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Published: April 17th 2013
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Leaving Adelaide, it was not long before the roads became quieter and once again we are travelling on roads with not much else to see apart from fields upon fields of oats and barley etc and seems that there is enough here to feed the world!
Our first night’s stop on the road, after our 9 nights in a beautiful spacious home, was in a bush camp just out of the town of Peterborough, approximately 250 kms north of Adelaide where we immediately fell into the old routine of having happy hour with our fellow campers next to us. One couple had just come down from Alice Springs so gave us the latest details on where to get the best priced diesel as we know that we must be prepared in some places to pay at least a $1.00 more a litre for the stuff.
Next night was, for the first time in many months, in a paid camping ground where we made the most of the hot showers on the day we arrived and then again after we had completed our mammoth hike of 24kms the next day. We hiked to the top of St Mary’s peak, the
highest point in the Flinders Ranges and wow, was it steep and tough going but also very much worthwhile for the magnificent view we were rewarded with at the top. With aching and weary bodies we moved further north and settled into a much smaller camp and slept exceptionally well that night!
In order not to travel on the same road twice we opted to travel 30km on an unsealed road which was certainly okay for our motorhome but still very very bumpy and we were very glad to get back on the bitumen for sure. Because we were travelling in the early morning we came across at least 3 to 4 dozen kangaroos hopping all over the place including the road ahead so we had to really concentrate and even saw one leap a huge wire fence! There were also several flocks of emus to see for a change, with one very nonchalantly walking across the road directly in front of us. Thankfully we only saw one dead emu by the side of the road but several dead kangaroos.
The Flinders Ranges are amazing to see on the approach road and even more impressive when we viewed
them from the other side on the way back down towards Port Augusta. The area is also very popular with 4WD enthusiasts as there are many many dirt roads for them to try out. South Australia in the driest state and we can see why as water is a very rare sight around here and rain is very infrequent.
Port August is called the crossroads of Australia as it is where the highways from Perth in the west, Darwin in the north, Adelaide in the south and Sydney in the east all meet. The weather today is perfect so Pete and I have just done a long bike ride around the town plus climbed the old water tower to view all around the surrounding area and harbour.
Tomorrow we head further north to Ayers Rock via Cooper Pedy with its underground houses so looking forward to it all.
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