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Published: April 5th 2009
Big Fella
He's a big fella this miner "Map of Kernow"DAY 148
We both slept like babies again last night, no not sucking our thumbs, but the sleep again takes over entirely and we wake at 8.00; again!!
Andy dreamt all night about estimating, how sad is that we are on a year off and Andy is thinking about work, I dreamt heavily but I cannot remember what I dreamt about, probably weird stuff, which is about usual for me.
Today we leave the Barossa Valley to head towards Woomera, which is nearly 500k’s from us. So the plan is to get a good start on the day, well in our terms that means leaving the campsite before 10:00.
We are all packed, breakfast done, showers done (& shave in Andy’s case) and we are away for 09.50. I navigate us away from Nuriootpa and heading towards Kapunda, we intend on driving straight through, i.e. not batting an eyelid as we are trying to have a day of drive, drive and drive to our planned destination. However as we arrive in Kapunda, we see a 30ft statue of a Miner.
We have to investigate so Andy pulled in and with our cameras we walk up to
Tribute
To Cornish miners it and find that this is a tribute to Cornish Miners. The giant statue is entitled "Map of Kernow" translated is "Son of Cornwall" had a rich vein of Copper which was discovered in 1842 and being the first significant mine in Australia, Miners from Cornwall and Wales flocked to this settlement. Kapunda was also home to the “Cattle King”, Sir Sydney Kidman, one of his sheep stations alone contained 32,000 sheep.
Despite being a sunny day, there was a chill in the breeze, so I could not wait to get back in the truck. We headed off again up the B82 to Georgetown where we turned towards Port Pirie.
At Port Pirie we decide to stop for a coffee and quick freebie Wifi at Maccy D’s and upload the blog for yesterday, “Penfold, trusty sidekick or Winemaker”? We finish the blog and get uploaded and half-hour later we are back on the road onto the A1 and now head to Port Augusta.
We are driving along and enjoying listening to our Ipod’s, via the Itrip, these days are great when you have sunshine, clear roads and good music. We can see across to the York Peninsula
and see the dust is whipping up at the base, many times today we have seen the wind whip up the dust into mini tornado’s, they don’t seem to do much, just spin for a while, move a little then wither to nothing.
Now, everyone says there is nothing special at Port Augusta, no problem as we are not stopping as we will then head north on the A87, (Stuart Highway), towards Woomera.
We stop in Port Augusta to fuel up with Diesel as we are now heading toward outback, Diesel is more available than other fuels in the outback, however it is necessary to make sure that you are topped up. We have the sub tank and an extra 25 litre can of Diesel.
I go to use my Caltex discount card, which is issued by Woolworths, this is the “Shop at Woolworths and save 4 cents on every litre of fuel. However the chap behind the counter says, “we don’t accept those”, here we go things just get complicated, they are Caltex but not “Woolworths Caltex” and therefore cannot accept the discount cards, I must remember that next time.
Port August, the Crossroads of
Its only distance
My Bum cheeks went tight over this distance, what if we break down we will be lost forever Australia, you can go North to Darwin, West to Perth, East to Broken Hill or South to Adelaide. Darwin is roughly 2800km, Perth is 2400km, Broken Hill is 420km and Adelaide is 300km.
We are heading into the Outback (albeit briefly) so we have our “safety talk” on the way up the A87, signposted Alice Springs, Coober Pedy etc. Really just to say what we use gets locked away at night, and the truck is left off the ball hitch just in case we need to make a fast getaway for any reason, you may think this is melodramatic however everyday we need to be on our guard for our own safety. There should be no reason to react however forearmed is forewarned.
The landscape is changing again, the soil is getting redder, and the plains are flatter with the occasional bump for a hill. The trucks are getting larger and the temperature is getting hotter.
It is about 4.30 and although we are happy to push on further this evening, there are a few stops along this route, but we did agree to check them out one by one, so we decide to stop at Ranges
Cross Road of Australia
At the start on the highway View (Camps 5 reference 502 South Australia), to check it out, now this is not an overnight stop according to Camps 5, however we see a couple of caravans parked up, so upon investigation we find that they are staying over, they have Camps 3, in this edition it states that Ranges View is an overnight stop. These things do change and obviously Camps 5 has corrected this.
