Sunday, 10/21 Parachilna Roadhouse to Beltana Station

Kevin and Diana are discovered by the Australian film industry!

     Parachilna Roadhouse was a rather bleak little place, other than the restaurant. We paid $22 to camp there, the bathrooms were in need of a good scrubbing, the wind was still frisky, and the flies had spent the night. We had coffee and cereal in the 'camp kitchen', a roofless structure with green screen walls that sort of kept out the flies and the wind.

Not all our camping is idyllic 

     Our plan was to head north to Leigh Creek, do a bit of shopping , and continue on. We passed some fine ruins along the way.

     Leigh Creek is both the name of a town and a coal mine. The mine provides the carbon source for 40% of South Australia's electrical energy needs, and in it's voracious appetite for new veins of coal, the old town of Leigh Creek was moved about 15 km south in 1986 to its new location. A completely planned community, it currently has 450 residents, down from its peak of 1500 a decade ago. A quarter million trees were planted at the inauguration of the town and now it is a completely uncharacteristic 'Outback' town, green and nicely laid out (by city and landscape architects). You can only live there if you work at least 20 hours for the mine or one of the businesses in the town. If you quit or retire, you must move on. It reminded us a bit of the movie “The Truman Show”.

     We went into the tiny IGA to pick up a few grocery items and the blue-haired lady working there said “We closed at one, please get your things as quickly as possible”. Diana said “We didn't know you closed so early” and she said, “ we normally aren't even open on Sunday, but there's a film crew in town and we opened for them.” “What are they filming?” “ Something called 'The Tracker'”. Sounded like a good adventure film.

     We scurried about, grabbed a few provisions, paid, and walked out to the LC to stow things away. As we crossed the empty parking lot a Landcruiser with a rental emblem drove slowly by us, stopped, and the driver, a woman about our age asked us,

   “Are you tourists?”

   “Yeah.”

   “Where will you be staying tonight?”

   “Probably someplace a couple hundred k's north.”

   “Darn, I'm looking for a couple just like you to cast as extras for a movie we're shooting near here.”

   “Sure, we can do that!”

   “Really? I think the director will love you. The movie is set in the '70s and we're seeking people who look the part,” Diana's long straight hair and my beard. Besides, we could give lessons on being tourists in the '70s. She gave us directions to the location and told us to be there at 10:30 am the next day.

   The movie is called “Tracks” and is about an Australian woman who traveled from Alice Springs to the west coast with four camels. Her story first appeared in National Geographic, I remember reading it when it came out. It stars Mia Wasikowska, who appeared as Alice in Tim Burton's recent version of Alice in Wonderland, which starred Johnny Depp. The movie has a $13 million budget and is due out sometime in 2013.

    Since it was early afternoon and we didn't have anywhere to go now, we sat at the tennis courts at Leigh Creek, using power from the public toilet there to power our bongle, and emailed and blogged for a couple hours. Oh, and we also Skyped w/David (our son David) who was up very late.

Catching up on email in Leigh Creek

    We drove back south to a station (ranch) called Beltana and camped near the shearers quarters. The station is over 200,000 acres and runs sheep and cattle, but like many stations along the main roads they also had a campground and room accommodations in the shearer's quarters. We were the only campers there, and got to use the kitchen and veranda for dinner, which was lamb chops, potatoes, carrots and Tim Tams.

At Beltana Station.  We're the only campers there.

We're not the only ones that appreciate a fine Aussie Cab-Sav

     As we cooked dinner we talked with a sturdy woman a little older than us (reminded us of Grandpa Burt's wife Annie). She and her husband ran their own station for 40 years, then sold it to his younger brother. Now they 'station sit' for other owners, since they know how to “do the water run”, or check the bores (wells) and tanks, take care of the animals, and everything else necessary to keep a station going. She was currently also doing laundry for some of the film crew and helping out preparing meals, since some of the crew were also staying at the station in the converted shearer's quarters. We got to bed pretty late, not a good idea before the beginning of our new careers as movie stars.