Happy Birthday Karen.
The weather was not the greatest in Burra today. It started to drizzle just as we were hitching up the caravan for our leg to Port Augusta. It got heavier as we proceeded with the hitch and just after we left the caravan park it started to improve. Don't you just love the way it only seems to rain when you are either hitching or unhitching.
The first part of the trip took us along the Goyder Highway to Crystal Brook. The road was generally good, but with a bad16 km stretch just after Spalding. The countryside was very pleasant to drive through; low undulating hills given over to sheep grazing on green paddocks.
Just beyond Crystal Brook the Goyder Highway joins the A1 which is part of National Route 1. The quality of this road is very good, with plenty of passing lanes. The countryside flattened out with grazing giving way to grain growing. Before long the southern end of the Flinders Ranges appeared on our right hand. We skirted these mountains all the way in to Port Augusta.
Port Augusta itself is situated on flat, uninteresting salt bush country. The town is of modest size and given over to heavy industry. After we had settled in to the caravan park, we went into the town centre to stock up on food to see us through the next 3 weeks or so until we get to Alice Springs, 1220 kms away. It was a typical country town shopping centre, but with all the essential services. It also had a nice little cafe with some old-fashioned service.
We are staying on the western edge of the town at the Big 4 Holiday Park caravan park. This is a big park with many large, drive-through sites. It also provided a large number of en-suite sites and cabins. The park also has a very good and well-equipped camp kitchen. One of the park guests told us the once the sites were all grass-covered. However, drought has had its inevitable result and now most sites are situated on gravel and dirt.
We have now topped up the van water tanks and the car's fuel tank. We are well victualled and ready to turn north tomorrow. Regarding this northern leg, we has just heard the weather forecast. It is going to rain heavily across our track. Cooper Pedy, where we will be arriving on 1 June, is expecting 50 mm in a day, a once in fifty years rain event. Let's hope it will have cleared up by the time we get there.
I had hoped to do what most travellers do and take a photograph of the traffic sign at the intersection of the Eyre and Stuart Highways which is close by the caravan park. This sign pointed to Perth in one direction and Darwin in the other and gave the distance to each place. I couldn't find this particular sign. Either it has been replaced with this more modern one or I was looking in the wrong place. Anyway here are some photos of the intersection.
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