However, these stops are also provided to rest drivers from fatigue, the Australians have a huge campaign on “Driver, Revive, Survive” or “Driver Reviver” and whilst some of these are day stops, you can park here to rest for several hours in order to revive, so we think that if anyone is questioned then how can they argue against their own campaign, not that anyone is likely to out here, if you are tired then you are a danger to yourself and other road users. People out here travel long distances over many hours, which is nothing unusual, but everyone gets tired at some point.
Andy and I try to switch every one to 2 hours, it does depend on how complex the navigation is, i.e. Andy may need to
drive while I navigate round some areas
So we decide on the “safety in numbers” side of things, there are other campers here and that makes it comfortable. While we throw open the trailer and peg the tent down, one of the ladies from the caravans pops round and she very kindly gives us a bag of thinly sliced frozen Mango. It is delicious and it was very kind of her.
We converse further with these caravanner’s and they invite us round to their side of the caravan for a drink, so we take our cups of tea and chairs and go and sit in the sunshine. We tell them of our adventures and they tell us of theirs.
The main Stuart Highway links Adelaide to Darwin, i.e South Australia to Northern Territory, this afternoon we see our first triple trailer Road Train and steadily throughout the afternoon we see a constant flow up them up the Stuart Highway (see photos). We sit and chat to Robert & Jane Olney and Doreen and Don McKenzie, both from McKay in Queensland, they are waiting for a friend of theirs to catch up with them from Adelaide (long story)
Ranges View
Not a lot here, but nice all the same they are all retired and are having their adventure, they are heading up to Woomera tomorrow as are we.
While we chat, another vehicle turns up and obviously seeing 3 others here, has the same feeling and before long they are pitched and cooking tea.
The sun is fading, we have a great sunset, we need to eat, and tonight is the left over pasta from last night and nothing like last nights wine to wash it down with. We are sitting outside and a Road Train pulls up. Andy grabbed the camera and walked down the road, the driver seemed suspicious, as he had left his rig running while checking the furthest trailer from the cab watched Andy, but all Andy wanted to take was a photo.
We eat and have another cup of tea, it is now bedtime and Andy needs his beauty sleep, the blog is typed and tonight the clocks change, we go back one hour, so maybe tomorrow morning we will awake at 7.00 instead of 8.00.
A quiet blog day by all accounts, however we knew that today was based on mileage and getting as close to Woomera as possible.
Oil Change
Don was doing an oil change on his V8 ute Goodnight, from Australia’s Outback.
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Jan Davis
non-member comment
Kings in Grass Castles
Hi Andy & Caroline, You are now starting to get into the "real" outback areas of our vast country. Woomera you will find fascinating as it was once the "rocket range" where test rocket launchings and firings were carried out, mostly during the 50's & 60's. Lots of intersting stuff to look at. Sydney Kidman was one of Australia's wealthiest cattle barons and greatest land owner. Eventually his land holdings consisted of more than a hundred cattle stations reaching from South Australia to the Gulf of Carpentaria in northern Qld, covering and area greater than 125,000 square miles. This is more than the total area of England, Scotand, Wales and Ireland combined and, amounting to around 3% of Australia. The Kidman Way is also named after him. Starting out as a "beef road", enabling him to get his livestock from western Queensland to the rich beef markets in the south - Adelaide, Sydney & Melbourne - today, it is a well-travelled highway of approx 800kms through outback NSW, stretching from Jerilderie (bushranger country, Ned Kelly, etc) in the south through Hillston, Cobar, Bourke and on to Barringun just south of the Qld border. Also, if you want a good read about another of our pioneering families, grab a copy of "Kings in Grass Castles" by Mary Durack. The Durack family were almost solely responsible for opening up the vast Kimberley Region of north-western Australia and, even today, still hold the record for the longest cattle drive in history from the eastern states to Western Australia. Cheers, Jan & Ted PS The "mini tornado's" you will see a lot of throughout the outback are commonly known as "willy-willy's". Don't normallly do a lot of damage but, don't ever get caught in one or stand in one as you will get peppered with sticks and stones and other debris as well as covered in choking dust! Doesn't do the duco on your vehicle any good either. :) xxx