Gismo Queen and her King

Day 3 - Burra to Iron Knob

Let's face it, with a name like Iron Knob, the town can't be much. 14 years ago, Greg and I camped here in our Jayco Swan and declared it to be one of the worst places ever and who would ever want to come back? Yet, here we are!

The day dawned in Burra much nicer than it was yesterday. It had been very cool overnight so we were happy to keep the gas heater ticking over and we were super comfy - also, because we have a new mattress topper which is just lovely. Up, showered and breakfasted ready for our 9am departure. First stop, the local service station and then the supermarket, as we needed fresh food, having not been allowed to bring fresh fruit and vegetables into South Australia - so we hadn't brought any from Tasmania. 

On the road again well before 10am, and past the Midnight Oil house (as pictured on the album cover Diesel and Dust.

The rain started again, and the wind was bitterly cold. We stopped for elevenses in Spalding but retreated to the warmth of our vans for that. Lunch was in Port Germain where we had attempted to get fuel 9 years ago (but the last servo closed 13 years before that) so we revisited for old times sake and had our heated ogglytiddies in Cafe Phoenix in my new airfryer while looking out over the sea. It had warmed up significantly so we were much happier.

Up the road to Port Augusta, with strong winds which are not much fun to drive in. Stopped for fuel again there before heading west, and Greg and I realising we hadn't been west of Port Augusta in 14 years. Neill and Jude on the other hand, were ony out this way a couple of months ago.

We arrived into Iron Knob at a bit after 3pm. It is an old mining town, originally owned by BHP but now a rare place that doesn't fall under any Council jurisdiction and is instead run by the local progress association. There is certainly not much progress here - everything has a very forlorn look, there are many abandoned cars and houses, the streets are in terrible condition, and there certainly doesn't seem to be much going for it. The campground is much the same as when we were here 14 years ago although the post office has now set up out the front and is open between 10:30am and 4pm daily. I suspect they don't get much business.

Anyway, we enjoyed our elevenses in the sun, went for a walk around the sad town, had drinks and nibbles before lighting the campfire, and enjoyed our ricotta gnocchi dinner in front of the fire.

posted by Tracey @ 10:23 pm