We set off on a Saturday heading up to the Flinders Ranges where we were to meet our family for a camping holiday. We left a few days before the others as we wanted to take a ride on the Pichi Richi Railway. As we both worked the night before it was a mid morning start heading north out of Adelaide to our first stop, Port Wakefield where we heading to a picnic area in the town for some lunch. We past the hotel and couldn’t help but take a photo of the mural painted on the side.

As we headed north we stopped at the small country towns, the first being Lochiel where they have placed a new Lochness monster in the pink lake that is next to the town. The previous monster was made from car tyres and a bit tacky. The new one comes with a path to a viewing platform to get a good view. It must be working for the town as the parking place was full of vehicles and many people ventured to see the monster. I suppose it is the Lochiel and not the Lochness monster.

Snowtown.

We headed into Snowtown a place that it infamous for the bank where bodies were kept in barrels after they had been murdered. We were pleasantly surprised when we saw the mural painted on the water tower. Something to distract people from the sad past of the town.

The rest of the afternoon was spent making our way to the town of Melrose stopping at a few places along the way.

We found some more mural art at Wirrabra. They are not cheap as the sign at the site said it cost $80,000 for the artwork and to redevelop the car park area. It was well worth the money as the result was spectacular. [One for you to visit Michael and Pam]

After a full day we stopped at the town of Melrose where we had a few drinks and a great meal at the pub on the main street. We stopped over night 10 kilometers south of Melrose at a bush camping site. It was very quiet,with only 2 other campers in a large site. The place was free and we found the location on our wikicamp app.

The Pichi Richi Railway

Our plan for today was a ride on the Pichi Richi Railway located at Quorn. With our prebooked tickets we boarded the train at 10:30. This historic train has a family connection as Jenny’s great grandfather was on this section of the railway line as a fireman. Our carriage had once been a chicken coop until it was bought back and restored to be once again used for passengers. The restoration took 6 years. As you can see in the photo below they did a great job.

Our journey took us to Woolshed Flat through some picturesque countryside. We stopped for about three quarter of an hour as the locomotive was transferred to the other end of the train for our return trip. Time for a coffee and snacks.

Quiet overnight stop near Hawker.

After our enjoyable train trip we had headed north to the town of Hawker. We though we would see what the overnight rate at the campsite would be, $33 for a site, powered or not the price was the same. We decided not to stay as all we were going to do was sleep but a shower would have been nice. After consulting our wikicamps app we found a very nice spot just off the road. Without the app we would never have found it as the it was a small dirt road leading off the main road. Jenny cooked a pasta meal and we had a quiet night only disturbed by some kangaroos hopping past, in the morning we saw some goats. Our next stop would be our campsite in the Flinders where we will be meeting up with our family for a few days. More about that in our next post.

A very sad note to finish on.

It is with a heavy heart that I announce that Martin Brand has past away. Martin was my cousin but much more than that he was a friend, host and travelling companion. Without Martin we would not have been able to have our motorhome in Europe and for us to travel as we have. Martin arranged for the registration and insurance as well as organize the storage when it was not being used. He also helped with many of the repairs and improvements. For this we will be forever grateful.

It was at Martins house that we stayed when arriving and departing from Europe. He was always there at the airport picking us up and dropping us off. Not only us but the whole family in Australia stayed with Martin at different times for varying lengths of time. Family friends also stayed with Martin, his door was always open.

Martin had a love of Australia visiting more than ten times. He has seen more of Australia than most Australians. He bought his akubra hat on one of his trips and as you can see in the photos wore it often.

Martin loved to travel and we have many fond memories of traveling with Martin in Australia and Europe. In Australia we travelled to many places together, Ayres Rock, Kangaroo Island, Flinders ranges [many times], Yorke Peninsula, Big Desert National Park, Sydney, Rainbow Victoria, Eyre Peninsula, House boat on the Murray just to name a few. In Europe Martin took us on trips to Sweden and Norway, many times to Belgium, France, Luxemberg, Germany and a memorable trip to Salsburg and Venice. He also joined us at the Tour De France.

2019 was Martins last trip to Australia and during this time I was working on a project renovating accommodation cabins. He started helping me and extended his time in Australia by 6 weeks to help me finish the project. His help was invaluable and we enjoyed working together building decks, pergolas and other renovation work.

Martin was very much part of the Snel family and will be missed greatly. Our thought are with the family in Holland as they deal with his sudden loss

Martin Brand – Rest in Peace