Thursday 21st August 2014

Thursday 21^st of August.

Got up at the hint of daylight and hastily put on a jumper and my quality $8 ugg boots from Rivers. Headed off down to the spring with my camera. There were a few folk already there taking an early morning dip. Thankfully with swimmers on.

 

Dawn at Dalhousie Springs

The direction of the spring faced the wrong way for sunrise photos so I had heard from the Melbourne people that there is a track going all the way around the spring so decided that since the spring isn’t that big – big as a kidney shaped football oval I guess that it wouldn’t take long to go around and see if there was a better vantage point. So I started plodding along in my ill fitting very sloppy boots and my very a bit warm for running jumper. It wasn’t long before the sun started rising properly and I wasn’t in the right position to take the photos so I started to jog.

the colours of the morning

 I managed to jog/walk taking the occasional photo of the light playing on the surrounding mountains which was fun but the nice walk around the spring took longer than I thought and I ended up in the car park -  where I then jogged back to where I started, boiling hot with inappropriate shoes, no running gear. Greg was there with a guy from the landcare ( they weren’t land care but called themselves something else but did a similar job) group having a chat. I was surprised to see Greg and I must have looked a sight as he had shorts and thongs and I looked fit for an arctic adventure but hot as!

 

sunrise over Dalhousie springs

At the right time though the sun streamed through the trees in a great yellow ball and the steam off the spring started to rise in the sun and it all looked great so I took a photo – and that was all as my memory card was full and I had no spare. Bugger!

 

so serene

Returning to the van I passed up the golden opportunity for a cold shower since we had bobbed around in fresh water for hours the night before and we were on the road early having to cover about 200km back to Oodnadatta up a dirt road in goodness knows what condition. We started out at 10km/hr. Prior to that I threw the makings of a ripper curried snags into the shuttle chef for lunch.

Progress was slow and it took us a while but we were rewarded with a fantastic view of the Dalhousie ruins. Complete with original cattle yards and palm trees. What a treat for photographers. We stopped Gibson, I got another memory card for my SLR with lots of exposures on it and proceeded to go nuts at these ruins. We took lots of photos and could have taken stacks more. The ruins were lovingly preserved by a local mob who have come over to recap and stop the crumbling of the buildings. There were old fireplaces, the smithy’s shop and several outbuildings. Also there were information panels that showed a glimpse of the isolation and harshness of living in far north South Australia, in the desert with no internet. Men went mad and wept like kids apparently.  However we were in 7^th heaven with all the things to take photos of and felt sorry for the early settler’s sacrifices but very appreciative.

Off again up the  corrugated, washed out and potholed road at a roaring 20km/hr at best. Eventually we joined the main Ooodnadatta track again which was much wider and felt like a badly maintained highway.

About 2pm we stopped for lunch on a flat area safe to pull over – which don’t come often. Ours was kind of a clay pan but luckily firm so we pulled over and got out to the tune of a million flies – so hastily retreated into the van with the shuttle chef – which travels in the car on the back seat floor so it does not tip over. It has its own insulated bag with strap so when you get it out of the van it looks like luggage. Its actually our lunch cooking inside!

In the van we pull out the table and get the bowls and spoons out, unpack the shuttle chef and dish out the meal.  Cold drinks are in the fridge behind. So in spite of the buggery of pulling this great big heavy beast everywhere, its one consolation to the inconvenience. Likewise when its raining or windy. You can be totally out of the weather - like you come inside for lunch!

 

The water hole

if you can read the legend -the reason behind the water hole

Back to business - on out to Oodnadatta to finish travelling the track

Anyway lunch over with we pack up the shuttle chef, put the bowls in the sink packed away so they don’t rattle and break and off we go.

On the road again and it was my turn to drive. I had to pass a truck who didn’t have his radio on.  I could not tell him I was there and to slow down so I could pass – so when I did, I didn’t wave to him.

