2016-08-02    

Coober Pedy to Cobdogla

Left Coober Pedy today heading back to Port Augusta. Decided not to go to Ayers Rock; now called by its aboriginal name; Uluru. The 1500 km trip wasn’t to appealing to see a rock. And have seen many similar but smaller “rocks” on my travels about Australia

Drove around Port Augusta a bit to see what the homes look like and found a place to spend the night.

Left Port Augusta for Adelaide. On the way I concluded I’d had enough of big cities, harbors, ocean views and expensive stuff associated with the above. Decided to go directly to the next place on my list; Canberra, the capital of Australia. Took a left at Gawler and spent the night near Renmark, So. Australia. (SA)

Saw an interesting sign on the way: Cobdogla, SA.  “Irrigation & Steam Museum” a place originally established as the pumping station for a planned Irrigated farming community. Plans went south and left a lot of interesting equipment including a Humphrey Pump that operates like a 4 cycle engine. The Humphrey Pump is huge; main floor is about 1500 sq. ft with abasement and a couple of sub-basements below it.

The museum has many pumps and motors like those I operated at Riverside and the old Streetcar Plant; aka: Southeast Station.

Best part of Museum is the 6 or 7 guys that rebuild, repair, and maintain all this including a steam powered tractor that was heated up and running during my visit. Spent most of the day here touring and talking to the gentleman volunteers that keep this place a worthwhile piece of history.