Half-lap Day 105: The Nullarbor -> Kimba

I woke around sunrise and went out of the tent to find everything covered in ice. The chairs were still out and had white seats. The clean dishes on the table were covered in a layer of ice, and the spoons that were sitting the right way up were filled with frozen water. I got the fire going again and made myself a cup of tea, and sat and drank it and read Harry Potter while I warmed up a bit. LiAM came out of the tent shortly afterward, very excited that he’d slept all night and he felt great after a good sleep.

The others came out and had breakfast and we started packing up. We were really efficient this morning and were ready by 8.45 Western Australian time, ( which we’re still pretty well operating on, apart from the weird sunrise and sunset times…) our earliest pack up yet (if we don’t count the day we had to leave overflow at Coral Bay by 8am - we left on time that day but without breakfast). However this meant it was 10.25 South Australian time which didn’t feel quite so early.

By now we were out of the Nullarbor Plain and into farmland, more undulating and a much more lush green, with windmills and farmhouses. We drove to Ceduna and stopped at the quarantine checkpoint to get rif of our apple cores and have our fridge checked by the quarantine guy. There’s been a nasty smell in there for a few days (liquid in the bottom that I haven’t managed to clean out during our quick stops) – I hope the guy wasn’t too grossed out by it when he rummaged around in there. We drove down to the foreshore and found toilets – some of those self-clean ones, and only one was operating so we all lined up. It was a beautiful sunny morning, and not really very cold now, and the view across the bay was gorgeous. There was a long jetty leading out from the foreshore, which we went out on once we’d all been to the toilet.

We could see fish and sea grasses from the jetyy and it felt lovely to be out in the sun and looking at the blue water. Tony left to go to the supermarket and the kids and I walked out to the end of the jetty. We could see a large ship coming in and couldn’t figure out where the wharf was – it was around the headland  a bit near the large silos we could see. We were able to head back in to shore when we saw what looked like a large fish break the surface of the water – it was a seal! We watched it swim through the water until it disappeared, very excited at spotting yet another animal that we’d really wanted to see. It popped up again one more time then we headed back to the car.

We drove through a lot of farmland from here, seeing many windmills (even the town of 100 windmills – we didn’t see 100 but probably 30 or so!) and lots of silos. We were following the railway line and every town had silos between the road and rail. We listened to the 2^nd book fof the Spirit Animal Series – we’d done book 1 way back when we were heading to the Flinders Ranges near the start of our trip. We slowly remembered the story line and found it quite exciting to be continuing this story.

Today and the last few days, we’ve seen a huge number of trucks carrying other vehicles and equipment – tractors, caravans, mining vehicles and scoops, diggers, graders, huge tyres… I guess all the stuff that’s being taken across to Western Australia. I drove for a while from Poochera to Wudinna and was behind a large truck with digger on it, for ages. I wanted to go past him but he was wider than the lane and the shoulder on the other side of the road was narrow – I had to go a long way out onto the other side to see if it was clear to overtake, and then I wasn’t confident about keeping the trailer steady as I passed him if I had to go over onto the shoulder at all. So I sat behind him and enjoyed the countryside we were passing through.

When we had stopped for petrol at Poochera there was a large sculpture of an ant – a local ant that they call the dinosaur ant because it was probably similar to the ants that were around with the dinosaurs. It was an unexpected bit of natural history to learn as we drove through South Australia. This is actually a part of the country that I have not really thought about before, across the top of the Eyre Peninsula. I didn’t know anything about the region and even though we won’t have time to stop and see much of it, I’m glad we’ve had the chance to have a look at least as we drive through

We reached Kimba a little after 4pm (on South Australian time now). We went to the Kimba Recreation Reserve, where we can camp for a small donation, and there are coin operated showers. Even if we end up paying $5 each for a shower, it’s still cheaper than a caravan park. The main camping area was all bitumen so at first we thought we wouldn’t be able to stay – then found a dirt area across from the entrance that looked like it had been used for tents before, so we set up there. The kids went and played in the playground and explored the sports ground. I chatted for a while to a Western Australian couple who were heading home, they were fun to talk to.