Its an outback thing, waving. Actually it’s a thing with caravaners. When you are on the road – wherever you are and you are towing a van you wave to oncoming van towing drivers. Actually campervans, camper trailers and motor homes too. Most wave back with the exception of hire motor homes and some camper trailers. Usually motor homes are rented by foreigners who are unaware about the waving thing and some camper trailer people we have found are too hard core to wave. But when you are in the outback, you wave at everyone. Well not the great big arm flying wave, it could be the index finger off the steering wheel, or half a hand. Acknowledgement anyway. Its really friendly even when some people wave as they go past at 100km/hr and shower you with stones from the road. Narrowly not breaking your windscreen. Slow down dickheads!

Well since we were on the road again to Oodnadatta, we counted down the miles until we were in town again. Not that you could call Oodnadatta a massive town. As we approached our camel friends were on the road again, heading for the free camp with just about every kid in Oodnadatta running after the wagon. Would have made a great photo is we weren’t flat out dodging children on the road, plus it was out Greg’s side and I was in the passenger seat.

We booked back into the caravan park expecting to be on our own again. This time with a powered site.  Our computer batteries were all but flat which isn’t handy when you are trying to keep a travel diary. I needed also to do some washing as it had been 8 days since my last wash. Sounds like a confessional – forgive me lord I have not washed clothes for 8 days. How many hail nappysans shall I do? Actually its $1 coins.

Well stuff me there was a 4WD bus with about 22 people in it all camping – which took up considerable space and the one we wanted this time.

Inconvenience

Then there were other people too- all over the place and with our big van (that isn’t the biggest compared to others) there was about one place we would fit that we could hook in to power.

We took this site and stayed hitched. Some men with the camping trip which were right beside us and busy setting up tents and camping beds commented about me and my 2 way radio guiding Greg to steer Gibson into position. They were trying to be very funny but meant well.

We leveled up and plugged in and started plugging in all our computers, camera batteries etc and I nicked off up the shop again to get a fist full of $1 coins for the washing machine. If I only got smalls and T shirts done, it would be a victory.

In the washing machine I found a dead moth. I started the machine knowing that everything that comes out of a caravan park top loading machine has lint on it. Yuk I hate lint. I don’t even like chocolates called Lindt. Why would you name chocolate after a nuisance? I was prepared – but these were just smalls and Tshirts. The correct amount of washing liquid and a hefty dose of nappysan and even the lint that isn’t ours will be at least  - ‘sanitized someone else’s lint’.

Then I busied myself with cleaning the van as best I could knowing that the same dirt and dust would be on the floor tomorrow – but at least its not in built up layers! The water you could not drink but you could wash floors and furniture and car windscreens with.

Because we could use the microwave(!) as we had power, I defrosted some mince meat so I could make a spag bol. Sauce and freeze some for lazy nights or just exhausted nights more to the point later. I was going to do this over the fire but we had a change of plan.

Greg as you know goes around the car kicking the wheels each in turn. Not because he is looking for an anger management course but so he can see if the bearings have become loose. The amount of corrugations and lumps we drive over would break anything.

As luck would have it one wheel on the van – again- but different wheel was loose. Greg had to fix it up or we would risk a bad thing happening on the road. We have the jack – but since we use it as a jockey wheel, we had to take it off the front of our beautifully leveled van and use it as it was intended.  (we were still hitched). The trouble began when Greg had to take the split pin out of the bearing. This proved very difficult as whoever rammed it in at the manufacturer’s must have been his last thing on a Friday afternoon. (done badly). Greg had a devil of a time getting it out to tighten up the bearings. For this just about every male in the camp came over to offer help of give terribly useful advice. However in spit of their helpfulness for which Greg was gracious and thankful – he managed to get the split pin out, straighten it up again, tighten the bearings, put the whole lot back together and wheel back on and come inside. Very stuffed. This was supposed to be his rest time or download photos time. However it was avert disaster time so I poured him a good gin and tonic. It was too late for sleeps.

I decided to do the dinner on the stove but Greg still made a nice camp fire for which we had lots of lovely drop in visitors, staying briefly for a chat before bed. We ate our dinner outside and enjoyed our relaxing fire. I must say that my pasta sauce was really nice and we got 2 new freezer meals out of it. Washed up because here there is hot water, the clothes in the washing machine I had hung out for a while, then finished off in the drier were done, folded and put away. My van was clean. We survived the crappy roads for the day. All good. Time for bed.