And so it was that at 10.50am Monday 2nd November 1992 we left Adelaide for places unknown. We had no real plan in place all we knew for sure was that we were heading west. Sitting perched in the passenger's seat was the best feeling. As Kimbo turned the key and started the wheels rolling I was so excited I thought I would burst. As we drove along South Road we saw Neil standing out the front of "Just Cars" and shortly after Andrea rang to find out if we were actually going……..yes was the excited reply! This day has been a long time coming and we’d had a few false starts but now it was my reality.

We stopped at Port Wakefield for lunch……as you do, but this time we didn’t need any roadhouse food as we could make our own. A lovely old man asked if he could have a look inside, yes of course he could, we were so proud.

Normally I’m not a great fan of the road to Port Augusta but this time I saw it through new eyes. Sitting high on my seat I could see past the trees on either side of the highway, I knew I was going to love it.

We’d decided our first night would be at Mambray Creek campground within the Mt Remarkable National Park at the southern end of the stunning Flinders Ranges so that we could explore. We had a walk around the camping area and it was just beautiful, hardly anyone there, just nature and us and it was so quiet my ears hurt!    We knew we’d be having a big day tomorrow so after a couple of games of backgammon (that Kimbo won) we were in bed early. I was worn out from all the excitement.

We were up at 7.30am, made some lunch, packed water and drove the moke to Alligator Gorge through Melrose some 60km. Our plan was to leave the moke at Blue Gum Flat and then walk back to camp and then drive the bus there tomorrow to pick up the moke. Sadly we didn’t have a plan B because the road was so shocking (caravans were banned) there was no way we’d be able to get the bus in there. We didn’t get up this early for no reason so we decided to leave the car there, and walk home knowing the realisation was that we’d have to walk back to the car tomorrow.

We chose the Battery Ridge Trail as our trail of choice, I kept asking myself during the day why did we choose this one; after climbing the 1 ½ hour Frick’s Track which was challenging at best from Kingfisher Flat to Frick’s Dam I thought it couldn’t get any worse, it did, the last section up to The Bluff was almost vertical and almost the tipping point but we made it and from then on it was a doddle in the park! It was sunny and warm but I felt every degree! My heart rate was much higher than it should have been and I was a bit worried that I might be having thyroid issues again! The views from atop were magnificent and a great spot to have lunch and right down in the distance way way below us was Mambray Creek where we’d be walking tomorrow to pick up the car. Of course I knew that because we’d climbed up so high, eventually we’d have to climb down and that was eased by finally sighting the bus off in the distance hours later. The walk took us 6 hours which was considerably shorter that the time given in the brochure so maybe we’re fitter than what we thought we were.

The shower was magnificent when we got home and I could have stayed under it for hours but I knew there’d be no water for Kimbo if I did that.   After a quiet celebratory little drink and spaghetti fungi for dinner we were feeling a bit stiff so it was off to bed, all this by 8.30pm!!

Our muscles were a bit worse for wear on waking but we finally headed off on foot to pick up the car by 9.15am. It was a much better walk than yesterday because it was basically flat! I lost count of the number of times we had to remove our shoes for creek crossings….good thing we took a towel! Walking along the creek was really peaceful with beautiful river red gums and native pines, so shade was never an issue. Funny that today was quite cloudy and very mild, would have killed for that weather yesterday! We were stopped by the rangers near Kingfisher Flat, they were out checking tracks and were interested to know how we found the Battery Trail – I told them! Finally some 5 hours after we’d started we were at Blue Gum Flat and happily seated in the moke.

We decided against walking Alligator Gorge and instead drive straight home about 80km . We did make a little detour and ate some junk food at the roadhouse. I think we’d probably worked it off before we ate it……we’ll that’s my theory anyway.

It was great to walk the stiffness out of our bodies today, and I felt much better than I did yesterday.

We will be back to this beautiful part of SA but tomorrow it’s time to move on.