Today we not only said good bye to the Flinders Ranges but also to our new friends, Hans and Collette. We chatted a lot more about the people we knew especially Kate and Pat.

We eventually moved off fairly late and took the easy drive to Blinman. The country was still changing as we travelled and just as beautiful.

At Blinman we went to the Wild Lime Cafe. It is very popular with us travellers. It is a very busy place in such a tiny village perched on the northern extremity of the Flinders Ranges. It is obviously an old settlement with a variety of buildings that show their age, with the hall having 1896 on it but I think there are older buildings in the street. One old cottage is being renovated and restored to its original state beside the Cafe.

At the Cafe, we reacquainted ourselves with a couple from Tasmania that we met yesterday. They were off in a different direction to us. There always seems to be exchanges of places to see in the direction we are going from others and we share what we have seen or done, too.

We left Blinman for the relatively short drive to Parachilna to the Prairie Hotel. It is located between the North/South rail line and the Stuart Highway. While there was several tour coaches stopped for lunch. It boasts a tiny caravan park. It is attracting movie makers who are drawn to the location because of the fantastic landscape. It has a great display of local artists and their varying styles. This location is owned by the Fargher family who own extensive holdings in the area and join Lake Torrens, a dry salt lake.

At last, we discovered the first Kimberley Karavan we had seen on this trip in the caravan park. Bruce and Robyn are from near Brisbane and this is their first major trip in their KK and will soon travel the famous Birdsville Track. We ate our beautiful chicken dishes, from the Hotel, for lunch with them and we were able to offer some information that may help them. They have visited this location for around 10 years but have seen the light and dispatched their tent for the KK. They are enjoying it and especially the heater as we do in these cold mornings.

Soon we left Parachilna and made the relatively short trip to Leigh Creek. We drove into a relatively modern town as it was moved from its original site due to mining of coal under it. That occurred in the 1980s. This brown coal helps generate about 40% of the electricity for South Australia. About 10000 tonnes of coal leaves the area on a 2.8 kilometre long train each day. The town was seemingly deserted on Saturday afternoon and nothing other than a service station was open. About the only people we saw were two Police officers in their Landcruiser wagon.

Our destination for the day has been Copley. The traveller’s network had told us that the Quandong Cafe had nice coffee and other nice things. The coffee was not bad at all. I had a quandong pie to get me through to dinner.

After our coffee, we booked into the Caravan Park, Prue wanted to do some washing and drying as we will not have too many facilities until late in the week in Coober Pedy. The park is not bad although it is more expensive than we have been used to. There are quite a few travellers in here with us. Prue came across some that were also at the Wilpena Pound Caravan Park while we were there. We had a nice pasta dish Prue concocted for dinner.

This may be the last daily blog until we get to Coober Pedy due to lack of mobile phone coverage. So it may be quiet until Friday. We will post if we get an opportunity.