Because of the strong northerly winds, we took a 'lay low' day in Minlaton. We didn't do anything much at all, and it was lovely just to take it easy and relax. Even travellers need a day off.
The winds were still blowing as we took to the road, heading for Port Augusta. A head wind (joy), with buffeting gusts that knocked us and the fuel gauge around a bit. Plus the road was awful. So bumpy and bouncey in places (lots of places). Could have been sea-sick, if I were the type.
Once again we had trouble finding a smoko stop. I'm beginning to think it's us! We pulled into what we thought may have been a park, but turned out to be a school drop-off area. Awh, you gotta laugh ! I can still see the puzzled look on this Mums face as she drove past us. We just waved.
Maybe it was the coffee, maybe it was the wind, but I found the tree trunks fascinating ~ each one seems to have its own 'painting'.
Temperatures during our travels have been interesting, with the last few days, no exceptions. The average May temp for Port Augusta is 20 degrees. For our visit we've experienced 30 degrees, but what's 10 degrees amongst friends? We had to go digging for our (packed away) summer clothes ! And not quite brave enough to stow our winter gear, so the van looks like a bomb has hit it (or maybe a teenagers bedroom).
Another notation for this part of the country is the lack of cyclists. As we travelled down the country through Qld, NSW and Vic, the numbers of cyclists increased. We've seen one cyclist in the whole of SA so far. No lycra'd bodies to be seen anywhere. Except this one lady as we were leaving Minlaton.
The next observation is increasing numbers of caravans. Port Pirie .. WOW! I think the vans outnumbered the cars. And now in Port Augusta, the cross-roads for the railways, and where everyone meets from Sydney-Perth, Melbourne-Adelaide-Perth, and Alice Springs-Darwin traffic, there has to be thousands of vans. The caravan park has been 'FULL' for the two nights we've been here. Rows and rows of vans in a dusty, dry park. Thankfully, we opted to take an en-suite site, which are a bit 'out of the way', so we have our own (almost) little oasis.
A trip to the Arid Lands Botantical Garden is a must. When you come, hopefully it won't be such a windy day as for us. The bird count was low, as I'm sure they were keeping low in self preservation.
We didn't see any snakes, we saw some birds and we saw a blue tongue lizard! We'd seen some odd tracks in the sand and couldn't work it out. Then we saw him, he moves sooo sloowly.
I love seeing the unusual plants and flowers.
A view across the Arid Lands Gardens, rain coming. (In between us and the rain is the road to Alice Springs-Darwin)
We put our little space to some good use - Mushroom Masaman, yummy!
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