On The Bus…
Rejoining the Stuart Highway from Coober Pedy we continued our journey south through the desert. In such a big country, with scattered communities dotted here, there and in the middle of nowhere, it was necessary to set up a special health care service. This service has become known as The Royal Flying Doctors, a service most British people know about through the TV Soap, ‘The Flying Doctors’. The service offers a lifeline for many communities throughout Australia. In need of airstrips, one section of the Stuart Highway has been specially marked out for use by The Flying Doctors. So as well as looking out for kangaroos, oncoming traffic, our driver Tom also scanned the skies for approaching aircraft.
A little further on we began seeing Emus. They are pretty fast creatures, but two passengers, Matt and Jim, having won numerous running medals at school, decided they’d try and catch one. It didn’t last long. But it did last long enough for the rest of us to laugh at this strange contest in the middle of the South Australian desert.
Our last stop before we reached Quorn for the night was Lake Hart. Lake Hart is a salt lake that stretches for as far as the eye can see. Just a flat plain of ice-like white salt, the crust of which is about 2 centimetres thick. Under our weight the crust gave way to reveal brown mud. Scattered around are remains of large carts on railway tracks, left to rot from an era when the salt was once harvested for consumption. On the way down to the lake we also came across some OZ Experience history. An old OZ Experience bus that obviously came to grief. It now sits there, rusting away, the victim of an overly ambitious driver who tried to get too close to the lake. There is a moral to this story, MAKE THE BUGGERS WALK TO THE LAKE!
Quorn
Quorn is a historic town and is a place you’ll love if you are interested in the colonial / pioneer history of Australia. We rocked up just after sundown. The hostel, Andu Lodge YHA, has good cooking facilities so as group, we shopped and cooked ourselves up a huge ‘Barbie’ feast, watered down with casks of cheap wine. The population is of Quorn is 1300, the main industry is farming. I spoke to one OZ Bus girl who’d been there a while who told me the town has a village feel. The pubs have huge open fires and locals are very laid back and relaxed.
For those heading south, Quorn marks the change from Desert to Mountains in South Australia. The town is three hundred metres above sea level and the Flinders Ranges offer a stark contrast rising from the red desert.
For those staying on in Quorn, there are mountain bikes to hire and superb bush walks to tackle. I was told that Quorn is in fact the entry point to the three best hikes in the Flinders Ranges; Devil’s Peak, The Dutchman’s Stern and Mount Brown. This really is beautiful country and whilst Quorn may not be the obvious place to visit, it does offer some great hiking.
