We had a bit of a late start this morning; is the holiday
feeling finally settling in?!
After we packed up camp we drove to Yunta. Here is the start
of the quarantine zone where most fruits and vegetables aren’t allowed with
respect to the spreading of the Queensland Fruit Fly. Thankfully we thought
about this when we did grocery shopping in Broken Hill yesterday so we had
hardly anything to throw away. Note that this was a manned inspection post,
meaning they take the fruit fly problem serious.
Our next stop that morning was Peterborough, a nice little
outback town with some lively history. It was a thriving town in the late
1900’s as they processed much of the ore from Broken Hill (supplied via train)
as well as other ‘resource’ related activities. We stocked up on fruit, vegetables
and water before heading off towards Magnetic Hill.
Magnetic Hill is a place that according to local legend has
‘magic’ powers. Cars that are parked on a seemingly downward slope will travel
backwards (thus up hill) when put in Neutral. A big mystery indeed ;) Maybe it
was the big magnet…?!? Nevertheless it
kept us occupied for 10 minutes!
Our next stop and camp for the night was supposedly the Flinders
Ranges… But about 70 km north of Hawker we discovered we were heading in the
wrong direction L. Slightly
annoyed we backtracked to a nearby campsite on a cattle station property called
Merna Mora. For only $10 a night you at least get to enjoy a nice sunset and
view over the Flinders Ranges.
Something that we have to mention is the flies in the
outback. For those of you that have never experienced it... It’s absolutely
driving one nuts. As soon as you get out of the car you are surrounded by 50
flies trying to get into your mouth, your nose, your eyes and your ears. It’s
horrific! Thankfully we’ve got fly nets that we can pull over our heads so at
least we can enjoy our cold beer in peace J
When it gets dark the flies finally go to bed and leave you
alone. And if you want to enjoy your breakfast in peace the next morning , be sure
to get up bright and early, before the flies get active again!
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