Position 32 28.5S  137 45.74E

Port Augusta lies at the top of the Spencer Gulf and is the furthest point that you can sail north in South Australia.  We stayed here for three days, having to get car serviced for our trip into the outback.  Small town but at cross-roads of roads going through the continent to Darwin, west to Perth, East to Sydney or south to Adelaide and Melbourne. 

Originally the town had no drinking water, it had to be brought in by barrel from Mount Brown.  They had various attempts to overcome water shortages and the problem was finally solved in 1944.  This is the Morgan-Whylla pipeline that brings water from the Murray River to Port Augusta.

Matthew Flinders was the first person to sail here (March 11^th 1802) and we stood on the very red cliffs that he did when he started to explore the head of Spencer Gulf in a cutter from The Investigator.  He stopped here to observe latitude (using the Sun) and to take bearings.  He got about 2kms further up the Gulf from this spot, he then went aground in the mud and couldn’t go any further.  The outback meets the ocean here.  Looking out across the Gulf to the Flinders Ranges on the Eyre Peninsula.  You can just make out a forest of grey mangrove (Avicennia marina var. resinifera) growing at the water’s edge, and the steep red cliffs on which we stood.

Looking across to Devils Peak directly in front and Mount Brown to the RHS.  The latter was named after Robert Brown who was the botanist on board.

Port Augusta is also a railway, as well as road, hub, and is one of the few places we have been that still has a working railway.  Not surprising as its about 2700 km to Darwin, 2450km to Perth and 1550km to Sydney from here.  A long way for trucks.  Here’s a train carrying containers, Flinders Ranges in the background.