6—10 Nov—Peterborough, SA
In the morning it was time to move on again and we were ready to leave the station, though sadly, and head to Peterborough Caravan Park. We headed along the Flinders Ranges Way, turned left onto RM Williams Way and then left onto Petersburg Rd to Peterborough.
We headed out to explore the town and visited the train carriage in the middle of town as a museum and we did enjoy the restoration, photos and historical info and watching the short video of the train trip from Peterborough to Broken Hill in the 1880’s. Peterborough is a junction for for main roads and at the entrance to town from each road they have a steam train on a bridge (all different) and info, so we took photos of each one. We visited the lookout for an overview of the town.
While in town we had coffee or meals at The Junction Hotel, the Tinsmith Cottage and the Steamtown Dine Inn. We enjoyed the meals and the interactions with the locals.
We left Peterborough feeling a little sad for the town. It was obvious during our time there that the town “lived in the past”. From the steam trains (both real and models) everywhere to the scads of generally well-maintained old stone/brick buildings, there seemed to be a focus on yesterday to the detriment of today. Sadly, many of the old business buildings were closed/empty; even the Steamtown Museum and Visitor Centre was closed. We suspect if it wasn’t for the couple of servos and thriving Foodland store, the town would have withered away completely by now.
See also 2025 “Morisset to Tumby Bay, SA to Granville” trip.
