Wednesday, 2nd June
Quite glad to get on the road this morning after a rather sleepless night. Being quite close to the Sturt Highway (the main link between Queensland, Sydney and Adelaide), there was a fair bit of truck movement; someone on a property nearby ran a generator/motor ALL night; and a group of campers in whizz-bangs (campervans) partied until nearly 1.00 am in the camp kitchen! Cat was more than happy to curl up on the back seat of the car this morning.
A lovely dawn, with pelicans and swans floating on a glassy Murray River and everyone seemed to be intent on packing up and leaving, so not much chit chat going on. The morning developed into a glorious day – warm, sunny and no wind.
We had about 300 kms to travel today to Crystal Brook (near Port Pirie) and the first half of the trip was through fairly boring saltbush scrub. Following that, we came into lovely green farmland and the rolling bare hills of the Flinders Ranges foothills. The road was a bit narrow for the first 100 kms, then widened out enough to warrant a fog line. I certainly had the better deal with driving today – the middle third was just flat with long straights and virtually no traffic.
We arrived at Crystal Brook just after noon and found the caravan park without any trouble (not a very large town). As the caretaker wasn’t about, we selected the sunniest and driest (the town had nearly 2 inches of rain at the weekend) site, set up and waited for the caretaker. Unfortunately, it was while we were sitting in the sun enjoying lunch that we suddenly realised we were parked virtually on top of the septic tank system. Every now and then a waft of less than fresh air would blow over us! We are parked next to a lady who is living/travelling in a small campervan with two parrots, which seem to have free flight in the little van.
Mr Eyre passed through this region in 1839 and named the little river “Crystal Brook.” The town is also, I believe, the place where the east/west and north/south rail lines cross – both the Indian Pacific and The Ghan go through the town. This afternoon we went for a walk and “did” the main street – there was an interesting antique/collectables shop that we spent some time rummaging about in.
Tomorrow we are off to Woomera.
Quite glad to get on the road this morning after a rather sleepless night. Being quite close to the Sturt Highway (the main link between Queensland, Sydney and Adelaide), there was a fair bit of truck movement; someone on a property nearby ran a generator/motor ALL night; and a group of campers in whizz-bangs (campervans) partied until nearly 1.00 am in the camp kitchen! Cat was more than happy to curl up on the back seat of the car this morning.
A lovely dawn, with pelicans and swans floating on a glassy Murray River and everyone seemed to be intent on packing up and leaving, so not much chit chat going on. The morning developed into a glorious day – warm, sunny and no wind.
We had about 300 kms to travel today to Crystal Brook (near Port Pirie) and the first half of the trip was through fairly boring saltbush scrub. Following that, we came into lovely green farmland and the rolling bare hills of the Flinders Ranges foothills. The road was a bit narrow for the first 100 kms, then widened out enough to warrant a fog line. I certainly had the better deal with driving today – the middle third was just flat with long straights and virtually no traffic.
We arrived at Crystal Brook just after noon and found the caravan park without any trouble (not a very large town). As the caretaker wasn’t about, we selected the sunniest and driest (the town had nearly 2 inches of rain at the weekend) site, set up and waited for the caretaker. Unfortunately, it was while we were sitting in the sun enjoying lunch that we suddenly realised we were parked virtually on top of the septic tank system. Every now and then a waft of less than fresh air would blow over us! We are parked next to a lady who is living/travelling in a small campervan with two parrots, which seem to have free flight in the little van.
Mr Eyre passed through this region in 1839 and named the little river “Crystal Brook.” The town is also, I believe, the place where the east/west and north/south rail lines cross – both the Indian Pacific and The Ghan go through the town. This afternoon we went for a walk and “did” the main street – there was an interesting antique/collectables shop that we spent some time rummaging about in.
Tomorrow we are off to Woomera.
1 comment:
Three cheers for driver fatigue!
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