Thurs, 13th Nov, 2025 Augusta Van Park, Port Augusta to Memorial Park RV Stop, Georgetown, SA (sightseeing Horrocks Hwy)

Sprinkle of rain fell about 4am. BOM was right, 0.3mm. 18 degree min and overcast.

Slow start to the morning. Said goodbye to Tom & Sandy as they will head south then around to see her family in Geelong. We are heading to Wentworth then northward following the Darling River.

Back onto the Augusta Highway. More wind turbines which are slowing rotating with the Flinders Ranges behind them.

We then turned onto Main North Road to travel through the Flinders Range via Horrocks Pass (c1846).

Slowly climbing up 150m then up while winding through the hills. Climbed to 400m elevation then descended into Wilmington.

Stopped for a photo of the entrance sign - realised it needs fixing up on closer inspection. The power poles are painted too. Bucking horses because we are beside the Rodeo Ground.

In the park there was info boards for the history walk. This area was called Beautiful Valley. Unfortunately the sign needs repairing but you can read enough of the info.

We drove through town to Centenary Park for a cuppa. Lovely mural on the toilet.

Headed off to do the history walk. First we checked out the Dignan Stripper in the shed which was featured in the mural.

Continued down the street. Great info boards and even the street signs have history info.

A couple of nice murals and an old wagon.

Back to the Rodeo Ground then across the road to the Soldiers Institute (built 1923) - a big building for a small town. Nice park with more war information.

Continued down the other side of the main street.

Checked out the old Landrovers out the front of the Toy Museum - sent some photos to Steve Bull.

Lots of info about the Rodeo Ground and riders from here. Famous for having the first night rodeo in Sth Aust. Interesting to read that Gayndah in Qld held the first formal rodeo in 1887.

Continued on. Will skip the Mt Maria walk today. Two views of the old Police Station.

Back to the park and into the camper as dark clouds dropped some rain on us. The Wilmington sign is better this end of town.

Continued along the Horrocks Highway southward. Fields to the left and hills to the right.

Pulled over at Willochra Creek to check out a ‘cheese’ tree marked in Wikicamps - not much left now. Amazing what people managed to create without all the mod cons we have today.

Lots of big gums about here too.

Found another Goyders Line plaque in the rest area. Says the same as the other one. A few more spits of rain as we had lunch in the camper. Rang Kevin for his birthday which he is enjoying then rang Margaret and Bob for a catch up too. They are having fun putting the new toilet in the caravan! Malcolm had rung last night so we gave him a call too - cold and wet in Westbury.

Continued on through a nice looking town called Melrose. Spotted some lovely old buildings and there is a swing bridge and lookout so we will have to return as it is too cool and overcast now. Mt Remarkable National Park is nearby.

Through more grain and sheep fields and more light rain. Through Murray Town which has a nice camp ground.

Into Wirrabara to check out their silo art - amazing.

Read the area’s history and tourist info in the park opposite the silos. More things for us to come back and see. We went back and searched for the ‘skull’ but couldn’t find it.

Interesting machine - not sure what it did.

Back through town - nice murals and the Soldiers Institute.

Stopped at the park and went for a wander.

Great sign though we didn't do the walk.

Learnt about the highway we are travelling on.

A couple of buildings as we continued on our way.

Passed ‘Stone Hut’, interesting name for a town. There is a few old buildings and a petting zoo.

Into Laura - nice town sign.

Passed an old mill.

Through an avenue of trees then the wide street. Pretty little place. Parked near CJ Dennis’s sculpture.

Found another sculpture.

A mural depicting one of CJ Dennis’ stories and info about Laura.

Lots of info in the middle island. The mill we saw was a flour mill.

This is the same as the old machine we saw but it doesn’t say what it is.

We went into the Emporium - so much to look at and well displayed. Check out the Mini tow truck.

Lovely mural.

Love the emu bike - when the pedals turn the joey and chick move up and down.

An old Penny Farthing.

We decided to try the famous Golden North ice cream - very nice.

Rain still sprinkling on us as we continued on to Gladstone. We feel like we are back in Qld with all these same town names. Town sign a bit blurry. Still raining here so we didn’t stop so we will return to check it out.

Next is Georgetown which has a free RV stop near the Memorial Park and bowls club. Not a very exciting town sign here. Set up for the night.

I had forgotten that we will pass through fruit fly quarantine to enter Vic or NSW before the border so cooked up the rest of our veggies in a spare meal so we don’t have to throw them out. Steve then cooked steak and roast veggies for dinner to warm up the camper. I typed up a day of my blog - I am so far behind but will catch up eventually. Better to be out exploring.

The wind picked up so hopefully that will blow the rain away. All quiet here.