The Last Leg – Final Day of Driving to Adelaide

I always enjoy this last day from Broken Hill to Adelaide. via the Barrier Highway.  I like the old towns in South Australia, along the highway, and the old buildings.  It’s also the excitement of returning to my home state – where I spent the first 24 years of my life.

I love the old buildings, the history, as one travels the Barrier Highway. all the way from Broken Hill to close to Adelaide. Years ago a train ran to Broken Hill from South Australia and some of the old stations remain. Manna Hill is one of them.

Manna Hill Railway Station

Manna Hill Hotel

These days wind farms are also visible along the road. I called into Burra, as I have a cousin who lives there. Burra is a very interesting place with many places of historical significance. The old mine is well preserved, the old buildings within the town itself and of course, the gaol, where the movie Breaker Morant was filmed.

I have visited Burra on several occasions, and this time, after visiting my cousin, I kept driving as I had no time to explore.

Amazing Scenery

Emus

History – old brick/stone building

There is so much to see all along the route from Broken Hill, mostly places I have visited previously. Do I visit again? Time did not permit me to spend more time. There are so many opportunities for photography, but I would often stop for a few minutes, grab the camera and take the shot quickly before moving on.

I do enjoy driving in the country – no traffic lights, usually much fewer vehicles on the road. In fact, I drove 20 or 30 km earlier in the drive, without seeing another vehicle. And it is so quiet in the outback. So different to suburban/city living.

In some towns, nothing much has changed for many years. Some of the buildings have not been in use for years and are clearly deteriorating. I do hope that many of them will be saved – I find it very sad that we can just let our amazing Australian history deteriorate.

As I drove closer to Adelaide, there were changes. It surprised me to see so many of the farms with plenty of “greenhouses”. Instead of being out in the open, the farms were undercover. Acres and acres of them. Of course, it has been a vegetable growing area for many years.

Unknown to me at the time, there is a new highway, and I came upon it, wondering where it would take me. It was mid-afternoon and as I headed closer to Adelaide, I just hoped it would be easy to find my way to Warradale from this new roadway.  It was quite a few years since I had driven to Adelaide, and I had not turned my GPS on.

Much to my surprise, the motorway entered the outer suburbs via the South Road – a very old and familiar roadway! By this time it was early peak hour, and the traffic was slow.  I felt quite relaxed as I knew the way, as my sister lives not far from the South Road, that passes the Tonsley Hotel, where we were to have lunch a few days later, and passes the old St Mary’s Church where many of our relatives were buried.

I felt I was back home again. I do miss Adelaide.  I won’t return to live there, as I have family in Queensland, and I don’t like the freezing winters, but I do feel emotional as I visit places that I was familiar with many years ago.

One day I drove to see the house where I lived for fourteen years, the house that our father and uncles built in 1948.