Travelling Around : Billy in Blinman

Billy, our travelling camel, never gets tired of travelling!

Day 2

Next morning we had a nice leisurely breakfast and pottered around our site enjoying the beautiful scenery right outside our door! We think this camping area is the best we have stayed at as it has lovely views, great amenities with our on site ensuite so we don't have to conserve our own water supply and we also have power and Blinman is only 5km away. Security is often a worry for me when camping but here we are on the station property but far enough away from other campers to feel comfortable. There are not many other camping sites here on the station which makes it very quiet - perfect!

The remains of Blinman mining

Copper was discovered in Blinman in 1859 by Robert Blinman, and this led to one of South Australia's largest mines operating from 1862 to 1918 with the population peaking to 1500, but high transport costs led to closure of the mines as well as dwindling ore deposits.

We drove around the mining area which has a few explanation signs and there are many old houses which have been abandoned but it is interesting to see how they would have lived but it would have been a very difficult life with very harsh conditions.

Interesting art work in Blinman

Blinman now has a small population of up to 50 permanent residents but tourism boosts this number although during the summer months most of the small tourist businesses close as the weather is too hot for travelling, but during the cooler months there are many tourists visiting the Flinders Ranges.

A great cafe with food and coffee all day

The Blinman pub is always a favourite

We thought we would drive out to the Camel Farm but after a short distance we turn back as it was too rough for us. We did get to the Camel Farm but our Billy wasn't very impressed and the camels were resting so we drove back to the bitumen.

We used to like driving on the "back roads" with our 4 WD but now we are older we aren't so keen to have to change tyres if we got a puncture.

Corellas everywhere and so noisy

Old abandoned homes are scattered through the town

Someone's old bed

The Blinman Hotel was first opened in 1869 and still retains many of the old features as well as having been updated to today's expectations. We have been visiting the Blinman hotel for over 30 years on our travels. There used to be a swimming pool in the front but that has been replaced with an outdoor area and fire pit.

We looked around the town and discovered this old cottage which was closed but the Cafe gave us a key so we were able to look around and it was a great way to see how the old timers lived in the 1800s. It was a small house and would have been very cramped by today's house sizes, not sure how we would cope living like that with a young family.