Day 2 -Wilmington here we come. (Bean)

Left Coober Pedy after a very cold night. Ear plugs were needed for bloke in the next cage who snored like a trooper.

Waved good bye to one of the largest wind mills I've ever seen:



Then we headed south through vast very very flat scenery. We saw an Emu. It didn't acknowledge us which was rather disappointing.



Long straight roads with road trains hurtling by went on for hours...and hours...and hours.

We then found Lake Hart or it found us.

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We went through Port Augusta which was quite novel what with traffic lights, bendy roads and such-like. There were some ranges off to the side that I'm guessing could be The Adelaide Ranges.


It was a great surprise that the road took us through these ranges to get to Wilminton. I suppose not reading a map can lead to adventure (Not that that was really a great adventure). Our Sat Nav has a slight attitude problem which has unfortunately led to her nickname being 'Slapper'.

The ranges were fun and they seemed to grow their own cockatoos which I thought was very impressive.



Finally we got to Wilmington which is a very pleasant area with a pretty nice camp area.



We are about to light a fire and we can hear ghosts in the nearby wood. Al says they might be Kookaburras.

Oscar did throw an amber light on the dash today. It's gone after a restart. I'm googling it and I think it might have been an over ride of the cruise control because it thought it had been on too long without any change.

I could be totally wrong which tends to happen a bit.



Crap - just started to rain - Time to move!

Trees, road, water, train (Al)

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Another longish drive today, but the last for a couple of days.  Coober Pedy to Wilmington (across the ranges from Pt Augusta).  Major changes to the landscape (eventually . . . the first few hours were very flat, very treeless, very straight. . . and I'd thought Alice to Coober was a bit same-same . . . pah!).

I've been doing lots of looking at trees (when they have deigned to show up), the almost African looking acacia umbrellas of central Aus, and then the chunkier, lumpier, clumpier sort further south.  Never quite managed to get the shots out the car window I wanted (tho this improved after we cleaned the windows at a fuel stop), so will have to rely on this now mid-centurian visual memory.  Will also get the sketchbook out and do a bit of that en route too, when I'm not reading Oscar's manual to find out what that orange light of a car skidding was that turned up on the dashboard after Bean overtook a big truck . . . and getting the music to play from my phone to the speakers . . . ah first world problems indeed!

Day One - we're off! (Bean)

So finally after all our planning we left on time. Well actually it was late but then we decided it didnt really matter.



It's been a while since we've done a drive that was more than five hours long so we stopped off at Kulgera for a fantastic cup of coffee and a stretch.

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Somebody must have had really bad smelly feet judging by their washing line.

We saw a dingo some Wedge Tailed Eagles and a long legged bird that ran out in front of us. We've decided it was an Egret - although thinking about it now I think that might be a character from a TV series.

when we finally got to Coober Pedy we stopped off for fuel and did what a shop sign told us to:





I'm not sure if I'm an opal fan really. I'll have to think about it. I would have preferred it if it was a cheese shop really.

Anyhoo - we are now at  Reekus (something like that) camp area. Most places in Coober offer underground accommodation but we wanted above ground.

Here's a snapshot of where we are.



So we have our little patch of gravel surrounded by chook wire. It's quite chilly already.



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Our view is ... interesting. But that's Coober for you ... all dust and very little cheese.

Al has made some great coffee and oddly the tent pegs went in really well ( into the ground - not the coffee).

and we're off . . . (Al)

. . . at a gentle amble (note to selves . . . AT A GENTLE AMBLE) . . . even close to a week after the last day of work, there's still quite a bit of 'and stop . . . now start again but slower' happening for us both.  So, we started well by heading off a bit later than planned and sauntered down the road to our first leg stretch, petrol top up and coffee at Kulgera, just inside the NT border . . . (the future plan is to make coffee before we go and flask it en route but this a.m. the espresso pot and flask were already rather neatly packed in Oscar under several large things).



Later on, about four more hours, we hit Coober Pedy, which, apart from some MASSIVE wind turbines (that look really tiny in the pic below, at right) . . .

. . .  . . . was completely unchanged in the 17 years since we'd last passed through from Sydney via Lake Eyre in the wet.  The Greek cafe was still at the top of the main street, the weird ventilation shafts from the underground dwellings had perhaps had a coat of paint but not much more, the under-inspiring opal shops were still under-inspiring.

The only thing that had changed was the campground just south of town that we'd stayed in last time . . . chicken wire fencing rather appropriate for that cooped up feeling that was missing from the less organised site from a couple of decades ago.  The other change is climactic as it was December 2000 last time, so really a bit hot.  Not hot now.  At all.  In fact the fingers are starting to get a bit numb writing this as the sun goes down and the wind picks up (ah yes, those happy turbines).

