Now in Victoria and Portland is a massive port with a shipping and rail network but just a stopover for us. Once again the scenery today has consisted of miles and miles of pastoral land (farming to us). In the middle of nowhere was a small town and a huge Kimberley Clark factory surrounded by mounds of woodchips - strange we thought, where do they get the wood? All was revealed when a bit further down the road the pine tree forests started and went on and on and...

We headed out of Adelaide on the A# to the coastal suburb of Glenelg where the first settlers landed in South Australia and there is a replica of HMS Buffalo which is now a restaurant. Southwards took us through Brighton, Hove and Kingston Park - apart from the names no other similarities. Our coffee and donut stop was Victor Harbour, previously a whaling station, where they have a horsedrawn tram between the town and Granite (Penguin) Island - historically used...

Have just had a really enjoyable day in Adelaide even though we thought we were in a scene from Miami Vice when we stepped off the bus this morning. We were treated to about 6 police cars and motorbikes chasing a car up the main street. The sirens were blaring and sparks were flying off the car being chased where the tyres had exploded and he must have been going along on the wheel rims. Made us feel a bit sick as we thought any minute some pedestrians would go...

Port Augusta was a picturesque fairly small town at the head of Spencer Gulf and the crossroads for all roads and trains north, west and east. It was good to see water and greenery again and with the Flinders Ranges as a backdrop it was in an ideal setting. Just one night spent here before the next leg to Adelaide. Good to shop for fresh fruit and veg which are in short supply in the outback. 7840 miles to date. Hope you are not bored yet cos we still have a l...

480 miles today - longest trip in one day so far. Majority of it was flat red desert and apart from the eagles feeding on the day's roadkills no other life. Although we were quite surprised at the number of cars/caravans going north; southerners escaping the cold winter (19deg) for the warmer north (30deg)! Our highlight was finding an abandoned dog in a rest area when we stopped to make tea. It looked like a bull mastiff and was under a table keeping out of the...