We booked into the Sterling North Caravan Park which is just a few kms out of Port Augusta and thought we'd rest and restock here before heading out to the Flinders Ranges. As the temperatures are much lower now and us being such delicate little petals after so long in high temperatures, we wanted to be on power because we're not sure what's happening with our diesel heater in the van. While in Kimba, we tried to turn it on in the morning. It didn't want to start and nearly drained the batteries so we are reluctant to free camp until we know what's happening with it. Is it the heater or the batteries in the van?

We drove out to Quorn and then on to Hawker, stopping to look around the town and visit the Jeff Morgan Art Gallery that had been recommended to Chris by a guy at the caravan park. We were not disappointed as it was so much more than we had expected. Not only was the shop interesting to look around but the gallery, artwork and different collections inside were amazing.

We did the heritage trail, driving around the area through what had once been many small suburbs, the last one being Craddock before we took yet another dirt road through beautiful scenery, back to Gordon and then on to Stirling North. We saw all the signs and small brick remains of days gone by in this wide open landscape and wondered again how people survived back then. Another day we took a drive out through Wilmington, chatted with the lovely lady in the Op Shop and then on to Melrose. From there we drove to Wirrabara and checked out the Silo art before making the long winding drive up to the lookout. We saw the magnificent views over the landscape out to the ocean and all the way to Port Pirie. The day was quite cloudy though and with more very dark clouds coming across, we decided to leave as the views were not going to get any better and it looked like rain was coming.

We hadn't realised that it was the King's birthday weekend coming up and the parks in and around the Flinders were all fully booked for powered sites so we decided to stay where we were, enjoying good happy hours and drive out to Wilpena for the day. We left at 8.00 in the morning with thick fog and a temperature of 5* which didn't change much until we got closer to Wilpena, about 200 kms away.

Driving out to Wilpena for the day meant we didn't have time to walk into the pound but we did all the drives and saw lots of kangaroos and emus. We visited the Wadna Aboriginal Arts and Craft Centre and the old workers cottage at Blinman which is the highest town in South Australia. We saw the Great Wall of China and the many lookouts including Stokes Hill with its 360 degree views. We drove exactly 500 kms that day and on a lot of dirt roads. Our last stop of the day was back at Quorn where we watched the evening silo light show before heading back to our van.

We spent a good day at Port Augusta races for the RFDS race day on the Sunday and then we did the Pitchi Ritchi train ride on the Monday where we enjoyed the company of the other people in our carriage. We were unlucky in that the day we did the trip we had a diesel engine instead of the steam engine we would have preferred. This was because there was not a qualified steam engine driver available that day as this volunteer was called into work. How inconsiderate! One of our fellow travellers was a guy called Peter who had done this journey several times and knew every bend on the track. As a keen photographer, he had taken many good photos in the past and agreed to send me some. The photos of the steam engine you see with this entry are courtesy of Peter. Thanks Peter and maybe see you again somewhere in this beautiful country.

We have decided to leave the cold weather behind us as we head back up the middle again with only one free camp before we got to Coober Pedy. Having spent a week here last year we didn't need to spend long here this time. We did manage to see the 360* panoramic showing at the Big Winch which was closed last time and had a good chat with the people at the Old Tom's Mine when we paid our donation for the free camp there. We also had a good happy hour with others, one couple were from Banora Point, their surname was Jones like Jo and Phil, they live just around the corner from them and she was a volunteer at the Tweed hospital where Jo is a nurse, what a coincidence. I was also given a knitting pattern for a beanie (clever hat) from her friend and after having just got rid of needles I wasn't using, have now bought more and I'm knitting again!

Our next stop was Alice Springs for two nights with one stop on the way. We stay again at the Showgrounds to restocked and refuel. We also visited the Sunday Markets as last year I had seen an aboriginal painting that I had liked and wished I'd bought so I was on a mission to find one this time. We bought a painting from a lovely lady who was the mother of the aboriginal artist. She told us that her son, Justin Ronberg has travelled overseas with his art.

Before leaving Alice Springs we had the batteries in the caravan and the car checked at two separate places and were told all was ok.

We headed up towards Darwin and stopped at Newcastle Waters free camp where we had a good happy hour with fellow travellers. We woke the next morning to battery issues again! With a quick phone call to the Redarc agent in Katherine we head straight there. After the three hour drive there and then three hours labour later with rejigging of some wires, we were hopeful the problem was solved. That was not to be and now with another three hours labour, more new wiring and two new batteries, (lithium this time) we are on the road again. This has all been a very expensive exercise and we believe due to the wrongly wired setup when the Redarc system was installed near Bunbury in WA. This installation apparently had a big impact on our batteries which were only installed last August in Broome, causing them to fail. Now begins the saga of trying to get some compensation from that business. Yeah, Good luck with that, I'm thinking.

This type of issue is the only negative that we can think of with our nomadic lifestyle. Things will always go wrong and when they do, we are reliant on who we can only hope are reputable businesses to fix things. We then carry on with our travels and maybe problems can show up some time later when it's not practical to return to the same location.

Now I just have to let go of all the stress this particular issue has caused as we head to our next stop, one of our favourite places, at Tumbling Waters in Berry Springs, out of Darwin. It's a great spot and with good friends, we can chill and enjoy the beautiful Darwin winter weather.

Life is still good!