Planning 'A-Head' (Bean)

So with only a couple of weeks to go we are still working out all the things that we think we need but probably, most likely, almost definitely as a matter of fact might not actually need.
Still, who cares.
Here are some tools for when we go hunting wood. After chasing it down we can then use the axe and saw to tidy up nature's fuel so we can fit it in Oscar if we need to. (National Parks encourage one to take wood into them rather than hunt the stuff in there. Fair enough).



Also as one gets a bit older we may wonder if our hairs will last. Sometimes I believe it can thin and fall out. (In my case the new growth seems to have taken refuge in my ears. I''m going to label the experience as 'exciting' rather than 'depressing')

So what better way to have fun with it. May I present Dr Al Cornrows!

You go girl!



All her own hair too!

That's it for now. This post was all done using only what we'll be using when we travel. So it was a  bit of a test run. It also reminded me of how much I hate iTunes.

Header picture should be of cold winter sky from the other night.

The meaning of cold (Al)

Bright and Chillois . . . so the first test of the ‘emergency’ pop up tent (Poppy) happened on the first weekend central Australia hit the zeros and minuses temperature wise.



Combined with the fact of a bit of a tiring work week for us both, there was a definite, ‘shall we just trial it at home’ vibe happening Saturday morning.  But, we did it, and it was definitely worth it (though at only 9.11pm while I'm writing this,  and with the sub zero night ahead, perhaps that’s a little bit optimistic).

We played around with our new table (let's call it the desk) that was definitely worth the trouble to wangle open (apart from the entertainment value for sniggering onlookers . . . looking at you, spouse!) . . . not just a nerdy laptop support, but our dining table and awesome 'shall we put it on the ground, no let's put it on the other table'  option.  Surprisingly well used.







So we went for a walk up the hill with a couple of cups of coffee . . . from which the above pics were shot (gotta love the panorama mode hey).



and enjoyed the fire (on an old wheel thingy, very clever).  But really, bloody hell was it cold!



The next morning I went for just about the coldest run I think I've done:  not temp wise as I think it was prob only about zero but in terms of not being able to feel my hands or face (apart from occasional moments of intense 'I'm looking after icecubes' moments) it was quite something.  Lovely sunrise.  And great that Oscar's heating helped thaw out the hands and feel on the drive home.  Ran past a woman who was walking . . . back to Alice?  She had a big bag with her.  When we drove past an hour or so later she was sat by the side of the road, not hitching ... all sorts of encounters.

So...... Nullarbor and the Southern Ocean winds in 4 weeks . . . Yay . . . mnnnnn :)

Ross River Resort Poppy Test (Bean)

Right, so we decided that we needed to test our pop-up tent. This is for use when there is either little space to pitch The BT or if it's raining on arrival etc etc. It's the size of a massive disc when packed. Note to self: always check what the packed version looks like in the catalogue.

Anyway it was very easy to pitch. (Packing it is entirely another matter).


We set up camp at a paid site. Ross River is about 85 km away so a pleasant short drive. Lots of people there on arrival. Apparently they had a wedding on there and we were told it might get noisy at night. It didn't though. Just the sound of the generators in the distance and the wolves howling.

Al had some difficulty with our new table which came in extremely useful: (The table not her having a difficulty).


I helped by calling out advice and taking pictures of her - a risky thing to do since she could have used the tripod as a weapon.

The We also had our new fridge with us - ironic really since the outside temp probably ended up being lower than it. Anyway this is the Evakool fridge/freezer (Eva) being powered by the Engel Battery box.


Al went for a stroll up the hill and got some amazing shots of the surroundings. I took TC up but hadn't realised she was up on the range otherwise I could have taken some footage of her - ah well. This is looking back towards the homestead - it's actually around the corner on the right, hidden from view.


Here we have signs of a happy camper and a relaxing camper. (Funny word camper. Say it lots of times, camper camper camper campercampercamper. Weird that.) Anyway:



The night was very cold. Down to below freezing. Thermals and baked potatoes helped us to keep warm. (Obviously we ate one and wore the other - but due to the wine it was a close call).

Luckily they had fire pits there and so we settled down for the ever cooling evening and then freezing night.


Then the stars appeared:


Slept quite well despite the cold. I thought I heard a Polar Bear sniffing around but then I realised it was my head rubbing the side of the tent wall.

The packing and unpacking still takes a bit of time but that should speed up the more we do it. Or not.

(I have just found out that you can't do draft posts when offline - well with pictures anyway. This could be a problem down the track so speak but we'll see).