The Top of Spencer's Gulf

The Eyre and Yorke Peninsulas are separated by Spencers Gulf.  At the top of the gulf is the Port Augusta, the town where the Stuart Highway from Darwin meets the Eyre Highway linking Adelaide to Perth.  We're spending a few days at the small town of Wilmington, about 40km from Port Augusta, at the Stony Creek Bush Camp.  This camping ground has everything we need - power, water, showers, large bushy sites, and at $20 per night is great value so we've booked in for 3 nights to give us time to explore the area.  Cherryl's father spent time in Wilmington as a boy and her aunt was married in the Methodist (now Uniting) Church there.

The road from Port Augusta winds through Horrocks Pass and past Mt Maria before arriving at Wilmington.  The campground is about 3 km out of town.

There's plenty to see around here so we start our exploring at Melrose, about 30km south at the foot of Mt Remarkable.  This little town is a great little tourist town and we stop off at the Courthouse Museum which has exhibits relating to law enforcement in the area.  There are several buildings including the courthouse, lockups, stables and also some lifestyle exhibits.

There aren't any banks around here so we had to get some cash at the pub - where the ATM had also run out of cash.  It would be good if the banks provided some facilities less than 100km apart.  After our wander through the museum (it really does take over an hour to see it!) we drove around the Mr Remarkable National Park before making our way back to our camp at Wilmington.

The next day we headed north to Quorn at the southern end of the Flinders Ranges.  This is a very quaint town which is geared towards tourists so a few things were closed during the week.  From Quorn we drove to Port Augusta where we did did some shopping before having a look at the botanic gardens.

These dry area gardens had plenty of plants in bloom and an abundance of birdlife.  There was a sun calendar which tells the time and date based on a point of sunlight on a grid - it was pretty accurate too.  After our look around the gardens we had lunch at the Red Cliffs lookout.

Our last day here and we drove to nearby Alligator Gorge to do some short bush walks.  There are a number of theories as to how the gorge got its name - and none of them relate to alligators.  The most accepted theory is that it was called Ali's Gorge, after an indigenous shepherd, and the name became corrupted to Alligator Gorge over time.  

One thing's for sure - the scenery is stunning.