There will ALWAYS be problems when you are on the road

Muttering Moses, Merciful Heavens and Bugger it! But this is the joy of circumnavigating this wide brown land of ours and negotiating the outback and our native wildlife! But again, I start at the end and not at the beginning of the story!

Thanks to Herr McGowan of WA I had to take the Stuart Highway which is a beautifully sealed road – to Alice Springs because I also wanted to avoid NSW for the moment as I was afraid that if I got in there, I would not be able to get out any time soon because of dear old Rona!

When I left Jeparit, I had to go via Horsham of all places to a delightful and rather gorgeous caravan mechanic to iron out a couple of teething problems that I had encountered in the caravan. Then like Mrs Snail carrying her home upon her back I headed west. For the first time in all of my road travels I experienced profound fatigue. I confess to disappointment in even having to admit it – for it must be an age thing, but it overwhelmed me and instead of heading to Snowtown I decided to detour to Hahndorf (about halfway to Snowtown) – a place that I had heard of but never been to. I have now seen it I will avoid it in future – I arrived in peak hour as I had been late getting away which coloured my view and when Nigel and I went for a walk the next morning. It was raining and we walked through a street packed with pretty little tourist shops – I could have bought everything from ‘genuine Byzantine artifacts’ to 40 different flavours of fudge or alternatively I could have drunk myself into liver failure on tastings of every variety of German beer or eaten myself into obesity on Kransky German Sausages! I am glad I have seen it – but I moved on quickly.

I headed off to Snowtown, but not before I had to navigate the highway through Adelaide – I even found myself yelling at Siri of Google Maps fame as she would send me down a street only to change her blessed mind and then would have negotiate skinny streets to get back on the right track – so it was not with any small sense of relief when I was in the country again and looking at shawn wheat fields – this time though with the change in the weather the harshness of them had gone the colours muted in the cooler weather and the threat of immediate combustibility was tempered. As a Gippsland girl I am used to green fields, and I still find myself astonished at the extent of our wheat belt. As a parochial Victorian I think of the Mallee having the monopoly, but it goes on and on!

Snowtown was only a short drive, which did not challenge by ‘fatigue problem’.

For those with a prurient interest in true crime Snowtown is yeh olde town of Bodies in the Barrel fame and yes the bank building is still there were the barrels were stored in the volt. It is a tired little town in rapid decline and does need support which I was happy to provide. There was a little caravan park at the showgrounds, and I set up there. I stayed a couple of days as I had to prepare to proceed into the outback and I had to do washing, get extra desiel in fuel cans, fill up the van with water etc etc. So 2 nights was relaxing if uneventful!

At Port Augusta I did a right turn and up the Stuart Highway I went. Almost immediately I encountered a sign welcoming me to the outback. I don’t think that have ever been welcomed to the outback before, but I have never travelled this part of the Stuart Highway before. Given my little fatigue problem I had promised myself that I would not travel more than 4 hours a day and bitter experience has taught me that very early travel and very late travel is fraught with wildlife issues, so I started at 9 and intended to stop at 1 with a stop for coffee in between. This got me to Woomera of bomb test fame! It is an interesting place. It is actually a RAAF base, which being very familiar with the RAAF base in Sale – it is NOTHING like it. It is a sanitised, rustic little town – with the rudest caravan park provider I have ever encountered. When I headed off, I had thought that I would probably have to free camp but was very pleased to find a place so that I could make use of the air conditioner as it was 39 degrees. It was hard to keep a straight face dealing with this sad little man, and I did find myself worrying that he may have a wife and family at home that must put up with his anger issues. I spoke to the fellow at the roadhouse the next morning and asked him what he thought the problem with the idiot was and he said they get complaints all the time and some people have come in tears to see him! Good grief – a very good place to avoid I would say. Nevertheless, back up the Stuart highway I turned hoping I would get to Cooper Pedy, but if poor little me got tired well set up to camp when I needed to.

My first stop for a top up of fuel at Glendambo. The temperature was climbing and with the air conditioning going, a bottle of water for myself and one for Nigel and a majestic landscape of monochromatic foliage against a vivid rust red canvas of desert dust we set off again. Due to La Nina and the accompanying increased rainfall the foliage is not burdened by dust. The leaves glisten and with every shade of green from the brownest to the lightest and most vibrant make for the most majestic tableau! I was traveling at a sedate 80 ks and beginning to think what a lucky little vegemite I am when an emu stepped from behind a white post about 6 feet in front of me! I braked hard but with the caravan on I could not pull up quickly and I hit the damn thing – it went under the car and caravan, and then all seemed to be well – except my conscience! Then the car slowed and I pulled to the side. I got out of the car and looked. The car looked as though it was missing a tooth in the front. There was an attractive array of emu feathers around the gash in the bumper bar and it was very clear by the detritus on the running board of the car and the temperature gauge that the emu had also at the very least taken out the radiator and god only knows what else. The tow truck driver told me I was lucky not to have rolled the caravan as that is what usually happens and it must have been because I was travelling at a sedate pace that it didn't. I was in a no mobile service area! I got on the two-way radio but could raise no one. It was 39 degrees again so out I got and stood beside the car and started waving frantically

. I tried to hail a truck and 2 cars, but eventually a lovely couple from New Zealand stop and picked us up and drove us 60 ks back to Glendambo. Then there was a blur of calls to RACV and waiting for call backs from towing companies! Nigel and I had to wait for 7 hours. Thankfully the proprietor of the roadhouse took pity on us and invited both Nigel and myself to wait inside. We eventually made it to Cooper Pedy at 8pm last night. We are now in the caravan having lovely walks into town – waiting to find out the fait of our trust Navaro – stay tuned