Out and about around Copley

We are still at the camping ground in Copley, rather then at our next destination, Orroroo. The very strong winds meant towing a caravan could be foolhardy.  So we spent a relaxed day here. 

Leigh Creek, once a bustling town, is now quiet, due to the end of coal mining in 2015. So most people have moved out, and businesses have gone too. Another lovely town finished, well for the time being anyway. The railway has also closed as it was linked to the transport of coal. 

There is a beautifully landscaped town centre, shown in the photo above and the one below. But no people walking around. And empty shops. 

There is a supermarket, a post office, a hotel and a closed laundromat.  

And amazingly a small cafe exists, called 'The Sassy Emu, tearoom and collectibles'. 

Plus a very good looking coffee machine.  Unfortunately it was closed on Monday so I had to take photos through the windows. 

There is a brand new medical centre which services a very large area. Walter went there to get his arm bandaged.. One of the side panels fell down as we were putting up the back bed and scraped the skin off his arm. Ouch. He was the only patient. Plus they gave him spare dressings. Great service.

But back to our travels around Copley. We travelled up the road a bit to the next settlement called Lindhurst, which was also on the Great Northern Railway line. Not much there now, a few houses, a closed road house, a hotel and a caravan park. 

Plus a few areas of interest.

The Ochre cliffs were quite spectacular as they ranged in colours from red, yellow and white and everything in between.

Aboriginal people mined here as they crushed the rocks to make dyes and paints. 

It is a site of significant Aboriginal  Heritage and people must stay in the carpark. 

We drove out onto a narrow road, passed a run down shack with an enormous number of wrecked vehicles around it, and eventually found Talc Alf's studio. 

Talc Alf is a Dutch born self taught talc sculpture.

He carves from talc from the Mount Fitton talc mines. Many of his creations reflect aspects of local history. 

A line up of his creations. 

He made a carving of a local hero, Murtee Johhny, who was the last surviving member of the local indigenous people. 

The sign below is all that is left of the Lyndhurst railway station. 

Later in the day we drove a few km from Leigh Creek to the 43 sq km Aroona Sanctuary.which surrounds the Aroona Dam, built in the 1950s.  

The water was initially used for coal mining, as well as for the local towns. 

A beautiful spot. People are allowed to use canoes on the dam, as well as swim in it. Great way to cool down during the extreme heat in the summer time. 

When we came back onto the main road, we stopped to get a photograph of the railway bridge nestled among the gum trees. 

The local garage made good use of old tyres. There were lots of painted tyres there but I liked this arrangement the best. 

As we had an extra day to fill in we thought we would go for a little drive towards Arkaroola, which is the most eastern tip of the Flinders Ranges. 

It is 130 km to Arkaroola village, too far for Piper to have to stay in the car the whole time (it is a reserve). Plus the gravel road, with corrugations, would destroy our caravan if we decided to take it and stay a few nights  

Mostly the terrain was dry, and bare, and with patches of trees by the creek beds. 

A reasonable gravel road, but of course the corrugations go with it . This is the first time we have used our car on this type of road and we were impressed with the way it handled the bone shaking corrugations.  

A dry creek bed. There were many of them, snaking down from the ranges onto the flat land. 

And before I finish I must mention the Admyamathanha People, who were the original people who lived in the Flinders Ranges area. They are made up of various family groups but come together under one name. Although they were displaced during European settlement, and many died as a result of illnesses brought in with settlers, they contined to be a united group. Consequently they have retained much of their culture and language.