Here are a couple of interesting ones from 'Boot Hill':
Michael noticed that this cemetery is the only one that he's been to where the graves are not all facing the same way, some are even placed at right angles to each other.
Then it was time to head out of town, back on the road in the state with some of the more interesting road signs in the country -
The scenery was red and really flat, good cycling country!!!
At least we were sitting comfortably with the air conditioning on, listening to CDs.
We stopped for lunch at a rest stop called BonBon and were treated to a visit by a flock of Zebra finches.
The tap on this tank obviously dripped a little but some kind soul had put a bowl underneath, they'd even put a few rocks in it to stop it tipping up and gave the birds somewhere to perch.
Just along the road we met 4 much larger birds - Wedge Tail Eagles enjoying some roadkill.
Our night time stop was at Lake Hart Lookout - another stunning surprise. What a beautiful spot!!
I took a short walk down to the Lake (it's a salt lake) to take a few sunset photos and when I wandered back to the van I thought some cheeky so and so has parked right in front of our van.
Hang on, I know that van - it was Annie and 'the boys' (her 2 whippets, Conor and Clancy).
We had met Annie a couple of times in Tasmania and had kept in touch. We knew that she was going up to Darwin soon and were hoping to meet up on the road - we'd sent an email telling her where we were but had missed the reply before we left Coober Pedy. She had been keeping a look out for us as she headed north, what a stroke of luck for us both to choose Lake Hart for our night stop.
It was great to spend some time chatting and catching up. It was really good to see her again.
The Lake Hart Lookout proved really popular, with around 16 vans parked before dusk.
The morning exodus started well before 7.00am and by 9.00am (as we were having breakfast) there were only 4 vans left, 2 of them were Annie and us!
Annie then headed north and we carried on south to Woomera. A place with a short but dynamic history, it started with the 'last great Australian explorer' Len Beadell deciding that this was the place to site the governments rocket testing base - the rest, as they say, is history.
The surrounding area is still a prohibited zone, with the range still used intermittently for some rocket testing so we couldn't go out to any sites.
However the museum is good and the food in the cafe is excellent.
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The outdoor missile park is quite something.
We were pleased that Len Beadell featured heavily at the museum, but we were disappointed that the fountain at his memorial wasn't running.
The town is struggling to be anything other than just a museum, but I suppose when there's rockets being tested at the site, the town is busier.
We had allowed for a possible 2 day stay in Woomera but after the museum, the missile park, lunch and a drive around the whole town we were satisfied and hit the road south that afternoon.
We found a quiet little rest area about 50kms north of Port Augusta and settled in.
The stop was near the train line at a level crossing so it might prove a little noisy but also a little different.
A car and caravan came in and as they set up they put up their tv aerial - we hadn't expected any reception so hadn't tried; we tried then and to our surprise we got 14 digital stations!!
It was really windy and the aerial kept wobbling around making the picture come and go. Michael lowered the aerial a little to stabilise it. Later when we lowered it completely we still got reception - with the aerial down, Fancy That!!
After dark a 4WD pulled in alongside us, they set up in a tent by the light of their headlights. They were away the next morning just after 7am. The caravan left shortly afterwards leaving us to enjoy a beautifully peaceful breakfast.
We had heard a few trains in the night, but they didn't really disturb us.
Then it was onward, into Port Augusta. We had considered staying at a caravan park there but the one we saw resembled a compound - not at all inviting.
We drove around town, found a 'Cheap as Chips' discount store and got a few bargains before leaving town and heading westward.
We stopped for lunch in Iron Knob - a small mining town, the birthplace of the Australian steel industry. It's also the place with one of the catchiest town slogans - "Iron Knob - what a hole".
We drove around town and if you want parts for a 70s or 80s car you could probably get them here.
We're not sure what the state of play is at the mine but it was VERY quiet.
The wind was still howling so we decided to carry on another 80kms and stop for the night at Kimba -
'Halfway across Australia'.
It was a cold night, and we were really feeling the cold especially after being up in Alice Springs a few days ago. We had showers early in the afternoon, as the lack of glass in the windows of the amenities block made it rather chilly in there. The heater in the van got a good run.
We had another good night's sleep and the next morning had an early start (well early for us, 9.30am).
The weather has definitely turned, our summer is finally over. The shorts and singlets are being replaced with trousers and long sleeve T shirts (and a jumper).
We drove across the top of the Eyre Peninsula and it is not stunning scenery. We stopped for morning tea in Wudinna, remembering the great 'real' coffee we had 8 years ago at the cafe - the cafe has closed! So we had a cup of instant coffee in the van before continuing west. Our lunch stop was the quaint town of Poochera. Renowned for the 'dinosaur ants' found in the area.
(that explains the signage on the toilets - the girls is ANTHEA).
Also of interest was an old 'humpy' made from beaten kerosene tins.
After the excitement of Poochera we continued into Ceduna on the coast. We checked in to a caravan park on the foreshore, in the centre of town, for a couple of days. We won't be replenishing fruit and vegetables in Ceduna because we'll have to dump it all at the WA/SA border.
Once more I don't know when we will get Optus coverage again, for the blog. After Ceduna we'll try around Penong but then it's on the Nullarbor for a few days, then back into WA and into Norseman.
We will have a few days in Coolgardie (should have coverage there).
Then we're meeting our friends Ralph and Hanny at a campspot out in the bush. They have a van the same as ours and we really enjoy travelling with them, especially bush camping.
The time with them will be a great welcome home and a great wind down for us after all the travelling.
So until somewhere, sometime - watch this space!
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