Day 102 - Home sweet home

(Kate)

Day 102 – Home sweet Home

We have mixed emotions about returning home.  The familiarity is nice, as is the opportunity to see friends and family.  And our chickens ;) The relatively cold weather is a bit of a rude shock.  We’ve been away for so long that we’ve forgotten where some things are in the house.  We’ve lived so simply while we’ve been on the road, and now we’re back home with what seems like an abundance of luxurious items at our disposal.  Like dishwashers.  And heaters that you can switch on at the touch of a button.

It’s been the trip of a lifetime, and I think it will take some time for the full impact of if to sink in.  We’ve seen some amazing things and had some great experiences, but we’ve also learned to live more simply and communicate more effectively with each other, as you have to do when you live together on the road.

3 states, 1 territory, 19000km.  What an adventure.

Days 100-101 Bendleby Ranges

 (Kate)

Days 100-101 Bendleby Ranges https://bendlebyranges.com.au/

We have almost come full circle.  On the way from Smoky Bay to Bendleby, we camped at the roadside camp near Carrieton where we camped on night 1 of our trip.  It looked very different in October compared with June.

We first went to Bendleby Ranges for camping and 4WDing about 8 years ago, and have been back almost every year since.  They provide all the firewood as part of your camping fee, which is wonderful, and the office at “The Springs” reception sell a wide variety of food if you run out of anything.  Some essential foods, some yummy foods.  Although you could argue that yummy food is sometimes essential to your mental health, e.g. coffee flavoured giant twins.  We did a bit of 4WDing on the property, including testing out a new track they have built.  It was steep but not too difficult, according to the driver, Nicole, although in my humble opinion it had a couple of PYP sections (pee your pants).

We took happy hour drinks and snack up to the Sunset Lookout on the last night, and it was a lovely place to reflect on the past 100 days.  3 states, 1 territory, about 19,000km.  What an adventure.

Our campsite near Carrieton

A native pine at sunset, Bendleby Ranges

Our campsite at Bendleby.

Sunset Lookout at Bendleby.

The main street of Orroroo, the nearest town (an hour from Bendleby).  All the blue decoration is to signify National Mental Health Month.  You can read more about it here.

Days 95-99 Eyre Peninsula - west coast

 (Kate)

Day 95-99 Eyre Peninsula – west coast

We took 2 days to drive from Coober Pedy to Smoky Bay, camping overnight in a Wikicamp nominated site on the Gawler Ranges Road, named Casuarina Forest.  There were plenty of casuarina trees there.  It was nice and peaceful.  Except for the flies.  We’re all a bit over the flies.  We saw some amazing Sturt Desert Peas on the drive.  So amazing that we stopped to marvel at them and take photos.

We landed in Smoky bay at the home of our friends Damien and Trish.  Trish was still at work when we arrived, but Damien was at home, as was their cockatoo, Kingsford, who was very chatty.  Keith took a fancy to Kingsford, and loved saying “You’re a pine cone!” whenever Kingsford said “Want a pine cone?”  Damien made a fresh salsa which was amazing, then for dinner he cooked us all a 3 course seafood meal.  What a treat.  We are so blessed to have amazing friends.

The next morning, Ben fixed the trailer brakes, then we headed off to Ceduna.  We visited Trish at work, got the Deli’s tyres balanced, and had a general drive around.  Or should I say, Nicole had a general drive around.  She has clocked up quite a few hours on this trip.  She says Ceduna is much friendlier to drive around than Blackwood. Even the roundabouts.

We are amazed by how much grass there is around, and how green everything is in general below Goyder’s Line.  Unfortunately this also means hay-fever, which we were reminded of the following day when it was ridiculously windy.

Near Streaky Bay are a bunch of large rocks called Murphy’s Haystacks.  The farmer whose land they are on has installed some toilets and info boards, and an honesty box at the gate, where you pay a modest amount ($2pp) to view the haystacks, and you can also buy honey if you wish.  We had no need to purchase honey, having already stocked up on honey from Jagged Crow Farm before we left Adelaide (https://jaggedcrowfarm.com.au)

 

Ben and Keith reducing the tyre pressures to suit the unsealed road.

Casuarina forest.

I think these are called ruby salt bush.

Rabbit holes.

A windy day at Smoky Bay.

The sunshine at Ceduna.

The learner driving gaining expertise.

Ah that's better - some sunshine in Smoky Bay.

We haven't seen this sort of field of green in a long time.

Some of Murphy's Haystacks.

Day 94 - Coober Pedy

 (Kate)

Day 94 – Coober Pedy

We filled in our border entry forms to return to SA – much more straightforward than the other states (Good onya, SA!) and motored on to Kulgera, “the first and last pub in the NT”, where we got diesel and some not super healthy but delicious tasting lunch.  We started to notice people wearing masks for the first time, as they arrived in Kulgera from SA, still wearing their masks, as is the custom in SA at the moment.  We dug our masks out of storage in preparation.

We went onward to Coober Pedy and checked into the Lookout Cave Underground Motel – very cool!  It was a unique experience sleeping in a dugout.  Some of our family were ecstatic at having access to wifi for the first time in a while.  Some of our family were ecstatic to have no flies and prickles for 24 hours.  We did a tour at the Umoona Opal Mine and Museum.  Our tour guide was Rudy, an 84 year old who was very enthusiastic about opal mining.  He first mined opal in 1960 in Andamooka, and some years later moved to Coober Pedy, where he has remained ever since.  He said in the old days, it would take him and his mining partner a week to dig a 4 metre deep mining shaft, like the one in the museum where we could look up and look at the sky.  He said opals are only used for jewellery, and that success in opal mining is pure luck. 

According to the local tourist book, the name Coober Pedy is from Anangu words approximately meaning “White man in a hole”.