DAY 53 - PORT AUGUSTA SA

PORT AUGUSTA SA

DAY 53

QUORN – PORT AUGUSTA

48.8 km

Total Time: 09.30 – 13.15 (3h 45m)

Time on Bike: 2h 24m 25s

Max. Speed: 56.7 km/h

Av. Speed: 20.3 km/h

A gem of a ride today.

I took the much anticipated Pichi Richi Pass, which is the premier road trip of the Southern Flinders.

But for the conditions, which represented every known shade of the greyscale, it may have been the best ride yet.

My attempts at capturing the moment therefore are not as they may have been.

It was a good thing I tried to smile at times, just to be able to locate myself.

Charcoal skies notwithstanding, I refused to allow my enjoyment to be diminished at any stage. I am better for the experience.

The Pichi Richi Pass is a route followed by part of the former Great Northern train line between Adelaide and Darwin.

Nowadays is "The Ghan", which takes what I would suggest is more direct but far less fulfilling route, bypasses entirely an area which would have once made it a truly great train journey.

Instead, one can either pay nearly AU$2000 to enjoy 3 luxurious days of watching saltbush and red dirt flash by on the other side of the glass or else take the Pichi Richi railway from Port Augusta to Quorn for around $60 return.

The Pichi Richi runs periodically during the year on incredibly well restored steam and diesel engines and you can even put your head out of the windows to feel that wonderful Flinders breeze in your face.

My personal endorsement remains and a bike trip is the best way to go.

However, I would not be at all opposed to getting on this wonderful old steamer and having the second best fun ever.

My appetite has absolutely been whet by this experience and I am currently researching a possible route further into the Flinders on the return journey from Ceduna.

Depending on a chosen agenda, I would need to account for around a week (plus some change) and a certain amount of time on unsealed roads. It would completely be worth it.

For now, I am enjoying a one-nighter in Port Augusta before moving south to Whyalla tomorrow.

Port Augusta is a very pleasant settlement, wedged in between the head of the Spencer Gulf and the stunning Southern Flinders that look down on the town from the north with something that could be likened to a religious benevolence, particularly at sunset.

It is also one of the great crossroads of Australia – the junction of the Eyre and Stuart Highways – the Eyre following a 2500 km odyssey across the Nullabor Plain to Perth in the west and the Stuart 3000+ km through the Great Outback to Darwin in the north.

In true World V style, I will follow neither.

Instead, my path will take to southbound Lincoln Highway in a 1000 km loop of the Eyre Peninsula.

The southern most point is Port Lincoln, from where I will follow the western coastal road around to Ceduna.

Time for some fishing.