23/09/21 Across the Line: Port Augusta to Melrose

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We left Port Augusta bright and early after the morning cup of tea and drove past the salt pans;


 

 past the solar farm and the under-construction wind farm;

 



through Horrocks Pass;


 

 and hey presto we were in a different climate altogether! Rolling paddocks of green wheat reached to the horizon, broken up with electric yellow splashes of canola. Everything was bigger, greener, definitely no longer arid even if it didn't quite meet the definition of lush. 

 


We had crossed Goyders Line.

Goyders Line

Our first stop was in Wilmington to check out the Wilmington end of the Wilmington-Melrose Rail Trail. While we were there we walked the main Street which boasts a Toy Museum which seemed to be all about Matchbox cars and full size land Rovers, and a Puppet Museum which said it was open but was the shuttest open I've ever seen. Oh, and there was a lolly shop in the main street as well...

Both Wilmington and Melrose snuggle up to the flanks of Mount Remarkable National Park, so we went to have a look-see at Alligator Gorge which involved a short but very steep drive up into the mountains with views of green wheatfields to the east and arid salt plains out to the Spencer Gulf in the west.Once we'd gotten all the way up there we had, of course, to go for a walk.

There were lots of steps at the start which was worrying as what (or who) goes down must at some stage clamber up again.

Once down the steps we rock-hopped along the bottom of the gorge which was, if you'll pardon me, truly gorgeous.





Persistence.


It wasn't all glowing red rocks and mirrored pools of course: there were lots of pretty wildflowers as well.




And just when we thought we'd seen it all we had to tippy-toe around a humming cowpat of bees who chose to swarm in the middle of the path..



To top off the day, we happened across this:

So many questions! How? Why the mortice holes? Why this random tree? Did trees routinely aid in the processing of cheese? Or was this tree a turophile fromager? And why is this secret knowledge held only by the National Trust Museum in Melrose?

Alone it stands: a tree of cheesy mystery.


Cheese mysteries aside, we're settled now in the Melrose Showgrounds and have had a big debate over what to do tomorrow as both Mount Remarkable and the Melrose-Wilmington Rail Trail are calling us.  Tomorrow's activity depends on complicated things like the wind strength and direction, temperature (we had a day of kind-of summer today, but we're back to freezing tomorrow) and how many cups of tea can be accommodated whilst climbing a mountain or riding a bike.  Ah, the suspense!  You will have to wait until tomorrow to find out what we decided to do.

Home for the night: Melrose Showgrounds.


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