2macstracks

I think today we were shown what happens to small country communities when they lose relevance. We traveled down the Barrier Highway which for most of the way is close to the railway line and the water tanks used by the Steam Trains are still standing, On some you can still see the advertising, Amgoorie Tea featured often.

The Steam Trains would have stopped at those little places and maybe some of them even offered refreshments to passengers. Now those trains are obsolete and there is no reason for the new ones to stop.

Cockburn now has a pub and about three houses.

Olary looked very sad with old houses falling down everywhere, the only viable place seemed to be the pub and that was for sale.

Mannahill had a police Station, pub and railway station. We took a little break there for a drink and to eat the bananas because we’d seen a sign saying there was a Quarantine Checkpoint coming up. While we were stopped the Indian Pacific passenger train with all it’s carriages rolled straight on through without stopping.

Yunta appears to be a viable town, I know it had a school but we didn’t see one when we drove through. At Oodla Wirra there seemed to be only the Halfway Hotel but today we had to stop there for the Quarantine Check. Our “Four Leaf Mix” of salad leaves was confiscated because it had Spinach leaves in it and so were our tomatoes and cucumber.

We were expecting the Prado Pilot to be breathalysed too but the policeman was too busy taking control of a man’s vehicle, parking it and then taking off with the man, lights flashing on the police car.

Peterborough seems to be a thriving town and it has lots of tourist attractions linked to it’s past as a railway hub. There’s even an underpass built after constant complaints about the difficulties caused by 100 trains a day passing through the town in its heyday.

There are lots of interesting old buildings in town in great condition but also several businesses no longer operating.

In the backstreets there are some really interesting looking places that are in desperate need of attention. One small place has been renovated and the craftsman has done a great job.

We were able to walk from our Caravan Park site across a Park, past houses, through the underpass to the Main Street. There’s a pond in the Park and there were waterbirds, not as exciting as seeing donkeys and a Leopard Appaloosa horse yesterday.

Tomorrow night we’re booked in to the Morgan Riverside Park.

Today we decided to check out the old Daydream Mine site, it’s out near Silverton and was actually a very productive mine before Broken Hill became successful. We thought we’d seen evidence of workings as we drove in but then discovered the remains were from a smelters.

Further along the track you can see many piles of stones that are the ruins of the town houses. I like looking around at the scraps of things lying about though most of the time I have no idea what they’ve come from. Glass fragments are always around the ruins.

The Mining Tour took us past old mines and the guide had an excellent knowledge of the equipment and practices. It was confronting knowing that children as young as 8 worked in the mines hauling rocks to carts then upending the carts to get rid of the rocks before going back for another load. At the same time children were filling the carts with rocks below ground, when their eyesight or breathing was too bad they “graduated” to above ground. The children worked in teams of 3.

The pulley for the cage taking miners up and down still worked perfectly smoothly even though it was out in the weather.

Mulga wood was used to make “Talking Toms”, the supports which creaked etc when the ground above became unstable.

Growing all around the place is the Deadly Nightshade plant. Many Miners mixed the berries with Opium from the Poppies also growing in the area, and smoked it to mask their Silicosis and enable them to keep working.

Still standing was a small hut covered in whitewashed canvas which was home to a family of four. Alex and I both bumped our heads going in the doorway.

The second part of the tour was underground but we’d chosen not to do that instead we went into Silverton and looked to see how many campers were in the Penrose Park Campground, it was the same as before. Spaces everywhere and people trying unsuccessfully to book in. I think the staff are still in recovery mode after the Mundi Mundi Music festival, 12000 people attended and 4000 caravans were set up on the Station, not in the Penrose Park Campground but I’m sure there was a flow-on effect

In the afternoon we went to Bells Milk Bar in Broken Hill South, it’s in a time warp. The music playing was 1950s and 1960s to fit with the theme.

Some of the Milk Bar’s rooms were decorated to match the era and there was plenty of memorabilia too. Other shops along the street seemed to also be stalled in that time period.

We went to the Shopping Centre to get some supplies before going back to the Caravan Park and The Golfer bumped into a fellow Golf Club member!

Tomorrow we move again, back into South Australia.