Thursday 6th October
We had bush camped at the Merna Mora Station where they have a self-drive 4x4 ($45) but it had rained during the night at the track was closed so we decided to head north to check our Lake Eyre. Pulled in (for morno's) at the old townsite of Beltana. Same old story, had been a bustling town (with railway station) but the station had been moved to Leigh Creek because of the coal mine (typical) so now it was all but a ghost town. Some very interesting old buildings, one of them being a gallery. The resident artist is one of the 3 people still living in the town. She was quite a character and talented with the paintbrush. The town was soon to nearly double in size as her grandaughter and husband were moving back – he was going to run some sort of computer business from there. Next 'up the road' was Leigh Creek, restocked the fridge and the fuel tank. Quite an interesting set up here, felt like a Lego Town. The Mine company had moved the town 8 km down the road as it was in the way of the mine!!! So they had set up this fabricated little townsite – neat and tidy and sticking out like a sore thumb in amongst the historical buildings of the other little townships. Next town, Maree – where the New Ghan goes through – and a quick refreshment at the old pub (in the Aussie Bush Pubs book). The grumpy old bugger behind the bar eventually decided he would serve us! So we drank it down and pushed on for the last leg up to Lake Eyre campsite which is on a station 44km south of the lake and called Muloorina. A lovely little spot with a small natural hot spring, a well reeded watering hole and lots of birds. I was too tired to check out this hot spring – can't believe I didn't have the energy to even look at it, but chauffeur suggested maybe we could check it out tomorrow after visiting Lake Eyre.
Friday 7th October
Up early to check out this amazing Lake. Quite a rough trip, lots of corrugations. Soon we were driving past the northern tip of Lake Eyre South. Wasn't sure if the water we could see was a mirage – chauffeur assured me it was the real stuff. Finally we were there. You have to park a way from the lake and there is a short walk up over a dune. Up we went, chatting to some interesting people on the way up who were heading over to Kalgoorlie to visit family. Guess what, no water. Well none that you could see. A bit disappointing, but I still found it thrilling to think I was there (have wanted to go for ages). We walked out on the salt flats (a bit Lake Bollardish, where were the statues) until it got too boggy, obviously hadn't been very long since there had been water. I could have kicked myself for not bringing a plastic bag to collect some salt. I had to make do with what I could carry in a tissue! Back at the carpark got chatting to another group of travellers who had an assortment of vehicles and campers – it is always interesting to see other people's set up, there are always ideas to be gleaned. Heading back southbound again, chauffeur wasn't interested in another night in the campground, so I had to console myself that I had missed out on a dip in the hot spring. We stopped in Marree again this time checking out the Lake Eyre Yacht Club!! WOW, what an interesting place – they really to sail on the lake. Some amazing photos, a great web page which I will check out again in the future. Learned that one part of the lake recently had 6 metres of water. Stayed at the Leigh Creek caravan park, it was very pleasant and got my tick of approval. Caught up with the washing – woo hoo, clean undies!
Saturday 9th October
Another early start as chauffeur had a bee in his bonnet – this self-drive 4x4 back at Merna Mora was beckoning and apparently we needed to be there for 10:00. We made it and yes it was open. With key in hand, and page of directions and information we set off. It was a nice easy start (for me – nothing too scary) and with clear skies looked to be a promising day. We weren't disappointed. Well chauffeur did say the track wasn't challenging enough. Even I will admit it wasn't difficult (as in wash-outs etc) but there were some steep bits, managed to close my eyes and not get out of the vehicle. The scenery and views were fabulous. Although it seems wrong to pay to drive a 4x4 track, it was worth it, we had a lovely day. Couldn't help thinking if Linda and Ian had been on the trip as well, she might not have been too happy some of the inclines. I wanted to go through the Brachina Gorge again as the day we had driven through it had been raining. It was quite a long round trip and have to admit I was a little disappointed. Not sure if it is just more interesting driving south to north or if what we had seen earlier in the morning and desensitised us. Oh well, it was all good and we started heading towards Port Augusta. The wheel squeal was becoming unbearable and chauffeur had booked Dmax in again to having the bearings looked at again on Tuesday. Found a bush camp to the East of Hawker and managed to set up before it started raining.
Sunday 10th October
Didn't get too wet during the night, but not worried as Jan seems to be well and truly water tight. Stopped for lunch at some old ruins, Kenyaka. I couldn't believe my eyes as we crested this rise to look down on some ruins of what looked like a small town. The stone work in these buildings would impress most brickies. Hard to believe it had been left to ruins. Built in the 1850's had at one time been populated by 70 people. Some Earl from Scotland started a station there only to be drowned a year later in a flash flood of the creek. Taken over by another family the station failed 15 years later due to drought! Watched a galah feeding its chicks - what a noise. Chatting to someone else in the carpark learnt of another bush camp at Hancocks Lookout just 40km south east of Port Augusta. Found our way there and eventually set up on a 'flattish' clearing overlooking the Spencer Gulf. Didn't look that awsome due to the bad weather. Finding a flat spot is always the most difficult part of setting up camp. Might take us 15 minutes getting the car level (usually with much disagreement going on – even with the 'tilt metre' app on the Iphone). I refuse to sleep with my feet higher than my head and one night I had rotated 180 deg in bed much to the annoyance of chauffeur who refused to rotate. I'm sure my feet weren't that stinky, but chauffeur didn't get a good night's sleep – his feet hadn't bothered me despite them being cold. Anyway we sat down to dinner overlooking the Spencer Gulf when it happened. The sun dropped through the clouds as it was setting and the water lit up. Chauffeur was up in a flash (ha ha, yes with camera in hand). It just kept getting better the lower the sun got. All dinner forgotten, we drank in the marvellous colours.
