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We left Broken Hill via the Barrier Highway which is the main road through to Adelaide, after 200k we reached Yunta, which is really the start of the adventure. We stopped to fill up at the 7-11 and the Indian guy behind the counter wanted to know if I’d like two mineral waters for $4. This reminded me of one of the greatest injustices we came across on the way. There were road works on the Barrier Highway and a stop/go man (funnily enough not a female Irish backpacker). There were a few vehicles and a caravan in front. He gave us the go sign and we trundled along through the roadworks. As we came past the heavy machinery there was a police car parked on the other side. This is 100ks from anywhere. Were they providing assistance to lost travellers? Just providing a reassuring presence? Or perhaps engaged in some cross border manhunt. Nah!! They had set up a radar trap to see if anyone exceeded the 25k speed limit between them and the stop/go man. I may have mentioned my concern with over policing in this country and I do understand that having a lot of people in the
police force creates an opportunity for people like the Indian guy in Yunta, but seriously. Anyway we turned off at Yunta for the start of the adventure which was 300k of dirt as we headed to the Flinders Ranges NP. There were a bunch of signs at the start the best one was the one saying it was open. There was also a sign with a list of things you needed but I zoned out after it said enough water for 3 days. As we drove off Becs said “Do we have 2 jacks?”. We headed north towards Arkaroola. The scenery is quite scrubby and the trip is punctuated by large sheep properties, in fact the only traffic we passed were two semis loaded with sheep. We came very close to hitting a kangaroo as we went through a dry creek but the ABS worked a dream and we missed him although he did set off the parking sensor. We turned off for Martin Springs and Blinman. As you can see from the photo we spent a lot of time finding an interesting site to have lunch. The only car of the day passed us at this point. As we
drove towards Blinman the scenery changed with taller trees and a more lush feel. It became hillier and the road twisted and turned. We arrived at the NP around 4. We like to find a campsite that is pretty quiet preferably with no one else. The first site had a bunch of grey nomads and the Hells Angels Adelaide chapter Booze and Blues weekend so we moved on. The second site was great and we set up beside a dry creek looking up into the hillside. Green curry chicken with tomato, cucumber and onion raita.
Things we learnt:
- South Australia is as over policed as NSW
- Not all stop/go people are female Irish backpackers
- All 7-11 staff are Indian
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Alex
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Day 4 and I was enjoying vicariously your wild adventure when "the parking sensor" was set off? What sort of prissy towny 4wd is it??? ?