Christies Beach to Quorn
With Sue’s Discovery now fully fixed and flying faster than a Qatar Airlines jet our of Australia, we set sail for somewhere north. We did not really now where we would end up today. A few attractions around Quorn (from here on pronounced Q-worn not Corn).
With Hema and Google back at for the title fight we flicked from freeway to by-way to no-way in pretty quick succession. Sue and Trev heading more directly to the ultimately the same location as us following visits to Two Wells and Mallala. I think we dropped into Balaclava but did not see much there although it had potential. The bakery was not open, so we pressed on. Again we were in wheat country, with long open roads, crumbling historic buildings and huge machinery.
We kept the momentum scooting through Yaka for the second time noting since our last visit it had not become the bastion of residential or commercial development, until Gladstone caught our eye.
We fuelled, ate, and strolled around town for a bit before yet again driving north. A lively little business stood out, however. It was named Scratch and Itch. Not sure what demons afflicted the owner to name a business like that. Equally not sure what type of business it was. I had to wonder the order of the tile though. Doesn’t the itch come before the scratch.
Wirrabara was a highlight. A small hamlet amid the expanse of wheat, it boasted brilliant silo art. This one depicted a bloke and a couple of birds. No doubt there was a heartfelt story behind it all. We just liked the pictures.
The old Landrover parade outside the old shop in Wilmington had not changed over the years as we slipped though now with a known destination. Quorn was it.
Arriving afternoonish, we eventually found the RV park close to town and set up. Surrounded by old machinery being slowly restored and displayed by the local Lions club, it was a decent spot.
Into the evening G and I headed on foot into town to see the famed Quorn silo light show. Basically a free light show projected onto a set of three silos in the middle of town. The intro was interesting if not a bit long as a 20 minute timer counted down to the main event.
When the big red button was pushed, and things kicked off it was a cracker. A bit of the indigenous history first, followed by chapters on the town history, the rail and its part in South Australian development, the CWA in the war years and info on the driving loop
around the area.
All were good, no doubt about that. We will forever have an immensely greater appreciation for the Country Womens Association. In this town alone during World War Two, the ladies voluntarily fed and watered over 40 trains a day full of troops coming back from up north including civilians evacuating Darwin and prisoners of war. We could not imagine our Instagram generation putting their hands up for that these days.
We did not see the end of the show as the cool refreshing wind turned to a bitterly cold frozen body wind within the space of four minutes. We scurried back to the van but not without a quick visit to the ANZAC memorial where soldiers and nurses were sculptured form chicken mesh. There are no words to describe how beautiful these were. Worth every kilometre of the 3000 to get here.
And to finish off the experience the local bowling green used cats to scare away bird life! True story.
