11th July Burra

Kms today 335 Kms to date 3280

I sat up last night to watch Ash Barty win her Wimbledon final. The Saints also gave the Lions a drubbing. It was chilly this morning but not freezing. I left after breakfast at the Mildura WMC. I was their first customer of the day.

I rode into a stiff headwind to the SA border. There is a large facility there to check for plant material that may carry pests. SA has tacked Covid checks onto this permanent restriction. The place was swarming with Police and I showed them my Border Pass and they checked it out on line. Then I had to open up my bags for the much more important check for illegal plant material. The Policeman had a 2001 Z1000 Kwacker so we had a chat about that.

Dunlop Arch at SA Border

Then it was under the Dunlop Arch (why is it there?) and off free in SA. I crossed the Murray into Renmark and headed for The Overland Corner Hotel for lunch. The OCH was built in 1859 to service the overland wagon trains and the River paddle steamers. It is in its original condition. It was booked out with the Sunday lunch crowd but I got a seat in the bar.

Overland Hotel is unique and well worth a visit

The wooden knife and fork weren't up it and I had to ask for metal cutlery!

After a nice steak sandwich and a pot of local beer; the first time I have had a medium rare steak sandwich!

This young musician was making a valiant attempt to entertain the crowd.

I headed on to Morgan to refuel. Another motorcyclist passed through on a BWM 1200GS just like Alan's and we followed each other on the Goyder Hwy to Burra. I turned off my heated gloves for the first time.

There was a band of dark cloud stretching across the sky as a cold front came in from the NW. Rain was falling north and south of me but I only had a brief shower. The sun was shining on the other side.

Dark clouds on the horizon

Burra was chosen by me as an overnight stop when I thought I would have to queue for hours at Berri for a Covid test. I arrived quite early and walked up the road from the motel to have a look at the Burra copper mine workings. This mine was opened in 1845 as an underground mine and later an open cut. It was the most productive copper mine in the world at that time and 50,000 tonnes of copper was extracted up to 1877 when the mine closed due to groundwater problems. The motel I stayed in was probably the best of the whole trip and one of the cheapest.

The town is a well preserved historical precinct. The mine was reopened in 1970 but closed 7 years later due to water problems again but managed to get extract another 24,000 tonnes of copper.