Port Augusta

Brian and Cheryl (grey nomad friends) also stayed in Port Augusta for a couple of days. While Brian and Brandt worked on the caravan's power supply Cheryl took me to the local Botanical gardens.


The Flinders Ranges are in the background.


I think this is called a fan flower (above and below)


And then there is my all time favourite Australian wild flower


The Sturt Desert Pea. It makes a beautiful showing


While walking back to the car we came across a shingle back lizard walking across our path. It is also known as a sleepy lizard and is one of the blue tongues


The above photo is a copy from the internet, but the one below is one I captured on my mobile phone as we walked back from town one day.


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Alice Springs to Port Augusta

We left Alice Springs and continued South on the Stuart Highway.
We stayed that night at the border. First thing I noticed was that there was actually a big sign welcoming us to South Australia.




As I walked back to the caravan I noticed a line (left to right) across the roadway, clearly showing where Northern Territory ended and South Australia began.




Also the parking lanes were well defined, so next morning it was easy to leave the free camp and get back on the road.




Another thing we couldn't help but notice when we arrived was the number of flies intent on settling on our face, up our nose, in our ears. No wonder the only people sitting outside we're those wearing nets. At this stage we did not have any so we sat in our van until after dark.
Next morning we set off once more. Oh no! It was not long before we heard a weird noise coming from the motor. Pulled over to the side of the road, Brandt looked under the bonnet and I heard him say, "it's not good".
Slowly we made our way to a roadhouse at Marla. At least there we could hook up to power and get mobile phone coverage.
To cut a long story short RACQ (the equivalent of AA in NZ) paid for us to be trucked to Port Augusta 774 km South, where there may be someone who could help us.








So instead of spending a night in Coober Pedy, we stayed there long enough to have lunch.
Luckily we intend to visit there properly next year.
So here we are at Port Augusta. The flies are bad here too so, even though I was given some netting to make my own, I went and bought two fly nets



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Alice Springs

We used the five nights in Alice Springs as a recovery time. Brandt had the 12volt batteries tested. This confirmed his diagnoses that they had "died".
We purchased a new pair (for less than we were expecting), and Brandt duly set about installing them. Horrors!! Sparks flew - there was a direct short to earth somewhere in the wiring. This occurred on Friday, and he, plus a friendly and helpful neighbour, tried in vain to find the short. The services of an auto-electrician were called in. He was only able to confirm the diagnoses of the "amateurs". So it was off to Bunnings to stock up on AA and AAA batteries. I also found a cheap LED lantern there too.

The new batteries were a smaller size than the originals so a bit of Kiwi ingenuity was called for:


Wood etc was scrounged and after a short while the batteries were once again snug and fitting in their possy.


So with minds finally off the power supply the clean up began, inside and out.


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Halls creek to Alice Springs

First night out of Halls Creek stopped at a roadside spot just before the turnoff to Kirkimbie Station, the furthest station from Halls Creek on my mobile kindergarten run in 1976.
Brandt set about setting up and I went inside to put the billy on......no power!! No fuses blown. We had set up the caravan for this kind of camping. - not even the solar panels showed any sign of life. Oh dear. The batteries appear to have died! So it was out with the torches and luckily we had water in containers as we couldn't access the caravan tank water.
Second night at Top Springs we plugged in to power and water so were able to shower there.
Our route took us via Duncan Highway, Buntine Highway, and Buchanan Highway to the Stuart Highway.

We passed the Devils Marbles (and took heaps of photos)












We stayed that night at Ti Tree where we were visited by a peacock and his harem of peahens









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Halls Creek

I wasn't expecting Halls Creek to be the same as it was when I left in early 1977, but I was still amazed at how much it has changed. Of course there is no one still there that I knew. The kindergarten that was purpose built and opened on 1974, is now Centrelink and my flat has been completely removed. However the two boab trees I planted are still alive and well. The following photo only shows one of them.




So with the town so different it was time to go to our recreational sites. Caroline Pool - I am sure there used to be much much more water, but the wet seasons have not been as wet for the last few years.




Palm Springs looked a little over grown - but there was still water there and a spring was bubbling out through the bank.








Then on to Sawpitt, another disappointment water wise. But still beautiful.








Old Halls Creek is also not the place it used to be. The ruins have been protected by an "over building". We used to be able to walk through the ruins. I realize that if nothing had been done all would have been lost. But it just didn't have the charm I remember.




China Wall has not changed apart from the fact that there is no water at the base - another swimming hole that's gone.








Next day we drove the 145 km to Wolfe Creek Crater.








There just happened to be a "track" heading down the slope. The temptation was too great. He just had to go down and walk to the centre, taste the white stuff, and confirm that it is indeed salt.

Purnululu day 3

(I have had dreadful trouble in posting this "issue" so I have been going through and systematically culling photos - I started with 21 photos)

On this day our main focus was Echidna Gorge
This is at the northern end of the Bungle Bungles. The colours in the rocks are still amazing, but here one doesn't see the dome effect as we saw yesterday.

We were so busy admiring the view as we walked along that we didn't notice the sign telling us to turn right to get to Echidna Chasm. So we climbed a hill and found ourselves at Osmond Range Lookout (another couple did the same thing, much to the disgust of the wife as it was quite a steep climb)

Back on track and we were walking up a dry river bed of stones

Photography inside the chasm was a challenge, but here is one result of my efforts




When we came upon these boulders I was going to wait there for Brandt, but another couple appeared between the boulders and convinced me that it wasn't as hard as it looked. I'm glad they talked me into continuing. It was well worth it


We also had to negotiate a couple of ladders.

There was a sign telling us not to stop under the fallen boulders, but to keep moving. I guess these are the fallen boulders:




All that was left to do now was to walk back out of the cool of the shade of the chasm into the heat of the sun.


All in all a couple of hours well spent.

We thoroughly enjoyed our visit to the Bungle Bungles.