Good morning Port Pirie! Well
almost.......
The wind came up last night as we were packing things away in
preparation for our departure this morning, which was fine – we had pulled the
awning in, secured everything outside and were pretty much ready to go. That was until about 3.00am when the wind was
so severe it kept me awake. I got up
and turned on the computer – my usual go to for sleep deprivation. It was about then that disaster struck. The wind gusts increased and all of a sudden
there was a loud crash and a snapping of plastic. I could tell it had something to do with the
skylight above the living area in the van but being dark I was limited in
seeing what damage was there. Now wide
awake and Shane awake too we ventured out into the wind to see if we could do
anything – see anything – but there was nothing to see without a ladder. What was left of the skylight continued to
rattle with every gust of wind and it was quite stressful not knowing if it too
might be torn off. We sat for a while,
looking up at every rattle, sipping a cup of Milo and waiting in the hope the
wind would die down. Eventually it did
calm and we went back to bed not really knowing exactly what would greet us in
daylight.
When daylight finally did come it was in complete innocence of the
horrendous night we had endured. On
investigating the hatch it was obvious that the external cover had been
completely ripped off its hinges and was (thankfully) just sitting on the roof
up against the air conditioner. The
inner fitting while still in place was also damaged and loose. So here we are a week into a 12 week trip
with a bit hole in our roof. I tell you
– travel isn’t for the feint hearted!
On a lighter note though it seems that at least one of us had a good
night’s sleep………….
The lovely man at the caravan park kindly taped up what was left as the
wind was coming up again. We didn’t have
far to go to the local caravan repair shop and despite the lovely Isabella (yes
we name everything!) being a caravan of some 15 years of age – as luck would have
it they actually had the very part we needed in stock. Within 40 minutes of departing the caravan
park we had a new hatch fitted and we were finally on our way - $300
poorer!
Ahhhh yes the best laid plans……….
We had a trip ahead of us of almost 300km as our plan was to get to Lake
Hart free camp – one of our favourite free camps that we have stayed in now a
few times. The original plan was an
early getaway to arrive at Lake Hart by lunch time. In reality our early getaway was barely
before lunch. We did however manage to
arrive at Lake Hart before it filled up and scored one of the best spots on the
ground.
The trip to Lake Hart takes you through some fascinating changes of
scenery. From the lush green pastures
around Port Pirie the land gradually makes way to some very sparsely covered
land, with the landscape constantly changing from very flat to hilly. Our favourite bit of this leg of the journey
is that first sign that reads Darwin at Port Augusta. You really feel like you are headed to the
outback as soon as you make this turn and of course this is where you start to see the road trains.
We fuelled up at Pimba before getting back on the road to Lake Hart though at 179.9 c/l it was a good thing we didn't need a full tank.
We did have a near miss about half way into the trip when an
idiot driver decided to overtake us with a car coming the other way. The driver of the other car had to hit their
brakes and pull over to the side of the road in a cloud of blue smoke while the
idiot behind us just about cut us off getting back into the left lane and
sailed on as though nothing had happened.
I’m amazed also at the number of times we have seen solo women on bikes
riding in remote areas. All I can say is
in this day and age they are a lot braver than I.
Our spot at Lake Hart was perfect for capturing the sunset and I think
after the excitement of the day an early night will definitely be on the cards.
327 km
Total - 1,542 km
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