DAY 98 - PARACHILNA SA

PARACHILNA SA

DAY 98

BLINMAN - PARACHILNA

35.25 km

Total Time: 09.00 – 15.15 (6h 15m)

Time on Bike: 2h 29m 54s

Max. Speed: 52.1 km/h

Av. Speed: 14.1 km/h


Some weeks ago, the blog was enhanced by Aboriginal translations of some town names that I had visited.

And today, I will add another.

Parachilna roughly translates as:

“Disturbingly large number of flies to found somewhere (or anywhere for that matter) in the middle of winter.”

I believe this to be close enough anyhow.

Aside from flies, there is not much to be found in Parachilna at all.

Although there is the Prairie Hotel.

The Prairie is quite a fashionable affair really - an upmarket place to be in the middle of bloody nowhere, if you will.

Famous as much for its menu of Feral Food as much as past clientele.

Harvey Keitel and Kate Winslet were known to have dropped by during filming of Holy Smoke.

And as for Feral Food, one can basically take one’s pick.

My pick this evening was Camel Schnitzel in a mushroom sauce – as a generally non-meat eater, this indulgence is a one-off as I see it.

The Emu Pizza tempted me for a time, but I believe the Camel was the best choice…..

Possibly the achievement of the day however, was arriving with my tyres still inflated.

Parachilna Gorge rates as serious a challenge as any to a set of soft rubber road tyres.

Conventional wisdom should demand that I change to off-roaders for any future gravel bashes.

And this I will.

The Blinman road yesterday was made to look more like a race track against the rocky, corrugated mess of today.

Some 20 km of the entire 30 was downhill, which kind of made amends.

The creek beds were the worst - mostly sitting at the base of steep floodways, you get to pick up top speed on the fly down, only to crunch the brakes as riverbed boulders come on quicker than you can even see them.

I sort of got the gist after the first few and eased down the drop in anticipation.

It had to be for the best.

And the trip from Blinman to Parachilna is not complete without a stopover in Angorichina Village.

Angorichina was once a hospital to house Tuberculosis patients – the location so selected because of its obvious isolation.

My visit today was primarily for a food stop as well as taking a walk to the Blinman Pools.

The entire hike is a 12 km/4-hour return – mostly rock-hopping the bone dry river bed of a substantial section of Parachilna Gorge.

I saved myself the trouble and walked as far as the near pools, which were generally pleasant enough for my menial needs.

I was gone for a good share of 2 hours anyway, taking photos and generally pissing about - it fitted in quite well really.

One thing is for certain though and there is nothing in Parachilna to keep me here longer than tonight – not even Emu pizza.

A 90 km section of B83 back to Hawker in on for tomorrow and I am favouring an early start.