Saturday, 27 June 2026
This morning we were relieved by the certainty of being able to go to bed last night on Australian Central Standard Time and waking up in the same time zone. It makes life so much easier than it is between Caiguna and Border Village! We will have one more time zone change when we cross into Victoria but, with that being only half an hour, the transition will be much easier.
We were on the road just before 8.00 am and made our first comfort stop at Poochera, where we reacquainted ourselves with the Dinosaur Ant and the impressive collection of rusty old ploughs, before using the toilets that are installed inside a concrete tank. One of the more interesting public toilets on the Eyre Highway for sure. I have no idea why Poochera champions ants? The interpretative board, that I photographed but didn’t read yesterday, tells me that – ants evolved when solitary wasp ancestors began to live in groups about 100 million years ago in the age of the dinosaurs … and a lot more information about ants! Oh, apparently, the local ant, Nothomyrmecia Macrops, most closely resembles what the first ants would have been like. We have passed this way before but … I don’t think I read the board last time?! Now I know more about ants. Travel sure is educational, ha, ha, ha.
I took the wheel to drive the 75 kilometres between Poochera and Wudinna. After all I had been power napping over the last 140 kilometres in preparation to take a turn at the driving. Coming in to Wudinna we drove passed a colourful field of canola, which provided a bright spot amongst all the wheat fields. We made a stop at the granite statue of the Australian Farmer, to stretch our legs again and take a couple of photos.
The Australian Farmer sculpture commemorates the early settlers of the region and incorporates elements that celebrate the sunny climate, grain crops and sheep grazing. Local granite was used by artist Marijan Bekic (with assistance from his son David) to carve this 8-metre high statue that was unveiled in 2009.
As we were taking photos, Bernie noted the RAM ute towing a tractor in a trailer again. We had passed it earlier, and now it had snuck past us again. Bernie noticed that the number plate on the tractor said ‘Plough WA’ and he speculated that the driver might be going to a ploughing competition. Back on the road in the passenger seat, and eternally curious, I Googled about ploughing competitions in Australia. As you do … when you are a super nerd like me anyway.!
Sure enough, Bernie is probably right. The National Ploughing Contest is being hosted at the Mayfield Estate in Tasmania from the 1st to the 4th of July 2026. It would seem that Plough WA is making its way across the Nullabor to Geelong to make the crossing to Devonport aboard the Spirit of Tasmania. That’s a big commitment to represent your state at the national competition! And then, AND THEN, it looks like the Australian National Ploughing Champion will need to go to Croatia in early September to represent Australia at the 71st World Ploughing Championship.
Gosh, I can’t help myself, now I want to know what categories they compete in. How DO you get to be judged the best ploughman (or woman) in Australia? Wow, they have categories in Conventional Ploughing, Reversible Plowing (a highly technical class apparently!), Vintage Ploughing and Animal/Heavy Horse Ploughing. Competitors are evaluated on the neatness, depth and straightness of their furrows in accordance with strict international regulations. So, now I know.
Just after 11.00am we were in Kimba. Kimba has a wealth of photographic opportunities, notwithstanding that they have all been photographed before. We quickly snapped the Art Silos painted by Cam Scale in 2017, to celebrate the agriculture at the heart of the Kimba Community. Taking the Eyre Highway’s dog leg across the railway line, we stopped twice more to photograph the BIG galah and the Halfway Across Australia sign.
By around noon we were driving past the ugly brown terraces of the mining works at Iron Knob before making our way into Port Augusta beside the wind turbines perched on the hillside. Soon we passed the intersection with the Stuart Hwy, where we turned northwards nearly 11 weeks ago to head towards Coober Pedy, Uluru and beyond.
We rocked up at the J M Deli & Bakery at about quarter to one, along with half the population of Port Augusta. You know it’s a good bakery when people are queueing up to be served. We had almost arrived too late, with only a couple of rolls left to be filled. In fact, we had to have one salad roll made up on a white roll with the other on a whole meal roll. Our rolls were packed high with ALL the salad options at the salad bar and they did not disappoint. The J M Deli & Bakery is probably the best (only?) good thing about Port Augusta!
Before making the final push to Adelaide we stopped in at the BP Service Station on the outbound/eastward side of the highway. Petrol Spy had told Bernie that there was no Ultimate Diesel available but, it lied. Bernie was able to fill the tank with 66.36 litres of the good stuff at $179.00/litre. Now it was ETA Adelaide 4.44pm with Bernie hopeful (?) that he might be able to watch the second half of the Collingwood vs Richmond match.
Ha, we hadn’t seen Plough WA since Kimba, when we discovered that it was a tractor with a purpose, so we were excited to see it AND photograph it on the Augusta Hwy. It WAS a long and boring drive!! We continued towards the city passing through all the places that we travelled through on the 15th of April, when we made our emergency trip into Adelaide to purchase the new lens for Bernie’s camera.
We arrived in the city right on time, then we just had to find somewhere to park. Bernie tried to park in a parallel park that was too small and had to give up, we tried another lane, but there were temporary No Standing signs up, so that was a no. We parked on the main road and then saw a car coming out of the first lane we tried, so we went back in there and secured the truck a spot for the rest of the weekend right under the balcony of our accommodation.
The second half of the game was watched. It did not end well for Bernie’s team. We spent the rest of the evening catching up with our friends Meredith and Greg and watching The Showdown. That game did not end well for Greg who is a devoted Adelaide Crows supporter. All very disappointed footy fans tonight.
After dinner, Meredith suggested that we could walk along Gouger Street to buy ice-creams. Never ones to say no to ice-cream o’clock, at whatever time it may be, we rugged up in warm jackets and headed to St Louis which was CLOSED despite the fact that it is usually open until 11.00pm on a Saturday night. We continued along the street to Gelatissimo which, thankfully, WAS open. Imagine if we had had our tastebuds all prepared for ice-cream and then couldn’t find any??! An excellent range of flavours and, with having to walk further to buy ice-creams, we totally earnt them, ha, ha.
Steps: 5,672 (3.70km)
