Our day started slowly and mostly miserably this morning. We awoke well rested and the weather was pleasant, but I was in a most definite grumpy mood, mostly I think because today there would be no impromptu detours or wrong turns once we reached Port Augusta. The road we must follow unerringly today will lead us to Adelaide, eventually and there was to be no getting around it.

In my darkened mood, I found much to complain about, from the incessant barrage of flies crawling upon me as I packed up the satellite dish to the loss of the pen I use for my logbooks. Despite the glowing sun shining down upon us, I felt like a black cloud was following me for the bulk of the day and found it hard to snap out of it. Life must go on though, so I have to try to make the most of what time we have left.

Thus, once we had given the dogs a brisk morning walk, it was time to negotiate the rutted dirt track back up to the main road. Slowly but surely, we safely managed to drag the van back up to the black top. With that, we were off.

Our first stop was at the Australian Arid Lands Botanic Gardens on the outskirts of Port Augusta. Here, I found more to complain about, when I found several cars parked in the caravan parking area. Whilst it might seem trivial, it’s a little difficult to park a 15 metre long vehicle when all of the extended spaces are filled with cars. Thankfully, there was a spot left for us to slot into, but I am amazed at how self absorbed people are and just don’t seem to care.

I shrugged it off though, without making the scene I really felt I wanted to make, before we went to wander about the display gardens. Chock full of interesting desert dwelling flora, including a collection of rare threatened species, the gardens are a showcase for the local plant life.

Dressed up for the occasion.

There was little rush, because we knew that we had only a short drive to endure, enroute to our campsite for the night, following our time in Port Augusta. Therefore, after a good investigation of the gift shop, we slowly ambled along one of the defined walking paths through the gardens, taking in the whole scene stopping often to prod, sniff and photograph all of the interesting plants. For over an hour, both Bec and I could be found, mostly hunched down on our hands and knees, focusing cameras on some of the delicate flowers that were blossoming. Among them were several specimens of our all time favorite, the Stuart Desert Pea, its distinctive red and black flower easy to pick out.

A FEW OF THE FLOWERS

Back at ‘The Beast’ we retrieved the babies from the caravan, then drove from the main car park to the parking area by the lookout. From here the view of the Spencer Gulf over a stand of mangroves was spectacular, the Flinders Ranges forming a magnificent backdrop.

Red Cliffs Lookout.

From the gardens, we continued into town, where we planned to stop to have a look around, then hit the supermarket to restock our dwindling supplies. Driving about town, there was little open worth stopping at however. I guess that is one of the pitfalls of travelling through country towns, even major ones such as Port Augusta, on a weekend. As a result, we stopped only briefly at the major supermarket to collect our dinner supplies, before pulling in to refuel ‘The Beast’.

All fueled up, we headed out of town, the plan being to pull into a roadside rest area only ¾ of an hour down the road. We had carefully selected this particular spot after viewing the satellite image on Google and noting that there were a good number of little campsites secreted in the bushes beyond the main parking bay. Shazza suggested that we should be arriving by about 3:15PM, so I was looking forward to the chance to get off the road nice and early again, giving us the opportunity to relax for the afternoon.

With that pleasant thought bouncing around in my head, I crushed the accelerator to the boards and although a line of slow moving road trains slowed our progress somewhat, I was able to enjoy the drive. To our right a slew of neat fields reached out to the just out of sight Spencer Gulf, while on our left the Flinders Ranges reached into the clear blue sky. It was a distinct contrast to the last time we travelled this route several years ago, when it was bucketing down with rain as we negotiated the slippery wet roads in the darkness. With the fine weather and several sunlight hours left, nothing could go wrong today though.

Oh, how wrong could I be? Right on time at 3:15PM, we sidled into the rest area that indeed appeared just as we had expected from our intensive research. However, one thing that wasn’t so obvious on the Internet images was the relatively newly erected fence separating the rest area from the appealing campsites we had planned to avail ourselves of. From where we now sat, high up in the cabin of ‘The Beast’ we could peer over the fence and see the bare plots of earth on which we had intended to camp, so enticingly close by.

Even had we not been so spoilt by our previous camping escapades, stopping as we were on a narrow ribbon of asphalt, separated from the highway by nothing more than a thin stand of spindly trees was sheer folly. Thus, we decided that we would need to move on a little bit further before we would be able to stop for the evening.

A quick look at the maps indicated that the next closest rest area that was more than just a parking bay on the side of the road was a further 2 hours drive away. There went my idea of getting off the road and having a rest, but it was of no use ruminating about it where we were. That was achieving nothing more than wasting precious time. Back out onto the highway we pulled.

Some two hours later, after a dicey trek along 15 kilometres of dirt back roads, we eventually found ourselves pulling into a beachside campground on the shores of the Spencer Gulf. Since by this time it was already nearing 5:30PM we were lucky to find a piece of dirt big enough for us, so there was to be no walking about picking the best site. It was more a matter of just pull in and park where we could. Nonetheless, we were exultant to have arrived at what looked to be a very nice campground.

Far from having time to relax, we had just enough time for a quick walk over the low dune protecting us from the beach, only to find that it was covered in masses of seaweed. Dinner preparations were next made, although I must admit that I was spoilt tonight as Bec took care of that, cooking up a hearty meal on the free barbeques here. I gave her a bit of a hand and tended to the dogs, who were both going a little stir crazy from being cooped up in the back seat all day.

Finally, dinner settling nicely, the dishes done and feeling somewhere near human again after a hot, cleansing shower, we were able to sit down and relax.

Until next time, stay safe, have fun and don’t forget to write.