Sustainable sausages in Marree

Sustainable sausages in Marree.   Who knows what constitutes the content inside the skins, but then that can be said about all sausages.   Mystery bags.

And talking about the more unusual choices in a restaurant.   Parachilna, at the end of the road out of Angorichina, and on the main highway from Port Augusta to Marree, is said to be famous for its 'Feral Food Platter' at the Prairie Hotel.   The term 'feral' gets used often in South Australia, even to describe a certain type of person, but my imagination ran wild with this term, especially after watching the Landline programmes on the problem of feral animals in Australia.    Now what exactly constitutes the meat on a 'Feral Food Platter'?   I think I prefer not to find out.   

Blinman, is well known for their pies in their pub, but I think that they contain 'normal fillings'.   But then exactly what is 'normal' out in these outback places.   

Sadly we did not stop in Parachilna, which has an amazing fossil site, dating back some 600 million years.  And Parachilna has also attracted moviemakers, with the following movies being filmed there:  Holy Smoke, Beautiful Kate and Rabbit Proof Fence.   

A return to this area is a must for next year, not only to visit the towns we bypassed but also to visit the far northern Flinders area of Arkaroola.   

We carried on driving north, with a short visit to Leigh Creek, once a coal mining town, and where we found most shops were vacant.   A ghost town.   Thank goodness we did not camp there, which was an original intention.   Further on at the small settlement of Copley we saw the turnoff to Arkaroola, which we bypassed this time.   Then a stop at Lyndhurst for a picnic lunch at the rest stop.   The roadhouse in Lyndhurst was closed so no coffee.    There were self service pumps there, so important as service stations were many kilometres apart up in this part of the country.    The Strzelecki Track starts at Lyndhurst.

Farina, pronounced in South Australia either with a short 'i' or a long 'ee'.   Probably the correct pronunciation is a long 'ee'. Farina is the Latin word for flour or meal made from cereal grains.  Wheat crops were grown on the plains around here during the 1880s when the town was laid out in quite large sections.   Initially the rains were unusually good, and the town flourished.   At its peak the town had a bakery, grain store, two breweries, two hotels, a general store, post office, Anglican Church, five blacksmiths, and  a school.    Initially the railway north ended in Farina. 

When the normal climate returned, bringing years of drought and dust storms, people started moving away.   The Post Office closed in the 1960s and the railway line closed in 1980.

Currently there is a sheep or cattle station close by, a camping ground, a new building and a bakery, which is run by volunteers (I think) and bread, cakes and pastries are baked there during the winter months.   Sadly not this year, due to the lack of tourists.   There is a restoration group, and they aim to restore as much of the town as possible.

The old hotel, also once a hospital too, I think.

A flat desolate landscape.   Apparently dust was horrendous here during dust storms and it was impossible to keep it out of the houses.   Such a desolate place!

We, like many people, have had a wish to visit Marree.    Apparently during the winter months, before Covid-19, the town was full of visitors.    And once a year the camel races brought thousands of people to the town.    

Of course we were not aware of this when we first arrived and wondered why there was so much accommodation available, namely two caravan parks, and a hotel with camping facilities and motel rooms.   In our caravan park there were rows of cabins available for hire.

We chose a spot that looked like it was once the base of a motel room.  We could see the old plumbing outlets buried in the concrete.   It was also beside a cabin that contained a shower, toilet and handbasin.    There were three of these ablution cabins for the whole campsite.  Well that was what it looked like anyway.   The accommodation cabins were fully self contained.    We also had a tree which gave a bit of shade.

Next to us was the camp kitchen, which was surprisingly very comfortable.    The lounge room below.

And the outdoor eating area, together with a place for a camp fire, wood provided.

Our view, flat and desolate.   The Oodnadatta Track passed by in the distance, so we watched the steady stream of vehicles making their way north or south.    And once the Ghan would have passed by too.

Our view a little further south was towards the old railway line and an old rusty engine.

The Marree roadhouse, which supplied and organised a fair bit of the places and activities in the town.  It ran our caravan park, sightseeing flights, the postal service as well as a cafe, general store and fuel pumps.   And plenty of information was gained from there.

There was a sailing club in Maree.   Quite amazing to see the yachts stored under the building.   Apparently when Lake Eyre has water in it, not often I know, there are yacht races on it..

Marree is still the gateway to Lake Eyre and is at the junction of the Birdsville and Oodnadatta Tracks.  Amazingly it is only 49 metres above sea level. 

Marree now serves the large sheep and cattle stations around it, plus the tourists who travel through it.   There is a very large Aboriginal Community Centre and school. 

It has a history of of being the centre for transport and communication.   The narrow gauge railway line, from Port Augusta to Alice Springs, ran through the town.   And of course it was a major stop for the Ghan.    

The Central Australia Railway reached Marree in 1883, and in 1929 the railway was extended north to Alice Springs, and it became the route of the passenger train which became known as The Ghan.   When the standard gauge line was built and ran as far as Marree The Ghan ran from Marree to Alice Springs.   When the new railway track opened up further west, in 1987, the old narrow gauge and the standard gauge line from Leigh Creek was no longer used.

When does the next train arrive?   Sadly no trains.   The very long platform at Marree, without any passengers waiting for a train.

The old rusty diesel engine.   

There were many billboards surrounding the old station, plus a museum which was not open.

Mostly though Marree is a little rustic, and certainly could do with a little sprucing up, but then perhaps the fact that it is a bit rough around the edges makes it more appealing to the tourists.   

Marree was the home of Tom Kruse, one of the men who drove the mail trucks from Marree to Birdsville in Queensland.   There was a display in the Marree pub.

The pub was the centre of the social life in Marree.   There were always cars parked at the front, and it was certainly busy on the night we went there for dinner.    It was easy to dine inside too, knowing your dog was happily sitting in the car outside the window.    

My choice of food was questionable and not sure why I was so adventurous. The thought of sausages and mash really appealed, but I did not look at the 'sustainable' part or the order, until the food arrived at the table.    I know I have become a bit conservative about sausages, after 26 years in the UK.   Good quality pork sausages were my choice normally.    Consequently I picked at the small sausage, as I thought about what was in it, and kept the large sausage for lunch the next day.   Of course I never ate that sausage.   The sustainable sausages were made at a local station, of what, who knows.   I also did not want to find out either.

Marree was the home of Australia's first mosque, in the photograph below, which was built of mud brick.   The Afghan cameleers where employed when Marree was first built.   

Piper loved Marree, as she could be off lead, due to the lack of traffic around the caravan park.   There was also a little piece of grass in the playground.  She did not stray away from us though and it was lovely to give her a little bit of freedom.

However, on the second night two other campers arrived and I should have put her back onto a lead straight away.  A man from one of the campers strode across to the camp kitchen with his esky in his arms.  Piper went absolutely crazy and would not stop barking at him.   Of course the man yelled at us for not having our dog on a lead.    Piper has a thing about men carrying boxes!   

All this happened as I was walking down the steps of the caravan, with a lead in my hand.   We were about to go for a walk.    In the chaos that ensued I forgot to shut the screen door of the caravan.   The hot, dry and dusty weather had brought the bush flies along with it, and most of them ended up in our caravan!

They were everywhere, on the ceiling, on the curtains, on every surface, on us, on Piper.   Walter spent an hour swatting them with a tea towel, without much success.   So we lived with them for the night.   I think they slept happily on top of us all night.

As soon as the roadhouse opened the next morning, we bought fly spray, and gave the inside of the caravan a good spray.