We have departed Strathalbyn after visiting family for a few days. The first stop was the Lobethal Bakery at Woodside, they make some very delicious food. South Australia is so blessed with fine food, the crow eaters are spoilt.
We continue onto Jacob’s Creek winery then to the Chateau Tununda at Tununda. Both wineries have beautiful gardens, Jacob Creek is a native garden while Tununda is made up of many exotics. There is time to take some pictures of the old Tununda Railway station.
A further stop at Clare, the centre of the Clare Valley wine district. The autumn colours are at their best all through the Mount Lofty ranges and the deciduous trees in Clare are the same.
Though the landscape is generally dry and parched the sandy brown farmland and green woodlands is pleasing to the eye.
A food supply stop at Gladstone. The town has many beautiful historic buildings and an interesting railway history. The railway workers had to deal with and shunt trains and carriages coming and going on three different rail line gauges.
BUFFER TRUCK “Billy”
This is one of two buffer trucks employed in the Gladstone yard between 1927 and its closure in 1989. These trucks were used to facilitate the shunting of trains of different gauges and were unique to the Gladstone yard.
Two locomotives were employed as shunters in the yard, a broad-gauge Rx faced north and shunted from the south end of the yard while a narrow-gauge T. class faced south and shunted from the north end.
The two buffer trucks, one broad gauge, the other narrow gauge had a blank plate instead of a coupling on one end which enabled the separation of the rolling stock on two holding roads (sidings). Both trucks were nicknamed “Billy”.
We make camp just before sunset only a few kms outside Wilmington at Stoney Creek Bush Camp caravan park. This park has plenty of room, great facilities and lots of native birdlife.
We enjoy dinner in the camp kitchen at the end we are greeted by a beautiful moon rise over the southern Flinders Ranges. Micro bats are out, which is great to see.
