We headed first along the Brachina Gorge track to check out the
Brachina Gorge.
The colours and rugged beauty of the gorge were worth the rough drive in. Everything worth seeing could be seen from the car, however, and we were a little disappointed not to get to experience any of the gorge on foot.
It seemed a little crazy driving through this rugged Australian desert listening to Frosty the Snowman and Deck The Halls. I changed the CD to John Williamson. That's better.
Next we headed to Parachilna to check out Australia’s #1 Outback Culinary Destination.
The Prairie Hotel, stuck out in the middle of nowhere as it is, is acknowledged as one of the Hip Hotels of the World. The Flinders Feral Food Menu includes Kangaroo Pastrami, Emu Pate, Camel Mettwurst, Feral Antipasto, Saltbush Dukkah, Sticky Bush Tomato Balsamic, Quandong Crumble Pie and their signature Feral Mixed Grill (listed in the Top 100 Gourmet Experiences in Australia).
It sounded great and it was a really cool old pub, but it wasn’t lunch time and the kitchen wasn’t open. So we moved on.
The colours and rugged beauty of the gorge were worth the rough drive in. Everything worth seeing could be seen from the car, however, and we were a little disappointed not to get to experience any of the gorge on foot.
It seemed a little crazy driving through this rugged Australian desert listening to Frosty the Snowman and Deck The Halls. I changed the CD to John Williamson. That's better.
Next we headed to Parachilna to check out Australia’s #1 Outback Culinary Destination.
The Prairie Hotel, stuck out in the middle of nowhere as it is, is acknowledged as one of the Hip Hotels of the World. The Flinders Feral Food Menu includes Kangaroo Pastrami, Emu Pate, Camel Mettwurst, Feral Antipasto, Saltbush Dukkah, Sticky Bush Tomato Balsamic, Quandong Crumble Pie and their signature Feral Mixed Grill (listed in the Top 100 Gourmet Experiences in Australia).
It sounded great and it was a really cool old pub, but it wasn’t lunch time and the kitchen wasn’t open. So we moved on.
Next stop was Blinman, 40 kms east. There were the usual roos and rabbits, but it
was the first time we’d seen feral goats, and there were hundreds of them!
Big, little, brown, black, white, Angora, we even saw a Belted Galloway goat. (We later learned that goats have become less of a problem here since their value soared to approx. $160 each. At this time of year, when they come down from the high country for the water in the creeks, they are captured live and sent to Adelaide for the meat trade.)
We soon arrived in the small, dusty town of Blinman, where we’d been advised that there is a great natural swimming hole. Only now we discover that the access to Blinman Pool is via a 12km, five hour walk, and there’s some doubt there’s any water there.
North Blinman Hotel should be listed in the Top 100 Worst Pub Experiences in Australia. It was tired and dirty. No fresh food. No beer on tap. No change. Old pool table with torn felt only had three balls. Pinball machine ate the kids’ money. Bruce’s steak sandwich rated as the worst he’d ever had. As I said, we should have taken the left fork.
The boys found some kids to play with and Bruce and I enjoyed the Happy Hour and a great local Tasting Plate, which included smoked roo and emu.
Big, little, brown, black, white, Angora, we even saw a Belted Galloway goat. (We later learned that goats have become less of a problem here since their value soared to approx. $160 each. At this time of year, when they come down from the high country for the water in the creeks, they are captured live and sent to Adelaide for the meat trade.)
We soon arrived in the small, dusty town of Blinman, where we’d been advised that there is a great natural swimming hole. Only now we discover that the access to Blinman Pool is via a 12km, five hour walk, and there’s some doubt there’s any water there.
So we headed for the other sort of watering hole – the North
Blinman Hotel. There’s not much else in
town - not even a South Blinman Hotel.
Apparently the town used to be a couple of kms further south, but the
miners couldn’t be bothered walking all the way up the road to the pub, so they
moved the town. (I would have thought it
would have made more sense to move the pub?)
North Blinman Hotel should be listed in the Top 100 Worst Pub Experiences in Australia. It was tired and dirty. No fresh food. No beer on tap. No change. Old pool table with torn felt only had three balls. Pinball machine ate the kids’ money. Bruce’s steak sandwich rated as the worst he’d ever had. As I said, we should have taken the left fork.
The boys found some kids to play with and Bruce and I enjoyed the Happy Hour and a great local Tasting Plate, which included smoked roo and emu.
It was after 6pm before we headed back to Trezona. We played spotto
in the car on the way home -the final tally 25 emus, 17 kangaroos and 5
rabbits.
Back at the ranch, the boys turned our little campground of
River Redgums into a war zone and happily killed each other with stick guns and
rock grenades while Bruce and I organised a BBQ dinner. We finished the day with Uno and Smarties.
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