I drove from Ballarat to Adelaide today, 617km in about seven hours along the Western and Dukes Highways through Horsham and Murray Bridge.

Departing at 7am in the wet, dark cold at Ballarat, it was a pleasant-enough drive, stopping just for breakfast at Ararat, a bakery visit at Nhill, and toilet breaks.

Gaining half an hour at the border, I arrived at my AirBNB in Richmond, inner west of Adelaide, at 3pm.

There were showers most of the way, but nothing to slow me down. In fact, it was nice to see the country looking so green and wet.

The crops around Horhsam and Nhill, and in South Australia looked terrific. It seemed a little dry from Kaniva through past Bordertown, but perhaps the season starts a little later there.

I listened to music most of the way, triggering memories of past places and people.

Approaching Nhill (pictured), I recalled nearly going to live there once in the 1990s as editor of the Nhill Free Press.

I think I was living in South Australia at the time, and wanted to get closer to home in Victoria. Rural Press was acquiring mastheads and Nhill was on their list, and they sounded me out.

The sale must have fallen through, because it seems that Nhill still has an independent local newspaper (rare today), and I don't remember receiving an offer.

Nhill is still a long way from Gippsland, and it's probably just as well that I didn't go there.

The town seems to be roughly the same size today as it was 30 years ago, with about 2400 residents. It has a hospital and a good range of commercial services. It will probably hang on for those reasons, along with being strategically located between Horsham and South Australia.

Many other small towns between Horsham and Tailem Bend have almost disappeared, except those with council offices, a hospital and/or a pub, school and store.

Some just have boarded-up town halls and forgotten post offices.

One such place was Kiata, 13km east of Nhill. Kiata railway station was opened on 19 January 1887, along with the line from Dimboola to Serviceton. The station was closed to passenger and goods traffic in August 1970.

According to Victorian Places, during the early 1870s much of the locality was taken up for farm selections. The Kiata township was surveyed in 1876. Schools were opened at Kiata West (1879-1947) and at Kiata East (1881-1907). An Anglican church was opened at Kiata in 1884, and it was used for the first Kiata school in 1886.

There are also references to early Methodist churches, and a Lutheran congregation developed there, in common with several nearby settlements of Germanic origin from the Hamilton area and from South Australia.

Kiata used to have the Little Desert Hotel (currently a private residence and for sale), a silo and an oval. The school closed in 1968.

I wonder about places like Kiata. Do ghosts roam the overgrown vacant blocks and empty buildings?

Once so vibrant, it's now decaying with every winter and every summer.