Postman Pete and his 600km mail run
PETER Rowe knows the remote Outback roads like the back of his hands.
The 72-year-old travels 600km twice a week delivering Australia Post mail to remote farming properties and the towns of William Creek and Oodnadatta.
“Of course, it’s a way of earning a living but I’m driving around a country I love and every time I see something different,” Mr Rowe said.
“I love this country and the more time I spend out here, the more I fall in love with it and its people.”
But his title is more than just the postie. He is the grocery deliveryman and lifeline if station owners urgently need goods from town — sometimes more than 300km away.
“The mail is always the most important thing but I’m offering more than one service to the Outback,” Mr Rowe said.
“I can get a phone call from someone who will need a battery real quick, ck, or will have blown a tyre, and it’s a 600km round trip for them.” ”
His mail runs uns on Mondays ys and Thursdays s are also thee basis of a unique daylong mail run tour across the Outback,, stopping at two o towns and five ve stations.
Mr Rowe’ss day starts in Cooberer Pedy at 7am, when n he picks up the mail and nd supermarket deliveries before loading the four-wheel-driveh ldi with ih tourists and taking off at 9am.
He returns to Coober Pedy in no rush between 7pm and 10pm, staying true to the laid- back, no fuss, country lifestyle.
And, after 14 years in the job, Mr Rowe shows no signs of weariness or slowing down. He has insteadi just signed on for a furtherfurt five years.
“Out of all the things I’ve done, thisth is most enjoyable jobj b I’veI’ had.h
“Being the mailman phenomenal,” he said.
He became the region’s third Outback postman 14 is Picture: BIANCA DE MARCHI years ago and now knows the remote roads like the back of his hands.
But like for any traveller on the Oodnadatta Track, it can be testing at times because of its poor condition, which once resulted in him travelling just 170km in 10 hours.
“The first 60km were no problem but then the rain hit and it was too late to turn around, I had no choice but to keep going,” Mr Rowe said.
“You often find people broken down, or help them out of bogs. You get all sorts of things out here.”