Kimberley 2015 - Marla SA

Left our lovely spot next to the salt lake and drove towards Coober Pedy.  We stopped for a wee stop for Sam at the rest area where the young guy, Dane, has a memorial. He went missing from Victoria last year and was found dead from a snake bite and his can bogged Not far from where his memorial is. 

We kept driving to Coober Pedy where we stopped for lunch and had a little look around. To tell the truth Coober Pedy did not impress me much. It had a great skate park that Sam got to try his scooter on but the rest of the place looks untidy and had a lot out want to be tourist type places with pushy opal sellers. The mounds of dirt around the town from all the mining was described by Gaz as looking like a dog that buried his bone and then forgot where he buried it.

We took a couple of tourist photos went to the bottle store beer is now $49 a case. Not too bad.

Kept driving as far as we could towards the border and got to a roadside camp called Ericas camp on wiki camps, 10km south of Marla. A lot of red dust the further you go from the road so we camped closer to the road in gravel. There was a lot of toilet paper around too. I don't understand why people just can't dig a hole!

Got a campfire going and cooked up salmon steaks for dinner. Decided on an earlier night and got tucked up in bed.

Left camp this morning just before 10am heading for Uluru. Sam is excited to see the humungeous rock.

Kimberley 2015 - lake side camp Glendambo to north somewhere just before the border

I think we found the best site so far! Lake side camp, 14km north out of Glendambo. We had three place to ourselves and arrived with time to explore around and watch a gorgeous sunset then a full moon rising. Sam tried to ride his scooter on the dried up lake bed. It was ok yup start with crunching along the salt build up on the surface, but closer to the middle it got a bit muddy.

We got a roaring fire going and cooked marinated lamb ribs on the grill over coals and had steamed vegetables and potatoes on the side. We had stopped at Port Augusta and done a bit our grocery shopping so our veggies were all stocked up.

The keg was put to work heating water next to the fire and we all had a bucket bath/wash. It feels good to have a wash with hot water. We will start getting the shower tent set up at stops when we can now.

Packed up this morning and pulled out in to bright blue skies. It's warming up now almost shorts and tshirt weather.

We should reach Coober Pedy by lunch time and will spend a bit of time there to see what's around then head towards the border as far as we can get.

Kimberley 2015 - Bomber's bro campsite to Coober Pedy

After pulling in late at bombers bro campsite, approx 10km west off Wilmington 40km east of Port Augusta, we decided to just take out easy on getting to our next destination somewhere near Coober Pedy.  We made cheesy toast for breakfast and had a cuppa, Gaz fixed up a couple of poles on the camper trailer that have become sticky and bent. Then we headed off. Just around the corner we could see down to the Spencer gulf and Port Augusta.

We drove into town to do a few things like banking and picked up some more fruit and veg, then went to the servo to fill up the car and jerry cans,plus put air in the tyres and the airbag suspension.

We won't get to Coober Pedy today but there are heaps of roadside stops to pick from along the way. The landscape is changing dramatically now. And we have entered an area we have never been to before!

Kimberley 2015 - Penrose park to Port Augusta

Woke up around 7am, a small frost over night but definitely not as cold as the night before. We got the fire going again and had poached eggs on toast for breakfast. As soon as the sun starts coming up out starts to get nice and warm.

We took our time packing up and took the time to use the wonderful hot showers at Penrose park for the last time.

Heading to Port Augusta today.

We stopped on the side of the road for lunch just past Yunta. Sam stood up ona big pile of metal and waved out to a train that was coming along and he was thrilled when the train blasted the horn back at him.

We then continued on to Wilmington where we stopped and filed up the water tank and water containers. The sun was starting to set and the campsite we had been heating to had a big sign saying camping was prohibited. Lucky there was another camp site only 7km down the road that I found on wiki camps, bombers bro campsite on Horrocks pass. We pulled up just after sunset so had to set up and start cooking in the dark. Gaz got the camp fire blazing and we cookedup some chicken drumsticks and the rest of the sausages for Sam.

