Passing Strange: Wilmington to Hawker
Shakespeare of course never rode through either Pichi Richi or Horrocks Pass. In fact, there is a puzzling absence of motorcycle references in his otherwise quite commendable plays. Imagine if Macbeth and Banquo had just roosted the witches on enduro bikes… the play could have had a happy ending with Macbeth and Lady Macbeth going for rides on their Goldwing around the back roads of Glamis, or even Cawdor, and he would have forgotten about being king hereafter.
Unlike Shakespeare, we are going to ride both of these passes today. But let’s take a look at the places we’ll see along the way.
HAWKER
Once a thriving railway settlement, Hawker now appears to be mainly dependent on tourism for the butter on its bread. It has all the services you could want, and at Hawker Motors it even has a local history museum. Further north, of course, lie the Flinders ranges – the main reason why anyone would be up here.
KANYAKA
The ruins of a sheep station homestead, stables and woolshed are carefully labelled so you can begin to understand what running stock out here was once like. Well worth a stop.
What’s so “passing strange” about this route? Well, I occasionally have European or North American visitors. Sometimes they bring their own bikes, sometimes I arrange transport for them, but universally they want to know where the great Australian bike roads are. And quite often they are keen on riding Horrocks, and if they’ve done their research, Pichi Richi, Pass. I send them on their way with an admonition to remember that Australia is a very old continent, and therefore somewhat… well, flat. But they still come back and look at me with puzzlement in their eyes.
“Passes?” they say, or words to that effect. “Passes? Those are passes?” Yes, strange as it may sound they are passes. They might not be the Stelvio or Bear Tooth Pass, but on a continent that has bugger all elevation change to offer, they are definitely passes. And not only that; they are quite different from each other. But let’s start properly at Hawker.
Head south on the B83, called the Flinders Ranges Way before it changes its name to Hawker-Stirling North Road. The scenery is not terribly varied but very pretty in a brutal sort of way – and if that doesn’t make any sense to you, you probably haven’t been in the Australian Outback. Those two concepts lie quite comfortably next to each other; take a look at an Albert Namatjira painting.
About 10km out of town you’ll pass the turnoff to the left of RM Williams Way. The road continues through that Outback scenery, past various ruins which always remind me of the vital importance of climate to Australia’s rural prosperity.
Further south is Quorn. Don’t be tempted to take the left turn to Wilmington on the B82 here; you will miss both of our passes! Pichi Richi Pass is just out of town and it’s a lot of fun, reminiscent of some of the gentler low passes in New Zealand. You swoop down a bit like the wombat on the fold past The Devils Peak to, eventually, Stirling North. A left turn here puts you onto the Princes Highway, good old Highway Number 1. Before you have a chance to get really annoyed by the heat, dust and truck traffic, it’s time to turn off again. Just as well. The Princes is not an enjoyable road along here.
The turnoff is now to Wilmington, through Horrocks Pass. Unlike Pichi Richi, which offers a substantial change in altitude, Horrocks is more just a narrow road following a creek along the low canyon that it’s cut for itself through the hills. Despite being narrow, the road is a lot of fun as it twists its way gently upwards. Take care; those rock walls are just as hard as you would expect rock to be… There are places along the way where you can pull off the road for a break, something I really like doing here.
Once you pop out of the eastern end of the pass you will find yourself in gently rolling countryside that will shortly see you in Wilmington. You have the option here of taking the B56 east to Peterborough and then continuing to Broken Hill and eventually Sydney, or heading south on the B82 to Crystal Brook, Clare and Adelaide. Just a note of warning here: there is in fact no crystal brook at Crystal Brook, just as there is no nectar at Nectar Brook back on the Princes Highway, just south of where we turned off. Who came up with these euphonious appellations? Perhaps the same person who named Snowtown, further south, where no, it doesn’t snow.
You’ve just traversed two of Australia’s best-known passes, and if they seemed a bit “passing strange” to you – get used to it. We’re about distances here; we may not have mountains, but we have plenty of those!
GORDON
Another ruin. If you’re wondering why there are so many of them up around here, take a look at “Goyder’s Line” on Google. In 1865, surveyor George Goyder took note of the average rainfall across South Australia and drew this line to establish the limit of crop growing. It was only south of the line, he believed, that crop growing was feasible. Nearly a dozen years of good rain appeared to prove him wrong, and settlement spread well north of the line. Then the normal rainfall patterns re-established themselves and the farms all went belly up. Trust your surveyor.
QUORN
You have no doubt seen Quorn. No, you don’t need to go to South Australia for that; the place has featured in so many Australian movies that it’s practically a visual cliché. That doesn’t make it any less pretty, though, and it also has all the services you’re likely to want. A terrific place for a photo that demonstrates that you really were in the outback! There is a photogenic railway as well, down through the pass.
STIRLING NORTH
Practically a suburb of Port Augusta, Stirling North has a servo and shop which might come in handy. Otherwise it’s smart but a drive through sort of place, unless you want to visit friends or family in Port Augusta Gaol, which is just up the Princes Highway.
WINNINOWIE
Just in case you’re counting on purchasing or indeed stealing something in Winninowie, just up the Horrocks Pass Road from the Princes Highway, you are likely to be disappointed. Like Oakland in Gertrude Stein’s famous words, whenever you get there, there’s no there there.
WILMINGTON
I once rode the entire length of Wilmington in the middle of the day without seeing a single living soul. Admittedly I didn’t see any dead ones, either, although the thought that a mob of zombies might burst out around the next corner did cross my mind. But no such thing would ever happen in Wilmington, one of the nicest and steadiest of towns anywhere. The word ‘genteel’ comes to mind, in fact. The Wilmington Toy Museum is kind of interesting if you like, er, toys.
