at Trilby call this the Old London Bus. It is supposed to have been the mobile residence of a sheep shearer that worked on the station some time ago, but it was left behind when its time had come. But … watch it … as was pointed out by specialists, it has never had a life in London. It is actually an old Sydney Bus, although it may also have driven the streets of Newcastle (NSW it is, not the UK).

Anyway, we hope it is happy now …