The fruit fly quarantine bin is no longer near broken hill as we thought its now at Oodla Wirra just before Peterborough and its for fruit, vegetables and any plant material so all our veggies her to get chucked out. We had been eating carrots and mandarins along the way.

Gaz is getting a bit stressed with the set up and pack up and drive routine and wants to be able to just set up for a few days somewhere. We have been adjusting our itinerary as we go and it just means that we may miss out on some spots to allow for a bit more rest. 

Kimberley 2015 - Penrose park Silverton

Woke to a massive frost this morning! Has to be three coldest night so far. We had a lovely evening setting up camp and going for a walk around the park chatting with other campers. There was almost a party atmosphere happening. We managed to get a camp spot near where we camped last time. Quite a few more campers this time. 

It cost $25 per night for the camp site. The showers are amazing and they also run a kiosk with fish and chips etc between 5 and 7pm. We just arrived around 2pm and had a late lunch cook up so decided to do fish and chips for dinner. Sam is straight onto his scooter whenever we start to set up camp now. We decided we would try to find him a 4wd your scooter today but it didn't happen.

I did a load of washing talking advantage of the free laundry facilities yes free!

We drove into Broken hill and collected a few supplies. Managed to get the car booked in for the suspension to be checked over. We did it grocery shopping then dropped the car off and went for a walk through town.

We came back and the mechanic wouldn't accept any money for looking over the car looks like we just have to get new bushes.

We then stopped at Silverton hotel for a beer and picked up a new Silverton cap for Gaz as Bruce ate the last one. Back to the campsite with steaks brought from the butcher in broken hill and get the grill plates working over nice red coals on the fire. A few glasses of red and off to bed.

Kimberley 2015 - Bulla park rest area to Silverton

We didn't make it to Silverton but pulled up at a lovely roadside rest area, bulla park between cobar and willcania. 

We left Dubbo after stopping for breakfast. We watched an airplane come in for landing say Dubbo airport. Had a couple of pee stops for the boys along the way and a stop say Narromine so Gaz could post off the battery charger we just had installed in the camper trailer - it started smoking when we pulled up at the camp spot near Ponto whilst we were setting up. Gaz ripped out it out the camper and spoke with the manufacturers to arrange for it to be sent in to be checked out.

We had a lunch stop set Florida rest area around 2pm. I suddenly realised we will be crossing the fruit fly excluding zone just before broken hill so we have been trying to eat all the fruit and cucumbers plus as much of the veg that we can. We topped up the fuel at cobar and pulled into our camp site around 4:45pm.

A quicker set up and dinner cooking,lots of steamed vegetables for dinner. Camp fire, more wine and chocolate and great company. Loving this!

Got up this morning just before sunrise got the kettle bubbling and had a nice cuppa with cereal for breakfast. The colours on the ground and sky are just amazing. There had been a lot of rain up this way before we have come through, lots of muddle red dirt puddles.  There are heaps of goats on the side of the road through Nyngen to cobar and lots of kid's. They seem to be making the most of the green grass shoots that have popped up after the rain.

We packed up slowly and left the campsite around 9:40am. Heading into Broken hill and then out to Silverton. We will stay at Penrose park. It's a campground where we stayed last time we went to Silverton. Has a huge area too choose from and you feel like you are camped in the middle of the desert but still able to go for a hot shower and do laundry. Gaz hasa few things he wants to fix up before we head further into the outback.

We only have about 4 hours driving today. The temperature is getting warmer although it is overcast this morning and still slightly chilly.

Kimberley 2015 - not Ponto Falls to Silverton

Ok so we didn't make it to Ponto Falls. Don't trust the directions on wiki camps! We ended up on the other side of the river and because we were running late we didn't have the time to double back to Wellington so we just found a spot on the side of the road.

We got set up fairly quick and got dinner cooking, spaghetti Bolognese, fire going and nice glass of wine. Ahhhhh we are finally on holidays!

Woke up around 7am Gaz got the fire going again and boiled the kettle for a cuppa. We packed up slowly and drove in to Dubbo and had McDonald's for breakfast.

On the road now making a beeline for Silverton. We decided we would do a big drive now and set up for a couple off days in Silverton just to get into the groove again.