I read more Harry Potter aloud while Tony cooked spaghetti Bolognese. It was a cold night, although our tent was set up so that our living area was protected from the wind which made it a little more pleasant. We can’t have fires here so we rugged up and ate our hot dinner then got ready for bed as quickly as we cold. It was nice having a sink to clean our teeth in rather than just doing it in the bush. Into bed (Millie with us again as she still doesn’t feel well) and made sure everyone was very well rugged up, then read a bit more of Inheritance – hoping we’ll finish it before we get home.

Half-lap Day 28: Alice Springs -> Devils Marbles

Packing up after 4 nights can always seem like a big job, but we are getting better all the time at knowing what order to do things in and how to fit everything in to the car and trailer. The couple parked next to us were in a big motor home, and as he washed the outside of it very carefully, the guy seemed amazed and a bit dubious about our efforts to pack it all up and be on our way this morning. We had everything done by 10.30.

We stopped for petrol and then headed north for a long day of driving.  Listening to Harry Potter really helps the time pass quickly. We stopped once to check something and I got out and looked at the ruins of an old well – there are many of these stone wells from the 19^th Century which were built as the country was explored, allowing more people to come out and travel the area, and be able to find water more easily. We saw some telegraph stations as we drove past, and were impressed with some of the hills and escarpments we saw – the land was much hillier here than the Stuart Highway to the south of Alice Springs. We ate lunch in the car (tuna on saladas) as we drove. There still weren’t many animals to be seen, although we did see several dead cows by the side of the road.

We pulled in to Wycliffe Well for very cheap petrol – about 30c per litre cheaper than in Alice Springs! This is apparently the UFO Centre of Australia, there have been UFO sightings here and the service station and caravan park are done up like alien spaceships and there are alien references and souvenirs everywhere. I used a very dodgy toilet near the servo then discovered there were better ones inside. The kids explored a little then we got back in the car for a bit longer until we reached Devil’s Marbles (a drive of 413km from Alice, our longest driving day so far).

We had made good time and were at the Devils Marbles by around 3. The campground behind the rocks was filling up but we found a great spot in the corner, which would soon be in the shade of some of the rocks. It was very hot and it was hard work setting up the tent/waiting for it to be set up, but once it was up there was great shade along the back of it so we put the chairs there and everyone had a cold drink. We made good use of our new neck coolers too and they did help cool down the whole body.

We had a quick wander through the marbles – amazing rock formations, then Tony drove back 10km to Wauchope to see if he could watch the Collingwood game at the pub. The game was on and he enjoyed watching it and seeing some of the local station owners come in for a drink – Collingwood lost though which was disappointing.

The kids and I wandered a bit more through the rocks and found a good sunset watching position, then hung out at the tent for a while. Tony arrived as we were going back to watch the sunset, so he was able to come with us. Millie rode her scooter. The light on the rocks was beautiful, so red and bright, and the view was incredible whichever way we looked.

We saw a truck pull into the day use rest area – it had a tractor and other vehicles stacked on it, Tony was very impressed with the stacking job. I wandered closer to see if I could get a photo of it for my nephew, and had a good chat to one of the drivers. They were moving the equipment for someone moving from Horsham to Darwin. We talked about driving the Stuart Highway, living in different places, and horses. Caitlin rode her bike over to find me and she and the driver had a good chat about horses and The Man From Snowy River. We walked/rode back to our camp in the dark, and had to pause to let a herd of cows cross our path and then run through the Devils Marbles.

We had burgers for tea and sat outside for a while marveling at the stars – the moon has been too bright most nights for us to see all the stars, but this night was dark and clear and incredible. I took a few photos using the tripod but had trouble getting it quite right. It was warm enough to sleep with the windows open, cool to be able to lie in bed and see the stars up above us.