Heading north

Could those rays of sunshine in the morning sky be a sign of better things to come? We're not waiting around any longer to find out. We have even had friend Col from Clare text to check we didn't get blown away in the dark after their experience overnight. 
We made it from the heel of the Yorke Peninsula to Port Augusta by lunchtime. And we are in t-shirts again! On the way we passed many, many more wind turbines belonging to the Snowtown wind farm,located on the Barunga and Hummocks ranges. The name Snowtown evokes memories of that terrible 'bodies in the barrels' episode in our history. None of the people involved were from the town though, it was just where the bodies were hidden. A very grizzly story which had long-lasting repercussions on the town. They even thought about changing the name at one stage apparently. 
We have also driven by some lovely pink salt lakes at Price, just north of Ardrossan where they are producing salt and later at Lake Bumbunga near Lochiel in the Clare Valley. 

After relaxing for the afternoon we had fish and chips by the water's edge. I had found a lookout that I thought might be a nice place to sit and view the vista but on arrival we realised we were in the wrong end of town and there was a local sleeping on the road, so we hastily made our way back to the commercial centre and ate at the Eastside Foreshore. We were joined by dolphins frolicking in the water and a throng of silver gulls eager to share our chips. This will be the last fresh fish until we get back to Darwin. 

Tuesday 3rd Dec
A beautiful cloud free day with light winds. No flies. Loving this. We played 18 holes of golf in shorts and t-shirts then organised our menus for the next few days and shopped for supplies. There is little more to add, having uploaded photos of all that on the way down on the 3rd of October, exactly 2 months ago. And we weren't even trying.   
Today we moved onto song titles beginning with 'K'. We were on 'I' for a long time. Then, have you ever considered how many contractions there are that begin with 'I' (I'd, I'll, I'm, I've)? By contrast we flew through J.
Wednesday 4th Dec

On the road early and aiming for at least Cadney Homestead Roadhouse. The road north is very straight and today there is little traffic. South of Coober Pedy we saw lots of wedge tailed eagles but then as the trees thinned out even they became less in number. Quite a number of willy willies but too difficult to photograph. 

We played 'spotto' to keep ourselves amused and as a result logged emu and red cars but no camels other than on a sign. We sat on 95 kms/h as that seems to be the best speed for fuel efficiency and control and we were overtaken by just one vehicle all day. Not a lot of traffic heading south either at this time of the year. 
Another distraction was to contemplate: 
(a)What we had taken that we could have done without:

The camp oven as we have had so few opportunities for a fire

The bikes as few chances to ride without lousy windy conditions
The second solar panel as we always had enough power

(b)What we couldn't do without:
The Yeti insulated wine goblets
The cardboard wine boxes under the bed for storing all sorts of bottles, not only alcohol
The jaffle irons were such a good way to eat up leftovers

We pulled up at Marla, 770 kms later with the temperature still at 35 deg C even though it is after 5pm. We can have the pick of the sites as we are the only onesbe  mad enough to here at this stage. 

Thursday 5th Dec
Another early get-away after refuelling. The drive started out somewhat like yesterday.

But after crossing the border just south of Kulgera:

the scenery soon improved.

Today we moved on to the second half of Eric's playlist. He made the bold prediction, as he is want to do, that we would have moved on to song titles beginning with 'M' before we reached Alice Sp. I begged to differ. Unfortunately for Eric he had not considered how many titles dealt with love.  We finished on Dire Straits  'Love over Gold'.
We have discovered that the most expensive fuel for the whole trip, at over $2 per litre is on offer at both Erldunda and Stuart Wells. Do you remember that on the way down we were astonished by the number of vehicles queued up at Erldunda for fuel? I can't imagine the profits they were ringing up that day. We thought we would outsmart them and buy at Stuart Wells but copped the similar price. There was no avoiding it. 
We booked into the MacDonnell Range Caravan Park at Heavitree Gap picturing the big shady trees we enjoyed in 1998 but the park has actually changed location slightly in that time and the shade on offer is sparse. Nevermind, too tired to care really. We got the air- con going and headed straight for the pool. 
By dinnertime it was quite pleasant out under the stars.

Friday 6th Dec
We left early for golf, planning to play 9 holes before it got too hot. We should have left earlier! Fortunately this time we were given the option to play the signature front nine which was outstanding. Not the golf score though. Have a look at the bunker bottom left below. Not only sand in the bottom but rocks on the wall! A truly stunning course though with the MacDonnells as the backdrop.

What is the best way to quickly cool down in a town like Alice? Go shopping. Got groceries for the rest of the trip at Woolies, where you can park undercover, then returned to the van. Once again the air con is on and we were soon headed for the reading room and pool for the afternoon. It reached a high of 39 today.
Saturday 7th Dec

After an overnight of 25 they are expecting a high of 41 in Alice today, but we wont be there to endure it. We shared a coffee with Geoff and Kym, who are in town from Ti Tree, at the Watertank Cafe. Surrounded by industrial fittings and fixtures of a plumbing nature, we enjoyed a coffee and catch up. After a 3 year stint at Ti Tree, these two are now off to Ampilatwatja (pronounced Umbloodawitch-go figure).





On the other hand we are continuing north.

Now you could be forgiven for thinking you have seen this picture before, but no. The road ahead is still straight however today it is punctuated with all manner of photographic opportunities. First there's the monument to designate the highest point the road reaches between Adelaide and Darwin. Downhill all the way to Darwin – well in theory. Then the Tropic of Capricorn marker, then the Warburton (explorer) Memorial followed by the big man at Aileron and the Teamster Memorial (overland telegraph) all before we had lunch at the Devils Marbles. And by the way it took us 40 kms north of Alice to move beyond 'L' song titles. And nor did we stop to take pics of all those opportunities. 

We have yet to stop at Devil's Pebbles but there's a John Flynn (RFDS) memorial at Threeways and another for John McDouall Stuart (explorer) at Attack Creek. Keeping us amused along the way are a huge population of termite mounds 'wearing' discarded articles of clothing. I'm not sure what the termites are thinking but some people are very imaginative. 

Our initial plans had been to pull up at the Attack Creek roadside camp, but it was still way too hot. 44 deg C as we drove through Tennant Creek at 4pm. Instead we took another turn behind the wheel and eventually stopped at a free camp at Newcastle Waters, In all we've done 783 kms today and only have 712 left to get home tomorrow. 
Sunday 8th December
An early start we left just after sunrise. The flies are already swarming in numbers.

The good thing driving this last stretch is that it is very familiar yet very beautiful. The green is so green after all the last days of desert tones. 

Of course we are a little 'betwixt and between' about finishing the trip we have had in the planning for 2 years and also coming home to become grandparents in a short while. 

• We've been very comfortable in the caravan with all its inbuilt comforts
• We are looking forward to being warm and not wearing so many layers
• We are so looking forward to seeing the family again and sharing Christmas
• We have loved catching up with friends and family down south
• The garden will no doubt need some attention, but I look forward to that
• It will be lovely to reconnect with friends in Darwin
• A new chapter begins after finishing work just before that trip
• Tasmania is the next trip in March. We need to prepare...........

Where would you spend the last evening of a trip like that? At the Darwin Surf Club for a dinner at Cafe de la Plage as the sun sets.

I did keep a diary of all our destinations and a spreadsheet of all our expenses (so anal)  but I am sure you don't need to know all that. 
What's ahead? How would I know? My goodness we are nearly at the end of the decade. At the beginning of this decade Australia had a car industry. Most people had landlines and posted letters. Documents were faxed. Everybody carried cash. 'If you told that to the children of today they wouldn't believe ya!'

You'll just have to wait for the next post.