23rd – 24th May

Refrigerator replaced and all business completed we left Adelaide to resume our journey northward.  We have found Adelaide a slow city to move around, (lots of traffic lights and few freeways) although today we have had a good run.  It is still drizzly and there is a southerly wind and it becomes a tail wind for much of the journey to Port Augusta.

  Lunch at Red Hill

At the Port we were able to leave the car hooked to the van and that meant an easy early start for us next morning.  The wind had dropped and apart from a few drops of rain we had a fine but cloudy day to start out northward trip to the South Australian Outback.

First day out and we found the Stuart Highway was a road in good condition.  Long straight stretches with surprising little traffic made for a relatively easy drive.  The day was cold though and the temp did not rise above 14 degrees.

The country we drove through was quite green and the only red was found in the occasional dirt track and the escarpments.  There were very few trees and those that did exist were stunted in growth.  The cover was mostly in the form of low scrubs and salt bush as against grasses and the variation in colour in these bushes from all manner of greys and greens was wonderful.  Later in the day Alice took a lot of time photographing the wild flowers together with this shrubbery – her delight.

 Typical country

 

 

 There were some good photo shots along the road looking out over the low plains and in some cases very large salt water lakes.  Our first stop was at Pimba where the road to Woomera and Roxby Downs turns off the Stuart.  Here we topped up with fuel and had a short stop.  It is an interesting experience going to the bar in the roadhouse to pay for your fuel.  Most of the trucks we were encountering turned off here as it appeared they were carting to and from the uranium mine at Roxby.  This reduced the traffic further.

We topped up fuel again at Glendambo mostly as security.  Ian was uncertain of the refuelling opportunities along this mostly deserted road.  Glendambo really is just a whistlestop community.

 

  Triple trailer road trains
Salt lakes

  Lake Hart

Finally around 2:30pm we pulled into a road side rest area at Bon Bon, the name of the adjoining cattle station. 

  Bon Bon road side stop

It is Wednesday night, we have no power, phone or TV reception and the state of origin is on.  One might say this is dreadful organisation but in South Australia NRL does not get any recognition at all so even if we were in town it would be unlikely that we would get coverage.  Go Mighty Maroons!!!

The day has ended with a magnificent outback sunset. 

Amazing!