Ceduna to Adelaide

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A complimentary breakfast was included again this morning so that was easier than organizing a self-catered breakfast in our room. Just as we were finishing up Cathy and Steve arrived for breakfast, so we said our farewells again. With daylight saving time in SA sunrise was not until 7.25am so quite a bit later than we have become accustomed to in WA. We were on the road at 8.15am and took a quick detour down to Murat Bay for a quick early morning photo of the jetty.

Bernie took the first driving shift … in case there were still roos around. The plan was to change drivers at Wirrulla but Tracey was asleep, so Bernie kept driving!! Bernie pulled in at the Poochera Districts Museum for a toilet stop and driver changeover. Would you believe it, even though we are no longer travelling together, Cathy and Steve pulled in a few minutes after us. After travelling in convoy for 31 days we are having trouble cutting the ties!

We arrived in Kimba about 11.30am. We’ve photographed the silo art before, we’ve taken photos of the Big Galah, and we didn’t need fuel. Ah well, we’ll park in front of the Half Way Around Australia sign, have a stretch, take a photo and change drivers. There was a convenient rock to do step ups on to earn a stand hour. We probably looked like crazy people if anyone was watching our antics. We are such slaves to our watches!

Driving across the Nullarbor we were really surprised how little roadkill we saw. Admittedly on the westward journey we saw a crew clearing dead kangaroos from the road, so we know that, unfortunately, animals are dying on the Nullarbor, but they are removed from the road regularly. This morning, we saw more dead roos on the side of the road than we saw all the way across the Nullarbor.

About 46 kilometres out of Port Augusta we saw two emus in a paddock on the left. Noteworthy only because we have only seen emus once before on our whole trip. We expected to see many more emus than we have. Over on the other side of the road we saw a collection of tanks and other military vehicles massed on a hill looking like the army was on maneuvers? After hours and hours of nothing notable it gets a bit exciting to see something … anything happening!

We stopped in Port Augusta for lunch at the J.M. Deli and Bakery where we ordered freshly made salad rolls. It seems their signature ‘thing’ with rolls is to cut the bun into four pieces and then make up two rolls in one roll. We watched as our rolls were laid out on the cutting board, four rounds each?? Our rolls were then made up with two lots of ham and salad going on two rounds. After the mayonnaise was put on what amounted to two salad rolls were then stacked back on top of each other and wrapped as one salad roll. That’s different! Now if we had known this was the deal, we could have done like the lady beside us and had two different fillings done on each half. Like having two rolls but only half the amount of bread.

We headed across the road to the park to eat our lunch. Bernie attacked his double salad roll as one. Tracey decided that it was too much filling to tackle as one roll, so she split hers in half and had ‘two’ salad rolls. Our freshly made salad rolls, however they were assembled were delicious. Especially after yesterday’s day-old ham, cheese and tomato sandwiches!! We would highly recommend J.M. Deli to anyone passing through Port Augusta.

Next stop was the BP Servo on the eastern side of Port Augusta to refuel the truck. The BP OTR on the westbound side of the highway didn’t have Ultimate Diesel when we refilled in Port Augusta last month, Bernie was thrilled to find Ultimate Diesel at the pump on this side of the highway. The truck hasn’t had much premium fuel on this road trip.

Fuel paid for and toilet breaks taken Bernie continued behind the wheel. He pulled into the forecourt of the Mobil servo near Port Pyrie for a leg stretch and driver change. Tracey then endured about 100 kilometres of roadworks between Port Pyre and Port Wakefield. Did Bernie have a premonition of what was ahead when he said he’d drive immediately after lunch and then handover to Tracey at Port Pyrie??

It was tedious with multiple overtaking lanes being worked on and therefore no easy overtaking spots and then kilometres and kilometres of new road but still with an 80/kph restriction. They are currently working on the duplicated lanes on the other side of the median strip. The road surface was better than much of the Eyre Highway which has a 110/kph speed limit. However, the roadworks make it ‘seem’ like it’s dual carriageway, so we suppose the speed limit keeps drivers from being confused and reduces the chance of accidents??

We missed the rest area/servo at Port Wakefield because coming around the corner we thought it was on the left, but then we saw it was on the right but there was a car sitting in the right lane so Tracey couldn’t change lanes and then the opportunity was lost. Never mind, Tracey pulled in at the next rest area and we swapped drivers again.

We spotted a sign saying that Dublin was coming up in a few kilometres. As we will be heading to Dublin - in Ireland - at the beginning of May (with travel companions Cathy and Steve again) we couldn’t resist pulling in for a selfie in front of the pub so that we could send it to them saying we’re already in Dublin, ha, ha.

By the time we arrived in Adelaide, negotiated peak hour traffic and purchased a few supplies at Woolies it was gone 6.00pm as we were checking in with our friend, Meredith at her lovely apartment in the city. We dragged so much stuff upstairs that we think she is afraid that we are moving in with her!

We headed out to Merdith’s favourite Thai restaurant, The Star of Siam. The three of us shared a delicious Thai meal before walking back along Gouger Street to order ice-creams at St Louis. While we were finishing dinner, our Apple Watches simultaneously alerted us that it was Time to Stand! Meredith boasted that her step count was good after a round of gold this morning. On the other hand, our step counts were terrible after so many hours on the road!



Steps: 5,366 (3.63kms)

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