16/5/2022 – Monday – 125km

This morning we are off to Quorn, 62km away, for a ride on the Pitchi Ritchi Railway from the old Quorn Railway Station. We arrive in plenty of time & have a look around the station & chat. Unfortunately the steam engine we were to have pulling the carriages blew a steam gasket & had to be replaced with an old diesel, older than the steam engine. We departed on time at 10.30am in old restored railway carriages, a real rattler but a treat with 100 plus other Kimberley owners. We had the train to ourselves.

The old narrow gauge line wound through the hills & slowly climbed to an old siding called The Summit before winding slowly down through the Pitchi Ritchi Gorge & ending at Woolshed Flat. We stop & wander around, look at another small museum & have morning tea while the engine is uncoupled & shunted around to the front of the train for the return journey.  We had nice chats with the other people in our carriage & a few nice chats with the conductor as he came & sat with us for a while. The trip back was also slow, the countryside is interesting & we get another perspective of a landscape feature called Devil’s Peak, very distinctive. The countryside is very dry, with lots of spinifex & bare dirt.

Back at Quorn we lunch at the Transcontinental Hotel, a grand old relic of better days, however the meals were very good & the staff did a great job in feeding all of us. More chatting with fellow travellers as well.

Our next venture is a special invitation for a tour around the railway workshops, a large collection of old train engines & carriages in all states of repair. Clive, our guide, is a wonderful source of knowledge. We are shown the part that failed in the steam engine & while we are there the volunteer mechanic replaced the part. It is all so interesting, the volunteers have done an amazing job with all the train stuff they have.

We are back at camp around 5pm just in time for happy hour & more standing around the fire chatting with fellow travellers, all very pleasant. At 7.30 it is time for some knowledge sharing on the KK Forum, again, very informative & interesting.  No diner tonight as these country pubs make really good fresh food & so much on the plates. Then shower & bed, another great day.