What a fascinating town Port Pirie is. It was the second town to be proclaimed in South Australia and named after the first commercial vessel to sail into the port discovered by Matthew Flinders on one of his circumnavigations of this country. Port Pirie is dominated by it's lead smelter stack which is the second highest in the Southern Hemisphere, and can be used as a landmark when arriving from any direction. It is eclipsed only by Mount Isa's by two metres.
The airport some six kilometres from town boasts three runways and upon arrival each aircraft was welcomed by a multitude of one thousand flies per crewmember. Also on hand was a contingent from the Port Pirie Rotary Club with a welcome cuppa. A good roll up of 20 aircraft ensured the flies were kept busy all day.
Left to our own devices for the afternoon many took the opportunity to stroll through the commercial centre of town, others enjoyed the port with the prominent Solomon's beach along the foreshore. A walk through the residential areas of town showed the visitor that the town, in it's neat grid pattern, was largely developed by workers at the smelter. Many houses are typical of the well known "worker's cottage" style seen in so many places in Australia. Each house has a front verandah and the back yard is dominated by a 100-foot tower built during the fifties and sixties to try and capture the elusive TV signals from Adelaide some 224kms away. The churches and public buildings in Port Pirie are modest in comparison to other towns. No Gothic cathedrals here in contrast to those seen two years ago in Bendigo.
Busses delivered the 79 members and guests to the Central Hotel for our usual informal get together to catch up on friends we haven't seen for six months or more. Here the noisy, friendly bunch were so engrossed in the latest talk, many ignored the haphazard service with one or two people getting their main course at 8.00pm and others at the same table not receiving theirs till 9.30. It was a good opportunity to observe our tablemates' eating habits.
An early breakfast was required on Saturday as the organising crew had arranged a very full day's activities. At 8.00am the Number 1 bus, marked Number 2, and vice versa, transported the visitors and some local members to see the sights of this interesting area. Port Pirie is in a semi-arid area where red sand and bluebush, a saltbush type of shrub dominate the coastal plains.
To the east stretch the Flinders Ranges. On the eastern side of this range the topography is completely different. Here amongst the rolling hills the farms are resplendent with lush crops of grain and hay. The people in No.1 bus (or was it No.2?) were lucky to have Brian and Joyce as our hosts and we were provided with a very informative commentary on all the places we passed.
After about an hour's drive up the coast of the Spencer Gulf we were greeted by the sight of the power station at Port Augusta. Port Augusta is quite different from Port Pirie down the way. As Brian related, this town, at one stage, had more public servants than Canberra. Not enough time in the day to explore Port Augusta. We were delivered to the Wadlata Outback Interpretive Centre. Here we were able learn about the early explorers and the people that lived in the Flinders Ranges before, and after, the explorers. After a short hour here we were bussed off to the nearby railway station to board the weekly steam train journey to the town of Quorn in the ranges.
This tourist train is run by the Pitchi Ritchi Rail Preservation Society. It is named for the Pitchi Ritchi pass in the ranges where the train follows the original Ghan railway from Port Augusta to Alice Springs. The new North-South rail line to Darwin bypasses this section. We were lucky to see a northbound train; over two kilometres long and loaded with shipping containers stacked two high. It was obviously worth waiting 100 years to have this line built. The steam loco eagerly pulled the Ghan carriages up the range, all the while followed by a fire truck to ensure no rogue coal ember escaped, but unfortunately the loco literally ran out of steam half way through the journey due to a water leak and had to take on water at Woolshed Flat. This took quite a while to accomplish, as you could imagine, filling a 1000 gallon tank with a garden hose.
On arriving in Quorn, a quaint railway town, we were served a welcome lunch at the grandly named Grand Junction Hotel. Due to the delay in the ranges there wasn't time to explore Quorn. A pity as it looked like an interesting place and is the home base for the Pitchi Ritchi railway.
On to the busses again, and southward on the eastern side of the Flinders Range. We passed through many of the towns that populate this fine farming country. Farms that export top quality hay to Japan. A slight diversion to Magnetic Hill. Here the bus stops on a slight down gradient, everybody gets off to check out the hill. It definitely slopes down in front of the bus, but when the brakes are released the bus majestically rolls backwards seemingly up-hill. A nice bit of optical illusion here. Back on the bus to continue our journey to Port Pirie.
A short break before the busses are once again loaded to take us to the Rotary meeting with Port Pirie Rotary Club at the Port Pirie Football Club. Here the staff served up a wonderful three-course meal in record time. Only one complaint, the bar doesn't have cold white wine in stock.
Many were fleeced by two very clever Sergeants at Arms, one from Port Pirie who got as much gossip as he could on the IFFR members, the other, for some unexplained reason, was a Kiwi who knew too much about the IFFR members. A great session with lots of laughs and a good replenishment to the Port Pirie Community Service coffers. Guest speaker for the night was the Adventure Aviator Jon Johanson, who told of some of his many aviation feats and his motivation for doing so. A wonderful evening of fellowship, motivation and food.
Sunday morning saw the usual IFFR Meeting take place. Here the items on the agenda included future fly-ins, reports on previous fly-ins, up coming trips in N.Z. etc. etc. A complete list of minutes will appear in the Rotate Newsletter.
After the meeting the much-used busses took us for a tour of town before lunch and a return to the airport. The end of another wonderful fly-in, thanks to Joyce and Brian, Margaret and Ron, and all the members of the Rotary Club who organised and assisted with the weekend. One little setback that Brian had to contend with was the removal of the fuel outlet at the airport just two weeks before the event. Brian came to the rescue and it was a great feeling to find that a tanker, driven up from Adelaide, had filled all our requirements.
