After reading ‘Birdsville’ by Evan McHugh and ‘Mailman of the Birdsville Track’ by Kristin Weidenbach I’d always wanted to visit Birdsville and travel ‘the track’. So Judie and I decided that this would be our next trip.

After leaving home we had a couple of quick overnighters at Gundagai and Balranald before our first major destination of Calperum Station. Simon had given us the idea after he had been involved with the station while working at Earthwatch. The station is located just outside of Renmark and is now owned by The Australian Landscape Trust. It is recognised as a significant wetland system and makes up about a third of the Riverland Ramsar site.

The track to the campsite was a bit ordinary with one muddy crossing. There was plenty of evidence that the area had been underwater with the recent floods and part of the station was still closed. However, we had a beautiful campsite right beside the water and were the only ones there for the whole of our visit.

Our next stop was Burra. We have visited Burra twice before and really like the town. There is plenty to see in the area with many old buildings. You can get a key from the information centre that gives access to a number of the attractions. This time we took a drive out to Red Banks Conservation Area. This place has a great campsite and I’m sure we’ll stay there on our next visit.

Peterborough was next and as we were there for Anzac Day we dragged ourselves out of bed for the dawn service. Quite a large number of people attended with some of the local veterans in attendance.

A short drive out of Peterborough is Magnetic Hill. This is a stretch of road that is one of six ‘gravity hills’ in Australia. A gravity hill is a place where a slight downhill slope appears to be an uphill slope due to the layout of the surrounding land, creating the optical illusion that water flows uphill or that a car left out of gear will roll uphill. Well, it didn’t really work for us!  See what you think from the video.

After stocking up with food and water we were off to Edeowie Station. Our friends Ross and Ros had told us about this place and one of Ross’ photos was on the cover of the Camps Australia book. Our campsite had one of the best views of the Heysen Range (part of the Flinders Ranges).

We attempted to walk up to one of the falls in Edeowie Gorge on our first day there but after an hour of clambering over rocks and boulders, we gave up and stopped for lunch. Our next day was much more relaxed with a circuit that took in Bunyeroo Gorge and Brachna Homestead ruins.

After leaving Edeowie we headed for Farina. We had a quick stop in Leigh Creek to top up the water tanks. Leigh Creek used to have a population of 2,500 but after the closure of the power stations in Port Augusta and Port Pirie the coal mine closed. The population is now 91! 

Farina is an old abandoned town that at one stage was thriving. Now there are just the ruins of the old buildings but they are being maintained by the Farina Restoration Project Group. If you happen to be passing towards the end of May through to the end of July the underground bakery should be in operation!

So after Farina it was on to Marree and the start of the Birdsville Track!

Here’s a few more photos. Click on an image for full size.