Hello from Northern South Australia

Welcome one and all

Firstly I want to say hi to my niece Kate who gets let out of jail today, when I say jail I mean hotel quarantine, but they are setting her free at 1600hrs today into the custody of her mum and dad.

So what’s been happening. Before leaving Dunkeld I found a really good bakery in one of the back roads of the town, crusty sourdough, and a great breakfast of home made croissants with home made blueberry jam, it was a struggle to contain myself to only two. Anyway I got my permit to cross the border into South Australia so I set off on the 1st of March to my next destination of Dartmoor. This free camp had good write ups and it was only about 30kms from the border, so it made an ideal place to park up for a couple of days. Superb location of about 7 or 8 acres roughly, all on well kept grass and lots of trees for shelter (not that it was needed as the weather wasn’t crash hot to say the least). It also had the added bonus of a toilet available. Now looking at a few of the write ups there were quite a few comments about them seeing Koalas in the trees and on the ground. Well they must have gone away for the two nights I was there as didn’t see or hear any at all. I still live in hope of seeing one in the wild. Nothing to see in Dartmoor, a shop, school, and a couple of petrol pumps and you had done the the grand tour, but it was well worth the stopover for the peace and quiet.

From Dartmoor it was over the border, dumping all my fruit and veg in the quarantine bin on the way and into South Australia. I must say once I crossed the border I felt like my trip had now begun. About 30kms the otherwise of Mt Gambier, which is a town not an actual mountain was a small village called Tantanoola my next stopping point for one night. You basically parked up on the village green, where there were public toilets which is always handy. Please don’t get the idea my whole life revolves around toilets but when you travel in a caravan they do come in handy. Only one shop here which was also the Post Office, but managed to pick up a couple of bits I needed, plus a paper, I was getting crossword withdrawal. I was going to go for a beer in the local hotel which was just across the road, but, unfortunately it was closed with a sign saying looking for new management.

On leaving Tantanoola I took the coast road rather than just carry on up the A1 which I had previously travelled on my trip in 2019 to Coober Pedy. I just enjoy taking the road less travelled and the A1 in all honesty is a pretty boring road, the only good thing about it is that it goes all the way round Australia so its very hard to get lost if you stay on it.

Got some lovely views of the sea driving up to my next port of call which was Kingston SE (SE stands for South East, but they tag it onto their name for some reason). This was a small seaside town where they had camping for travellers right opposite the beach. When I arrived it was very busy and getting near to full, and with a holiday weekend in the offing I imagined us all squeezed in like sardines so I gave it a miss. I did find a place called Wills beach camping about 5kms North of town, which wasn’t busy at all when I arrived only, if memory serves me well 3 others camping there. It had showers, toilets and a place to top up with fresh water all for $10 a night, so as it was a holiday weekend I booked myself and the boys in for 4 nights. From the caravan to the sea was less than 100mtrs so the dogs and I went down every day to have a paddle, man it was good. You could walk out over fifty metres and the sea was only up to your thighs, very gentle waves, and ideal spot for kids and dogs. And most days we had it all to ourselves apart from the occasional 4×4 driving along it. Now the only drawback with being this close to the sea and the beach was the amount of sand the dogs managed to bring into the caravan. This ended up with me having to sweep out the caravan four or five times a day. So after four days of being a beach bum it was time to move on again.

Now some of you may remember that March/April time last year when I was in Queensland I had to travel on a very rough stretch of road which broke my UHF/CB radio aerial and caused my rear view camera on the caravan to pack up. I thought as I was doing a big trip it may be wise to get it fixed so I could see the road trains sneaking up behind me. Well I found a place in Murray Bridge who dealt with my make of camera and they said they would have a look at if for me. So long story short they affirmed that the camera was at fault and not the wiring and fitted a new camera for me. I was well pleased and very happy that it was all sorted out. Now I just have to remember to switch it on as Ive been without it for just about a year now. I only stayed in Murray Bridge for two nights as I had been there before. So from there I took the back roads to a small town called Snowtown.

I stayed for the night at Hummocks Station just outside Snowtown, beautiful setting with all grass sites to park on. This is still a working station, but as well as having a caravan park they also have a function centre with living accommodation. I met the two pet/friendly cows (Fish and Chips) and the two friendly hand reared goats (Salt and Vinegar). Now the two cows were probably the tallest cows I have ever seen. I know Im no giant in any sense of the word but they towered over me.

Port Augusta was the next stop, stayed there for 3 nights so it gave me a chance to stock up and chill out before turning right and starting the haul North. The highlight of the stop here was buying a stick hoover which was on sale. If Im going to have sand in the van again, which I probably will once I get properly into the outback, I wanted the easy option. Been here a couple of times before so didnt really do anything worth talking about.

Came out of the caravan park travelled about 200mtrs and turned right, the trip North had started, now I have travelled this way before so I knew where to stop and where to get fuel so was quiet happy. My first stop was Spuds roadhouse, where I topped off with diesel and got a good cup of truckers coffee. Let the dogs out for a stretch, and had my first encounter with the flies, now me and flies dont have much of a relationship, but we are going to become well acquainted over the coming months. My overnight stop was going to be at Glendamo roadhouse but when I got there it was all closed up except for the petrol pumps, hopefully they are upgrading it and not closing it permanently. Luckily not faraway was a large rest area, where I and a fellow traveller parked up for the night. From here it was an easy drive of about 250kms to Coober Pedy which is where I am at the moment. Now I won’t bore you telling about this town as its already been done, or as my good friend Shelley would say P/R. (Navy communicators speak). What I will say is that its about 20c cooler than the last time I was here high 20’s rather than high 40’s on the centigrade scale. So at least this time Im able to leave the caravan for more than 20 minutes at a time. I got myself out to the Breakaway range and the dog fence today which was a good drive on dirt roads. The Breakaway range is about 30km North of Coober Pedy, and where this all sits (the range and the town) was 70+million years ago under the water of a large inland sea. When it all disappeared about 25million years ago this hills were left behind and they look like they have broken away from the main Sturt range further to the East. Hence all the opals in this area. The dog fence is a 5,614 kilometre or 3,488miles fence which was built in the late 1800s, keeps the dingos to the North of the Sheep and Cattle areas to the South. The fence stretches from Southern Queensland above Brisbane right down to virtually the border between Western and South Australia

Anyway here for a couple more nights then the rest of my trip is on previously untravelled (by me) route. Next big stop will be Uluru (Ayres rock). I should cross over the border into Norther Territory either over the weekend or early next week (which reminds me I must organise my permit). So for now I will say a good day to you all.