Monday 11th October
Very cold morning, we drove down to Port Augusta. After giving Dmax a much needed de-mudding (we found the car washes have allotted bays for demudding) it must be a common problem in this area, we then had to check out one of those places – yes a CP. Picked one on the banks of the foreshore but not too far from town. Didn't spot the railway line on the opposite side of the water. After catching up with the washing again, treated ourselves to dinner out and returned to the caravan park kitchen for a nightcap and game of cribbage. This place is like a prison, the perimeter fence is topped with barbed wire and the gate is locked at 9:30pm, you have to request a key if you are going to be later. There were notices everywhere to lock up everything. After having walke around the town in the afternoon we could understand why. It really is not a very nice town, despite having lots of history and lovely historical buildings, but there is just no atmosphere, and having piped music in the streets is a bit worrying. No restaurants, tempting bakeries etc. Anyway, about 9.00 pm I thought I heard a roll of thunder. After a minute I was doubting it and was looking around for the source of the noise – Trains! - coal trains – over 2km long. It takes a good half hour for all the carriages to get rolling. All I can say is there was more than one train – should have chosen the CP closer to the highway, I just can't win.
Tuesday 11th October
Chauffeur dropped Dmax off at Isuzu to have it's feet looked at and came back with a courtesy car – a commodore looking thing. Was entertained whilst chauffeur tried his best to imitate a 'local' driving into town. Topped up again at Woolies and had time to wash all the veges/fruit and pack them in the fridge properly. Dmax was de-squealed and we set about remounting Djan on to the tray. We are getting the hang of this -albeit slowly. Michael finally caught up with us and we had a great evening catching up on each others travels.
Wednesday 12th October
Getting ready to set off I went to the kitchen to fill the flask whilst chauffeur topped Djan up with water. He came into the kitchen 15 minutes later with a worried look on his face – the news was he thought we had a 'stowaway', a hitchhiker no less. To my puzzled expression he explained that when he opened the water filling cap in Djan he saw something green. Thinking it might be some nasty algae stuff he touched it with his finger and it moved. Having realised he had actually seen a couple of eyes peeking at him over the lip the the filler came to the conclusion it must be a frog. Where had it come from – how did it manage to get there and had he damaged it by poking it?? Oh well, nothing we can do about it now so Eyre Peninsula here we come. This is the seafood capital of Australia, so after a bit of a sticky beak around Whyalla we lunched at Barnacle Bills. It was so so, but filled a big hole. But left us very thirsty. Further down the coast at Cowell we checked out some local oysters, served with a crisp white wine. Now that hit the spot and Michael not being satisfied had to go back for seconds. Spent the afternoon leisurely checking out every track down to the beaches, and did lots of ooing and aaahing – blue skies, rolling hills it was delightful. Camped at Cape Hardy and found some respite from the wind and had a thoroughly good time. Opened up the filler cap again and sure enough there is our little Kermie! Chauffeur chats to him everytime he walks past. How do you tempt a frog to come out of your water tank? What if it dies in there? Are we drinking froggie wee, or worse poop! Does it get car sick with all the swilling around it must get? There are a lot of flies around so I suggested putting a piece of meat near to the filler cap to tempt the flies which in turn might tempt our Kermie out – surely it must be hungry by now – can't help singing the song “I know an old lady, who swallowed a fly (to catch a …. etc.)
Thursday 13th October
A bit of gusty rain during the night had Michael up putting down his awning. Quite different travelling now, very slow and leisurely. More delightful coastal views. The days are blurring, might have to fill this in later (after checking the details with him who knows it all – as far as maps and roads are concerned :) Think I might know where we picked up our hitchhiker. Whilst filling up from The Church on a Corner in Tibooburra I attached the water hose before letting the tap run a bit – now if I was a frog I would live up the spout of a water tap. Kermie still looking out the tank at us.
Friday 14th October
Arrived in Port Lincoln and checked out the details of the National Park in the info centre. Bought another sticker for my collection (am beginning to run out of space on the toolbox door). Sorted out where we wanted to go – a bit complicated as keys and deposits are involved) but also there are storm warnings on the radio. Don't really want to go to the 'expensive' part of the park to be disappointed by lack of views due to the rain. Also it is the most exposed part of the coast, so warnings of hailstones were slightly daunting. Anyway found a sheltered spot in the NP peninsula, got prepared for an onslaught and slept peacefully through a very calm night – well I guess someone in SA got the storm, but we certainly didn't – no complaints here :) Kermie still decided the security of our water tank is its best option!
Saturday 15th October
Continued to explore the NP. Walked some tracks first explored by Matthew Flinders and found another nice sheltered campsite close to the lighthouse. Weather looking a little more ominnous now, but chauffeur managed a couple of hours down the beach trying to tempt some piscatorial delight on to his lure. No luck, but the sunshine must have done him good. The water here is so clear and turquiose. I found myself a comfortable spot and settled down on the white sand with my book – it is such a hard life. Michael is back up at the lighthouse where the coverage is better so he can catch up on some 'work' – ugh wash my mouth out! An emu just ambled past me – got quite a shock – where is the camera? Maybe he can tempt our Kermie to come out.
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