Day 124
Monday
1 May 2017 - Began
reading Harper Lee’s follow up novel “Go Set a Watchman”. I picked this up in a
laundry book exchange a couple of stops back and am interested to see if it is
as disappointing as many critics suggested.
Mount Pleasant – Williamstown – Gawler – Port Wakefield -
Lochiel – Snowtown – Port Augusta – Island Lagoon Lookout (Camps 8 SA #453) –
Glendambo (Camps 8 SA #490)
We had a bit of driving ahead of us today, well it was
really as much as we wanted to put in. We knew we should be at Port Augusta as
a minimum half way stop to Coober Pedy, if we got further than that it would be
a bonus.
We began our day with the usual routines, followed by the
pack up rituals. Dave, the camp manage, came by and we paid up for our final
night before making our way from Mount Pleasant and on to Williamstown where we
stopped to post the parcel of beer to Nigel.
Once that task was complete, we continued our drive on to
Gawler, stopping to fill up the van for the drive ahead and then continuing out
of the town, passing the caravan park we stayed at when we were here in 2003.
We followed the GPS instructions, missing one when we
weren’t paying keen enough attention and adding a few extra minutes to the
journey. We eventually popped out on the A1 and meandered our way north.
Being the 1st of May, all fires bans had been
lifted and it was like looking into a sepia photo. Little fires burnt in
paddocks, turning the ground black and sending smoke across the road and us
coughing, as it seeped into the van through the air vents. In some places it
was so thick you couldn’t see in front of you and Paul had to drive slowly to
avoid any nasty accidents.
Once back we continued following the A1. This route took us
along the boundary of the infamous town Snowtown. Paul had a deposit for the
bank. But seriously, will the town ever live down the dark past thrust upon it
when the bodies in the barrels were unearthed in the bank vault?
From here we had a further hour and a bit to reach Port
Augusta. It was an easy enough drive, while we had been this way previously, we
had actually travelled the landside of the Remarkables and this time we
travelled the coastal side. We passed Port Germein, a place we had checked out
from Melrose. A very tall white structure stood out in the distance, burning
bright at the top. We assumed it was a gas tower burning, but when we finally
reached it, we could see no fire, it was almost like a light was being beamed
to the top and it was so bright you could see the negative imprinted on your
eyeball when you closed your eye. The tower appeared to glow white hot. A
mystery to us.
We stopped at the BP for fuel, as we came into Port Augusta and
then we drove into the centre at 2pm, finding a place to park and have our
lunch finally. Once lunch was done we went across to Coles to fill up on some
groceries before we did a quick walk and then it was back to the van, GPS set
and we continued on our way.
We turned right at the fork road indicating Darwin or Perth.
We then began following the Stuart Highway north. The countryside soon changed
to the familiar low scrub and stubby trees we had encountered crossing the
Nullarbor. It was monotonous country but pretty all the same. It was also quite
green, having had rain through the area.
We had set the GPS to the rest stop at Island Lagoon and
while Paul had decided he would keep driving, we stopped anyway to take in the
view the lookout provided.
We continued on to the settlement of Pimbo shortly after and
again we passed straight through as Paul was happy driving and it was still
bright and sunny. The k’s ticked over along with the time and with the radio
picking up the Woomera station for a short stretch of the journey.
The next stop was
Lake Hart and as we approached we saw it was quite busy and with good reason. A
beautiful full salt lake stretched out before us, it looked so inviting and
would have been a great place to pull in, but Paul was keen to keep moving.
It was now 5pm and the next stop was 30min away. I was now
keenly aware of the sun lowering making driving a little more hazardous. We saw
three wedge tailed eagles feasting on various road kill along this stretch.
They served as a reminder of kangaroos, though we saw none thankfully. We had
though seen horses, sheep and large cattle along the Sturt Highway, as the
stations are unfenced.
I was glad to finally pull into Glendambo South Rest Area.
There were a few other campers tucked away in the bush area. Paul was happy to
pull in to the front section and turn off the van.
We set up for the night and then I went to take a few
pictures of our home for the night. I began dinner, between ducking out to take
photos of the pink sunset. We finally ate before settling in for the night.
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