We’ve had two days of pretty big drives, but are surviving pretty well considering. Yesterday morning we finally said goodbye to Bron (happy 40th Bron!), Mike, Joel, Kian and Kangaroo Island. After 10 nights there we were getting a bit comfy (apart from being bedridden with the flu) and camping seemed a distant memory, so we were even looking forward to getting back to the trailer (just as long as it doesn’t rain, I keep saying). At the back of Nick and my minds though, was the knowledge that after packing it up in a hurry two weeks earlier in the rain, after being in the rain for a few days, it was still going to be wet, possibly growing mould. I’m not sure about mould but it was certainly still damp inside and it really stinks. On the positive side, we had washed our sheets in Adelaide so we could at least put our nice clean, not-mouldy sheets on for the first night. We drove from Cape Jervis, via Mt Barker for some spare parts and a new camping chair for one of the kids, back to Helene’s to pick up the stinky trailer, hitch up and go.
Friday afternoon possibly wasn’t the best time to be heading out of Adelaide in terms of traffic, and we were naturally later than planned, so we didn’t get quite as far as we hoped, and settled for the Auburn Caravan Park, at the bottom of the Clare Valley. Nick and I have a soft spot for Auburn, because we stayed in the Rising Sun pub when we went there years and years ago (ie before kids) and really liked it. This time it was the caravan park and as it was late, we were tired and stressed (ok it was me that was stressed) getting out of Adelaide, we treated ourselves to pizza from the pizza place just next door to the Rising Sun. It was nice enough pizza, the only weird thing was that they didn’t have any sort of licence, so no BYO or buying a drink. I say weird, because it’s smack bang in the middle of a big wine region, so I would think that not only tourists but locals would be used to having a small glass of something with dinner.
Anyway it was just what we needed, then we snuggled up in bed early (still not quite completely better from the flu) and slept the whole night through. This morning was more driving, and we drove through the beautiful Clare Valley, autumn vines on either side as far as the eye could see, and kept driving and driving, until it became more scrubby surroundings with little trees, and the dirt was becoming a little bit reddish. By the time we hit Port Augusta we were starting to see some road trains as well, and were really beginning to feel like we were getting close to ‘the outback’, wherever that is in particular. We had lunch in Port Augusta, filled up a very empty tank and decided now was the time to fill up three of our jerry cans - $186 later! Stocked up for a couple of nights’ food and headed West now, along the Eyre highway and the top of the Eyre peninsula. We were looking for a cheap campground on Lake Gilles one of our books mentioned, but had trouble finding it. The distances mentioned weren’t quite right so we did a bit of back and forth (always fun at the end of the day, wondering if you’re going to find your campsite or have to keep going to a town and pay through the nose again), finally gave up, and found it just after that. It’s a great place – on the shores of Lake Gilles which is a salt lake, and we’re the only ones here (possibly because there’s absolutely no facilities and it’s not really a campsite as such). We were just in time to get a quick fire going, cook some sausages, potatoes and veggies and eat it at dusk as the sun went down over the salt lake, magic. Conor’s a bit nervous because we’re so far away from anyone else, but I reassured him that the mobile phone has reception, so no worries. Could this also be the first time we try our camping loo (brought to you by Aldi)? stay tuned to find out. Tomorrow I think we will head for Streaky Bay, that’s the plan anyway, haven’t counted how many k’s away it is so we’ll see.
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