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Van Trip 2007
Rawnsley Park to Port Augusta
Days 19 to 20
164 KM Travelled Today
After a leisurely departure from Rawnsley Park Station we travelled back through Hawker and Quorn, where we stopped for coffee. The main attraction of Quorn is the Pichi Richi Railway, which is an operating museum, operating regular heritage train journeys on the oldest remaining section of the famous narrow-gauge old Ghan railway.
During World War II, Quorn was a vital service point for trains heading north to Alice Springs and carried over 1,000,000 troops heading to Darwin and on to Papua New Guinea. Train services through Quorn peaked at over 50 per day during and immediately after the period of World War II.
Quorn is home to country music artist Jedd Hughes, and was the birthplace of politician Brian Harradine and champion SANF footballer Fos Williams. Former Australian of the year Lowitia O'Donoghue also spent a huge portion of her childhood at the Aboriginal mission in Quorn.
We arrived in Port Augusta in the early afternoon and checked into the Shoreline Park Van Park (Top Tourist) site 61, and proceed to set up camp in what turned out to be a very pleasant park.
On the second day we booked the van into the local tyre dealer and had 4 new tyres and 2 batteries fitted, as advised by the mechanic in Peterborough.I also had my tooth repaired.
Port Augusta is the fifth most populous city in South Australia after Adelaide, Mount Gambier, Whyalla and Murray Bridge. It is a seaport and railway junction city located on the east coast of the Eyre Peninsula and is located at the head of the Spencer Gulf 322 km north of Adelaide.
It is a natural harbour which was founded on 24 May 1852 by Alexander Elder
and John Grainger who selected the location for the port. The port was named after Augusta Sophia, Lady Young, the wife of the Governor of South Australia, Sir Henry Edward Fox Young.
In 1802, the English navigator Matthew Flinders first explored Spencer Gulf's northern waters as far north as Redbanks - near present day Port Augusta. In common with other explorers of the time, Flinders explored the Port Augusta area hoping to penetrate the heart of the Australian continent.
At the time such expeditions were mounted with the view of discovering a large navigable river or vast inland sea. Flinders was disappointed on both counts however. The legendary inland sea did in fact once exist, but basically Flinders was 120 million years too late. Having discovered no supplies of fresh water in the Port Augusta area Flinders then departed to complete his epic circumnavigation of the Australian continent.
After returning from the Tyre service we prepared the van for tomorrow's departure for Glendambo, with a plan to stop off at the Woomera Rocket Range.
Days 19 to 20
164 KM Travelled Today
After a leisurely departure from Rawnsley Park Station we travelled back through Hawker and Quorn, where we stopped for coffee. The main attraction of Quorn is the Pichi Richi Railway, which is an operating museum, operating regular heritage train journeys on the oldest remaining section of the famous narrow-gauge old Ghan railway.
During World War II, Quorn was a vital service point for trains heading north to Alice Springs and carried over 1,000,000 troops heading to Darwin and on to Papua New Guinea. Train services through Quorn peaked at over 50 per day during and immediately after the period of World War II.
Quorn is home to country music artist Jedd Hughes, and was the birthplace of politician Brian Harradine and champion SANF footballer Fos Williams. Former Australian of the year Lowitia O'Donoghue also spent a huge portion of her childhood at the Aboriginal mission in Quorn.
We arrived in Port Augusta in the early afternoon and checked into the Shoreline Park Van Park (Top Tourist) site 61, and proceed to set up camp in what turned out to be a very pleasant park.
On the second day we booked the van into the local tyre dealer and had 4 new tyres and 2 batteries fitted, as advised by the mechanic in Peterborough.I also had my tooth repaired.
Port Augusta is the fifth most populous city in South Australia after Adelaide, Mount Gambier, Whyalla and Murray Bridge. It is a seaport and railway junction city located on the east coast of the Eyre Peninsula and is located at the head of the Spencer Gulf 322 km north of Adelaide.
It is a natural harbour which was founded on 24 May 1852 by Alexander Elder
and John Grainger who selected the location for the port. The port was named after Augusta Sophia, Lady Young, the wife of the Governor of South Australia, Sir Henry Edward Fox Young.
In 1802, the English navigator Matthew Flinders first explored Spencer Gulf's northern waters as far north as Redbanks - near present day Port Augusta. In common with other explorers of the time, Flinders explored the Port Augusta area hoping to penetrate the heart of the Australian continent.
At the time such expeditions were mounted with the view of discovering a large navigable river or vast inland sea. Flinders was disappointed on both counts however. The legendary inland sea did in fact once exist, but basically Flinders was 120 million years too late. Having discovered no supplies of fresh water in the Port Augusta area Flinders then departed to complete his epic circumnavigation of the Australian continent.
After returning from the Tyre service we prepared the van for tomorrow's departure for Glendambo, with a plan to stop off at the Woomera Rocket Range.
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