Today, we travelled from the Barossa Valley to Port Augusta at the northern end of Spencer Gulf. We left Tanunda by driving through extensive vineyards and well established wineries. We could recognize most of the wine brands that we passed – it was like passing through the shelves of a liquor store except that we were driving.The countryside was very scenic and varied.
The first interesting town that we came across was Kapunda. It is a substantial rural service centre which, since 1842, has had three definable periods of development – it was first created to develop copper mining; after the copper ran out it became the base for Sir Sidney Kidman’s huge cattle and horse operations; and currently it is a service centre for the surrounding rural area. It is still partly defined by copper mining with the huge ‘Map Kernow’ (the Son of Cornwall) statue of a miner at the entrance to the town.
The town’s mining history is also illustrated in the apparently new artwork on the town’s old grain silo.
We could have driven across to the main northern highway to Port Augusta, our destination for tonight, but we decided that some of the back roads would be moire interesting. Along the lesser travelled Goyder Highway, we soon came to South Australia’s next famous wine growing area – the Clare Valley. This area has many old stone buildings and cottages.
Unlike rural Victoria where most of the old buildings are constructed from timber, these stone buildings seem to last forever.
There are many signs of the old pioneering days.
I’m not sure whether rural towns are being hard hit by the economics of today or whether they are just in a slow decline generally. We noticed this as we drove through the little town of Yakka where nearly every building was empty and closed up. It’s a sad thing to see an entire town looking as if it is ‘dead’.
We stopped for lunch in the pretty little town of Crystal Brook with its park along the railway line and places for RVs to stop overnight. We joined the main highway to the north a few kilometres later and noticed that we had accrued the first 1000 kilometres on this driving trip.
The main highway was a good road until we found a police car coming straight towards us on the wrong side of the road with its lights flashing. It was escorting two over-sized truckloads of enormous mining equipment. It took me a couple of seconds to work out what was going on but as soon as I noticed the car in front of us diverge onto the road shoulder and stop, I thought that discretion was the better part of valour and we should do the same.
Just before. Reaching Port Augusta, we came across a giant solar and wind farm. Amongst these was a brightly lit tower that did not know about, or understand its purpose. After we reached our motel, we did an AI search that told us that this was the Sundance Power Generator.
This solar tower stands 127 meters high and is surrounded by a field of over 24,000 computer-controlled tracking mirrors (heliostats). The mirrors concentrate sunlight onto a receiver at the top of the tower, generating intense thermal energy. This energy heats water to produce steam, which powers a generator. The generated electricity and heat are used to power, heat, and cool Sundrop Farms’ 20-hectare high-tech greenhouse facility. Thermal energy from the tower also runs an on-site desalination plant that purifies seawater drawn from the nearby Spencer Gulf, providing fresh water to grow millions of kilograms of tomatoes annually without relying on freshwater reserves or traditional fossil fuels.
I am sure that the locals love Port Augusta, but it seems to me to be city without a soul. It serves as a crossroads. The road to the North goes to Mt Isa, and the road South goes to the Eyre Peninsula. Travelling West takes you to Perth and the road to the East heads to Adelaide and Melbourne. I fail to see anything special about this city that makes it likeable. Fortunately, our motel is comfortable and we are only here for one night.
