Arrival in the Flinders via Pichi Richi Pass, Quorn and Kanyaka

Already halfway to the Flinders, the road trip for the day would be another short haul.  This meant there was plenty of time to take in the sights along the way.  The main points of interest en-route were the drive from the coastal highway up to and through the Pichi Richi Pass to the town of Quorn and then Kanyaka homestead before arriving at our destination.

The short 250 km drive left plenty of time to enjoy the sites along the way

Once you make the right turn off of the main highway near Port Augusta towards Quorn you are faced (literally), with the Flinders Ranges.  The ascent from sea level up and over the first set of the ranges begins immediately.  The 39 km route is known as The Pichi Richi Pass.  The name Pichi Richi is believed to come from the region being a traditional source of 'pituri', which is a mixture of leaves and ash chewed as a stimulant by the local indigenous peoples. 

Anyway... previously, as a child, I had been to this part of the country during a family holiday.  While I could vaguely remember having been here before, most of the details of my memories of the trip had definitely become dimmer with the passing of the 40 or more years since then.  Strange though, was the strength of my memory of The Pichi Richi Pass.  Not for the beauty of the twisting, winding drive through the ranges with an old steam train line running parallel to that same twisting road, but for a far more purile reason.  I seem to recall the sign proclaiming the location of the peak of the pass having had some modifications made to it which appealed to my young boy mind of the time.  Instead of a road sign informing you of your arrival at the summit of the PICHI RICHI PASS, the talented local poets of the region had modified the sign, much to my amusement (and to that of others I am sure), to read:

ICHI ICHI ASS

Now, 40 or more years later, here I was with my eyes peeled looking for this sign so that I could point it out to Heather and enjoy an immature giggle once again.  So it was to my great disappointment to find (or not find as it turned out) that the sign at the summit of the pass no longer exists in either its proper or modified form.  Personally, I think the local shire council should ensure that the 'modified' sign is always in place to become a tourist attraction in its own right as some things just stick in the memory better than others.

Shortly after not experiencing ICHI ICHI ASS (that's a good thing I suppose), we rolled into the town of Quorn.

The Quorn Railway Station

Quorn is the inland terminus of the Pichi Richi Railway and is home to the Pichi Richi Railway Preservation Society.

The steam loco that powers the Pichi Richi Railway tourist rides from Quorn to Pt Augusta and back is called 'The Little Coffee Pot' and is very popular with rail enthusiasts

The volunteer society manages a museum and operates heritage steam and diesel trains on the restored 39km section of track between Quorn and Port Augusta.  The line was built in 1878 and is the oldest remaining section of track of the former narrow gauge 'Ghan' railway.  'The Ghan' was named in honour of the Afghan cameleers that helped open up the semi-arid and desert regions of central Australia using herds of imported camels as their beasts of burden from the mid 1800's.

We walked around the town and had some lunch at the local coffee shop, kept in the old style of nearly a century ago, and then it was time to move on once again.  Quorn is a nice little town and well worth a short visit.

Next stop was the ruins of the former Kanyaka homestead.  A sign of just how tough the pioneer farming days in these parts were is the large number of ruins found in the Flinders Ranges.  Each of the ruins represents somewhere that brave people settled, built themselves homes and tried to make a go of it.  A couple of good years must have given real hope to many with many homesteads expanded from their humble beginnings to become something quite grand.  Unfortunately the good years turned out to be anomalies with extended droughts breaking the banks and then the spirits of most including several of even the largest pastoralists.  This was also the fate of Kanyaka Station.

Kanyaka station was established in February 1852 by an English immigrant, Hugh Proby.  Given the very dry nature of this part of the country, it was tragic and ironic that he drowned having been swept from his horse when crossing a swollen creek while trying to herd a mob of cattle to safer pastures during a thunderstorm.  Subsequent owners grew the station during 'the good years' until it was one of the largest in the district with up to 70 families living and working there.



Ruins of Kanyaka Homestead.

The good rains from earlier this year re-creating the green pastures that fostered the cruel false hope that was held by pioneers of the region.

As mentioned above, several consecutive bad years then followed with severe droughts resulting in massive losses of stock.  Eventually the station was abandoned.  Due to the stone construction used by the pioneers, many of the homestead buildings survive as ruins to be viewed by tourists like us today (Tip: if you click on the photos the images will enlarge a bit and hopefully provide a better view of things).

We had enjoyed our leisurely journey thus far but it was time to get to our destination and set up the caravan for the next week or so.  Under an hour later we arrived at Rawnsley Park Station Caravan Park.  The station is still a working farm but it now supplements its farming income (which is at the mercy of the weather as per Kanyaka story above) with some steadier trade - tourists, particularly a genre of tourists known as 'Grey Nomads' (for North American readers, think 'Snowbirds').  Grey Nomads are typically people that have retired and now spend their time travelling around the country chasing warmer weather than they have at home with their caravans in tow.  Rawnsley Park originally set up a few caravan sites on their property to allow a few Grey Nomads to establish their own base-camp (more comfortable than tent camping but cheaper than the limited number of motel rooms in the area) from which to explore the Flinders Ranges region at their leisure.  This has obviously worked well for them as the caravan park has expanded to 50 powered sites and dozens more unpowered sites now available.  There are also several cabins available for those hoping to have all of the comforts of home upon arrival without having to tow it behind them along the way.  The old woolshed has also been converted into a quite fancy restaurant serving foods grown on the farm as well.  Me thinks the tourist income may be overtaking the farming income!

This episode of WTF? - Where are The Farrows? has come to an end with our safe arrival and set-up complete.  I leave you with a photo of the view of Rawnsley Bluff, part of Wilpena Pound, from our caravan at sunset on the day of our arrival.  This is what we saw whilst getting the campfire started and enjoying our first 'sundowner' of the trip.

Not a bad view with a cold one in hand and a warm campfire in front of you!

In subsequent posts (to follow soon), I will share the highlights, history and some of the views experienced during our adventures of the days that followed, including the view from the top of Rawnsley Bluff - that's right folks, we climbed up there and the view was magnificent!

For some video related to these as well as some of our other adventures, follow the link to Heather's YouTube page below.  If you like what you see, feel free to subscribe to her YouTube channel while you are there and you will get notified each time a new video or short movie is posted.  Enjoy!

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQFqbEM1KEM7lPW_QZkMmng