Over the border

1st October
Driving south we appreciated the changing scenery, more rocky jump ups and curves in the road than we have seen in awhile. Crossing the dry Finke Riverbed reminded us of the time we chose this spot for lunch in the shade of the Ghost Gums. By the time I had unpacked the makings for sandwiches the boys and Eric we handing it all back to me to put away as the flies were so thick and ferocious. Next was the turn off to Uluru with Erldunda Roadhouse on the corner. We didn't bother to count the number of vehicles lined up for fuel but I think 30 would be conservative and they had to be patient. Fortunately we only needed coffee, having a tail-wind today has been good for our fuel consumption. We were playing Spotto again and the target was Sturt's Dessert Pea but the one in the picture above was the only one we found. It flowers after heavy rain so I guess there hasn't been much of that lately. 

We did have a few unexpected spits on the windscreen from this curtain of cloud to the left, not enough to wash it though. Despite the clouds it was still 35 deg. We pulled in to Marla for fuel and decided to set up for the night. We are still listening to C. 








2nd October

Dawn was announced with a beautiful song by a pied butcherbird so I was up to see the glorious sunrise. We were on the road by 8.30 heading for Glendambo. That means passing through Coober Pedy and then a long stretch of road that crosses the 122 sq kms of Woomera Prohibited Area, a military testing range. Most of it is covered by the Great Victoria desert, either dunefields or gibber plains, where little rain falls and extreme temperatures are the norm. Today it was 38 deg. The tail wind had continued to bless us but it was not pleasant getting out of the air-con in Glendambo, so we pushed on to Lake Hart, thinking sunset over the salt lake might be a pleasant change in the evening. When we arrived it was still too early in the afternoon and way to unpleasant to stop, so we pushed on again. Pimba was simply unattractive so after a quick and very late lunch, we pushed on. The next stretch was a nice change from the relentless saltbush, myall and mulga, as far as the eye could see. We enjoyed the landscape as it changed from saltlake to bald hill before reverting once again until we reached Port Augusta. Now this is a place I had never imagined I would be happy to arrive, but after 774 kms towing a van in gusty winds today, we are both weary and very happy to pull up stumps. And we can see the sea! From the Arafura to Spencer's Gulf. 
3/10/19
We had a lovely sleep-in then played the back 9 of Port Augusta Golf Course. Once again it is very picturesque with the Flinders Ranges providing the stunning backdrop this time.  We shared the fairways with plenty of birds and the occasional stumpy tail lizard, correct name shingleback. The temperature was very pleasant, though the wind strong at times.

By then it was lunchtime so we came back to the van to regroup before later heading out to pick up supplies. Crossing the bridge to get to town we noticed the old bridge is now closed to public access. On that ‘98 trip I have mentioned before we arrived here to discover our wind-up caravan would not wind-up. We had to book a cabin and leave it with a local guy to fix. We were told, “They would have to order parts up from Adelaide which wouldn’t arrive for 3-4 days. Plan on staying up to a week.” “Eek! We thought, a week in Pt Agutta and we are only into Day 3 of our 3 month trip!”  We visited the Wadlata Outback Centre, the Arid Lands Gardens and then fished for pike off the old bridge like the locals were doing. I vividly remember being told to go and buy gents for bait and having no idea what it was I was purchasing. You guessed it, maggots! The next morning we got a call to say they had sourced cables from the wreckers and our van would be ready that afternoon. We were on our way again early the next morning with smiles from ear to ear. I really shouldn’t be so disparaging of the place, we even caught a feed of fish. 

We took photos once again of the wreck of the old barge by the bridge. Story is they brought the barge up the gulf for widening of the bridge in 1944 and then abandoned because it would not fit back under the bridge. There is also some terrific murals on the pillars of the new bridge down here. Then we revisited the Arid Lands Botanic Gardens. In ’98 it was in its infancy, so it is great to come back and see the amazing progress and it was teeming with birds. 

The gardens also provide access to Matthew Flinder’s Lookout above the spectacular red cliffs that form the western coastline at the top of Spencer’s Gulf. This is where he stood in 1802 and named a number of the points or mountains in the Flinder’s Ranges while the party searched for an inland sea. From there you have spectacular views of the majestic Flinder’s Ranges. 

On our way back to the van we spotted the Water Tower Lookout and climbed the four flights of stairs to see the vast 360 deg panoramic views. The view was impressive, but the tower itself, surrounded by lovely gardens, was also well worth a look. It was an original reserve water tank for the residents 

The next morning we unloaded the bikes for the first time and took them for a spin along the bike path that follows the red cliffs from right outside our caravan park. We were a bit miffed to discover we couldn't access the path all the way to the lookout point we were at yesterday, but what we had done was probably enough for our first hit out in awhile. It is predicted to be 39 deg today, so next we shut everything up and chose an air-con drive out into the surrounding district. We had actually planned to camp at Melrose and visit Mt Remarkable but the camp was full so instead a day trip will suffice. We went south then over Horrocks Pass to Wilmington. Just through town is the turn off to Alligator Gorge in Mt Remarkable National Park. This is thought to be named after a local Indigenous man named Alli. The narrow winding road took us through fabulous country dominated by stunning Eucalypts. I don’t know which ones are which, so I’ll just call them Heysen Gums because he was so good at capturing their colour and form on canvas. 

After a steep staircase down to the creek bed we enjoyed a walk through the gorge to The Cascades in one direction and The Narrows in the other. 

It was remarkably cool in the shade of the stone walls and we were amazed at the number of wildflowers. That’s right, it’s Springtime, you don’t take much notice of these things when you live in Darwin and it is either the dry, build-up or wet season. I remember a lot of these flowers from nature walks we did at Dixon's Creek Primary School. In those days we would all just take off for the afternoon with our one teacher and scramble through the ranges, picking flowers as we went, then back at school we would identify them and press them. We called them Billy buttons, snowdrops, chocolate lily and native leek.

The climb back up the 250 steps to the carpark was a challenge and we deserved lunch after that. We found a nice café in Melrose to enjoy a meal.

Somewhere today we have crossed the Goyder Line which is a line of reliable rainfall in South Australia. It separates land suitable for crops in the south from general grazing land further north. It originated after the 1864 drought, when the then Surveyor-General of South Australia, George Goyder, was asked by the government of the day to map the boundary between those areas that received good rainfall and those experiencing drought. So George got on his horse and rode 3200 km east to west across the colony. Finally in 1865 Goyder submitted his report and map to the state government. We were interested in this because this same man did survey work in what would later be known as the NT and there is a river named after him there. Whatsmore, the yellow house, my house, at Alawa School bears his name. 
Returning to Pt Augusta we were impressed by the tower at the new Sundrop Farm, which produces tomatoes in massive greenhouses using new technologies to harvest solar energy and desalinate water for the crops. The tower is 115m high and has 23,000 mirrors pointed at it. It produces the energy to power the plant growing systems and to heat and cool the greenhouses as required. Actually, we are very impressed with the town’s uptake of renewable energy technologies, including Australia’s largest solar project as well as a wind farm project.
Back in town Eric returned to the Golf Course and I relaxed as the heat of the day waned. Now it is time to renew old and dear friendships in the Clare Valley.