To 6-Nov-06 (Kulgera NT to Adelaide SA)

SOME MORE DETAILS AND A MAP
Phew! The Paj has now travelled 35,400k and dragged the van 22,300k – naturally, all with style and aplomb. The car tows the van very well – although it does seem to prefer travelling alone and leaps away like a gazelle when freed from its shackles.





COOBER PEDY SA (Stuart Range Caravan Park)
Our second visit here confirmed our first impression – Coober Pedy is indeed HOT and DUSTY! The air-conditioner is definitely our friend!!



Just as we stopped to take this pic of the “Big Truck”, a huge cattle train drove into the big dirt parking area to turn around. It raised its own dust-screen in no time at all – gosh this IS a dusty place!








WOOMERA SA (Woomera Travellers Village)
Woomera is a fascinating place. There is much evidence of boom times here and they could be here again if plans for a space-port facility eventuate (push on Richard Branson). There are some great museums and displays here too – Spencer spent ages checking out rockets, engines, guidance systems, etc., etc. while Rhonda graciously found plenty to enjoy too. Most of the locals are connected with the nearby (in outback terms) Roxby Downs mine.



This is Lake Hart. It is huge but sadly, it is just salt with no water at all! Lake Hart would look beautiful brimming with H2O.

Also, after driving so far on sometimes pretty raggedy roads, we were surprised to score our first broken windscreen (ever) south of Woomera on the bitumen Stuart Highway. Spencer had pulled over as a huge road train passed the other way and BAM, there was suddenly a huge hole in the outer layer of glass plus a crack which started snaking right through the driver’s line of vision (of course).


WILPENA POUND SA (Rawnsley Park)
These Flinders Ranges sure are a beautiful place. Even with the countryside so dry, they are awesome. We would like to come back here after some rain. We had intended to stay just 2 nights and ended up staying 4. There is so much to see that we were tempted to stay even more.

On the way to Wilpena, we visited a panorama in Hawker. This amazing place was created by local Christian artist Jeff Morgan who has painted the Wilpena Pound panorama as seen from St Mary’s Peak. We were delighted to meet and get to know him.



How is this for beautiful country? We did enjoy driving down this road in the Flinders Ranges, through some awesome gorges and to some great lookouts.











We particularly liked the red gums in river beds – Rhonda is getting pretty good at nature photography don’t you think.

We also met Chris and Barbie from Scotland at Rawnsley Park and enjoyed their company heaps. A delightful retired couple travelling in a “Wicked” van - the ones with sometimes awful artwork on them. Chris & Barbie had many stories of arriving to shocked expressions, then relief (these vans are usually hired by young & sometimes rowdy backpackers) and then “Do you mind if we take a photo of you and your van?”. The response “We’re British you know!” seemed to fit perfectly here!


MELROSE SA (Melrose Caravan Park)
We stopped one night in this lovely town and caught up with Chris & Barbie again. Lovely place and delightful couple.


We liked the novelty of these cabins – built on the back of trucks. This one even looked as though it had collided with a tree and was still attached. We’re told that these cabins are very comfortable.








CLARE SA (Clare Caravan Park)
This is one town Rhonda really liked – it had a peaceful and prosperous feel, some beautiful stone houses, enough shops to keep the dedicate happy (it’s pretty impressive when Spencer wants to go grocery shopping with Rhonda – to a store with more than one aisle!).


ADELAIDE SA (Adelaide Beachfront Tourist Park, Semaphore Park)
Great to be here and to have the windscreen fixed. Good too to be rid of that pesky, eye-level crack which seemed to catch the slightest bit of sunlight and from any angle.

We caught up with Rhonda’s good friend and bridesmaid Narelle, her mum, and friends Ilona, Karen and Di. We also saw some of the Christmas Pageant in Adelaide City (many floats - some with only a pretty tenuous connection to Christmas).



Here is a live steam train which ran right beside our caravan park – our van is about 40 metres @ 2:30 to the engine (see if you can work that out!).

We have really enjoyed our time here and will move on tomorrow towards Mt Gambier and then on to Melbourne.






With best wishes & may God richly bless each person reading this,



Spencer & Rhonda


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