Standpipe Golf Motor Inn Port Augusta

Port Augusta is Donna's birth place and has still lots of family and friends that are very happy to takes us in for a while. We stayed with Maxine and Rodney and left th bus at a depot for about a week. These visits to Maxine and Rodney always end up like good drinking sessions. We left the dogs with our really good friends and made a trip to Quorn witch ...

... like snow in the middle of the desert!<br>Back on the road we finally started to see the earth come back to life as we came into the Flinders Ranges, and made it to Quorn in the early evening, after getting our first glimpse of the sea at Port Augusta. Everything&#8217;s called Flinders here by the way, after the explorer Matthew Flinders who named Australia. We got several history lessons from Jen during the long days of driving as talking ...

We raced along today - tail winds! Thank you Lord!<br><br>Did the 156kms at an average of about 30kms/hour.<br><br>The countryside varied between undulating and flat. It now has changed from a grain growing area back to station country. The scenery in the second half of the ride reminded me of the drive from Port Hedland to Karratha in WA - the flat open desert looking landscape with hills and outcrops in the distance - just like you get when ...

... flat. Some hills north of Lochie where the ridges were covered with wind farms. We saw the southern reaches of the Flinders Ranges, with sediment lines clearly showing, on the eastern side and Saint Vincent Gulf on the right. We got to Pt Augusta just before dusk setting up in daylight.

... our course across the state. Of course, this is a hazardous undertaking, dependent on an accurate interpretation and visualisation of what constitutes the difference between a 'slight right', 'a sharp right' and a 'right turn'. In need of respite, we stopped in another 'town', where we counted two houses and a shop which sold, amongst other things, ice cream, Penguin Classics, beef pies and assorted antiques. The lady in charge seemed absolutely ...

... often see them burnt out by bushfires but still growing, and there was one which had fallen over, landed in a road and so had been chopped in half to unblock the path. However, because it still had one or two roots left in the ground it had survived and was still producing leaves and new branches. Further up you see a lot of Xanthorrhoea, or Grass Trees. Anyone who's been to Australia will recognise these, little black stumpy trunks and then what looks like a big ...

... read about, and it was a week in which I learnt more about this country than i have done before. It was also a week when Australia bit back, but more on this later. I was picked up by Kaz, our tourguide and driver, who was remarkably chirpy despite the pre-6:30am-ness of the meeting, and driven around Adelaide picking the rest of the group up before going back to their office in order to sign a disclaimer form. Apparently there could be danger on the trip. Really? Pah ...

... finished up there fabrice got a call to let him know the van was ready - great timing, I was just about to start pulling my hair out! We walked over the river to the garage and they had done a fair bit of work which ended up costing Fabrice another $300 on top of the $700 he paid a couple of days ago - ouch! Lets hope the van is all good for our outback experiance!!!! now we are back up the mountain to our favorite lookout - Handcocks Lookout.

... didn't see any of them either! Next day we collect the hire car - it turns out to be a cracker... a Toyota camry sedan from europcar! We left poor old maz at robs (perhaps he and di might fancy a little camping trip in her before we get back -hope they put some oil in!) got the train into Adelaide with a few belongings that we could carry and headed off for the wide blue yonder....what a treat to be comfy in a ...