Leaving Blinman we had to take the camper trailer down our first official dirt track, the Parichilna Gorge. We had traversed the track yesterday after hitting Brachina gorge so knew what to expect. Even though we had driven it the other way only the day before it was still breathtaking to be winding your way through the mountains to come out the other side to complete flatness. Taking it easy we breezed through and were onto Parachilna which was a town smaller than Blinman but with a pub and some really cool bush art.
We only had another hour to drive north to hit our next stop Leigh Creek. The only reason for this stop was that we needed supplies and Leigh Creek was the only place we were stopping at over the next week or so with a decent shop. We didnāt know anything about Leigh Creek and when we arrived it felt like driving into a big bush resort. All the buildings and houses were very similar and the streets were all landscaped. Nothing seemed to be older than about 20-30 years. We soon found out that the town had in fact been purpose built by a mining company who had a mine just down the road.
When we went for a drive to find the golf course as we spotted a sign for one we came across whole streets barricaded behind closed gates and I quickly remembered that I had read about a town in South Australia that was knocking down abandoned houses that were no longer needed after the mine shut down. Turns out it was here! A lot of the houses were stripped of materials as the locals had gone in and taken anything they needed as it was all being demolished. It really gave the town a bit of an apocalyptic feel.
Unfortunately for the town and us, the golf course was also abandoned so we couldnāt add Leigh Creek to our growing list of courses played . One of the locals said the course used to be in really good nick with the fairways even green. Which around here is a rarity.
The only other thing of note for Leigh Creek was that I was able to vote in the Federal Election coming up. I was just going to chance my luck on the day and hope we were near a polling station but when we were getting our groceries I spotted a sign saying an early polling station was being set up for an hour in the little neighbouring town of Copley. So in we went and voting was completed. We may have also managed to get another Quandong pie at the bakery. Though this one was not as good as the one from Blinman.
Leigh Creek will definitely go down as one of the most bizarre towns we have ever visited. S
