It is a cool and windy morning as we load up the car for the next leg of our trip from Willow Springs to Parachilna where we are staying in the famous Prairie Hotel for 2 nights.
When checking out, I mentioned that I had shredded a tyre yesterday on the entrance road to Rawnsley Springs. They were not at all surprised and related that the Government is not maintaining roads in the Flinders and that the Rawnsley Park road is one of the worst. They gave me a web site to make a complaint as many people are because they need more people to try to get some action out of the Government !
The wildlife were out this morning and these emus were just on the roadside, soon after we turned onto the paved road when leaving Willow Springs entrance. We weren't quick enough to photograph the kangaroos.
Whilst we did part of this route yesterday, we still had a few things to see. On our way to Blinman we detoured off to see the Appealinna Ruins, just a few km off the Blinman road.
The area of the ruins was originally a farm lease held by the Wills family, located next to a natural spring which provided ideal conditions for growing vegetables and grazing stock. They buillt a dry rock wall enclosure around their vegetable garden to keep the stock out.
Rock wall to stop the stock eating the vegetables
The wall was restored by local volunteers
The family settlement was on the other side of the creek bed. We didn't explore the other side of the creek but there are apparently some remains of the Wills family occupation there.
Unfortunatley for the Wills Family. Miners became interested in the spring as they were desperate for water for their mining operations and in 1859 the surveyor general severed the spring and surrounding land from the Wills lease, allowing the miners to set up base there and exploit the water resource.
Remains of the Pursers Hut built by the mining company
Back on the road to Blinman, we stopped again at the Miners Cafe for our morning cup of coffee and it was hard to resist a quandong pie, which we shared. We had a better look around the very small town. According to the 2021 census, the population of Blinman was 43.
The Memorial Hall
As you can see, not a lot of buildings of interest left
An old miners hut
Residential area to the North of town
Looking back at the town from the North
Of course there is also the cafe and the pub we saw yesterday.
It is time to make our way to Parachilna, but we are told that we must stop in at a store called Wadna, on the Parachilna Road just out of town. They sell local aboriginal artifacts and foodstuffs.
They had quite a wide range of products with aboriginal designs on them, the traditional boomerangs etc, as well as the usual preserves and native herbs and spices. We bought a couple of small items and continued on our way.
Yesterday, we took a different route to Parachilna, through the Glass Gorge. Today we are taking a a more direct route through the Parachilna Gorge, and in my opinion, it is a much more scenic route.
Same scene, different photographers
Along the way we were on the lookout for a nice flat area (Creek bed) where we could stop for a picnic lunch and not get covered in red dust by passing traffic. Almost all of them were already occuped by free campers in caravans and tents of all descriptions.
There is one town along this route, Angorichina, which boasts a caravan park, general store, sells fuel and looks like it does some mechanical repairs. Not surprisingly, they also have a limited stock of new tyres !!
Eventually we ended up in Parachilna and had our picnic in a park opposite the Prairie Hotel where we are staying for the next two nights. There is not much else in Parachilna other than the Prairie Hotel.
In its heyday, Parachilna was on the "Old Ghan" railway and all that is left is an unused rail line, and an old station.
The "Old Ghan" rail line
I assume this building was the Station
The Prairie Hotel
Whilst quite unassuming from the outside, the Prairie Hotel is a very different beast once you enter. It has a very modern bar, a micro brewery and very nice accommodation at the rear. It has fashioned itself around providing the Outback Gourmet experience, and by the look of the crowd they had for lunch, it seems to be working.
Main Bar
Micro brewery
Our room
Common Lounge area in accommodation section
Now that we are settled in, we explore the possibilities of what we should do in the area tomorrow. It becomes pretty clear that the only thing you can do in Parachilna is eat and drink at the Prairie Hotel, there being nothing else here. The promote themselves as the place to explore a famous field of fossils from the time when this area was and inland sea,
It is true that they run fossil tours out of here, but the fossil field is actually half way between here and Leigh Creek and you can only go there as part of a guided tour. The bad news is that the tours are only available for 3 days of the week, none of which coincide with our stay.
Once rested and refreshed we headed to the bar for a pre dinner drink. The sun was setting and the tables outside the pub were busy as the sun went down. All of the beer served on tap here comes from the in house brewery, so I opted for the IPA which was very acceptable, but I did notice the old beer was also very popular.
Sunset looking out over the "prairie"
Having a drink outside watching the sun go down
Soon it was time for dinner and our package includes dinner and breakfast for 2 days, apparently regardless of what you order. We went for the "Feral Feast", sample menu below.
SNACKS
EMU PATE spiced muntries chutney, port wine jelly, lavosh
SALTBUSH PAKORA carrot, onion & saltbush spiced fritter, mint yoghurt
GRILLED HALOUMI quandong emulsion, saltbush dukkah, fried saltbush, quandong
ENTREES
BEETROOTS chewy beetroots, goats curd, macadamia, quandong, native thyme
WILD BOAR red sauce wild boar ragu orecchiette, parmigiano reggiano & native mountain pepper
MAIN
FERAL MIXED GRILL kangaroo fillet, camel boerwors sausage, emu rissole, roasted tomato, crispy saltbush & red wine jus
green leaves & crispy twice cooked potatoes
DESSERT
QUANDONG PUDDING golden syrup steamed pudding, pouring cream & quandong syrup
It was quite a meal and we did our best to get through it. Every dish was excellent, as was the table service.
We waddled off back to our room very full.
Tomorrow's plans are still unfolding, but a drive to Leigh Creek is looking likely.
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