Ceduna to Port Augusta. Again up in the high 4s at 472 ks. Temp will hit around 33 degrees today. The good part is the coastal wind should be gone as we are more inland. Said our goodbye to Werner and headed to fuel up. Hit the highway and the Black Eagle has hit the road in front of us. We kept an even pace behind him for a while at 110 ks but then he sped up and we lost him. Our plan was to have breakfast at Wirrulla which is about 130 ks up the road. As we came to Wirrulla we had to turn off the highway and found a little shop and post office. We got a nice little feed and got back on the road. The day had started at 16 degrees but was climbing fast. It was 27 already. Most of the flies in the world come from Wirrulla and actually hang around this shop. After harking a few up we got moving again. Our next stop would be Wuddinna another 86 ks down the road. These towns are quite small and only offer the minimal of services. As we pulled into Wuddinna we found there was a level below minimal as this place didn't have a shop. It had a bank, police station, library etc but not a shop. So we went back out to the highway and started to head off but found a roadhouse just up the road. More liquids consumed we set about reaching Kimba. This was a refuel stop and lunch. A fairly low grade shell but we did get a feed and a cool drink. Now the temp was well into the 30s and we were still copping flies as well.

Very little on offer as far as visual aesthetics so the ride was quite boring. Thank god for the ability to get music going in the helmet via the GPS. John and Shirl can talk to each other but I have to amuse myself. Dodging stumpy tails was one method of entertainment. Yesterday I had hit a snake and killed it. (Tried everything to avoid it) As long as I didn't flick it up onto the bike like you hear on some horror snake stories.

When we left Kimba we had about 160 ks left for the day so a break was desired at about half way. At about the 80 k mark you could see some extensive mining on the landscape. This soon lead to a turn off to a small mining town called Iron Knob. We took the turn and saw the roadhouse was abandoned. Pretty much everything appeared abandoned though. WE stopped at the tin shed post office where there was some shade. The caravan park looked like somewhere in the outback Middle east and there was very little movement in the place. After 20 minutes we got back on the bikes and headed to Port Augusta. As you are leaving Iron k*** there is a sign to watch out for emus on the road. Almost right at the sign location there was a family of emus. Almost as though it was put on for us.

The mountain ranges as you come into Port are magnificent. The town is Ok but having been here many times there isn't much instant charm when you are just grabbing a meal and a bed for the night. We pulled into the Big 4 and John and Shirl got their cabin for 107 bucks. They only had a dirt camp site for me at 40 bucks. I asked for a single room but that was $117 with a discount. Strange I thought. I went down to set up camp and it was dismal. Just sand and a few weedy trees. I started to set up camp in one spot but turned and saw my helmet being swarmed by thousands of ants. So I relocated to another location and started again only to see more ants in their thousands. I contacted John and told him I was relocating.

I found a hotel with a cheap room right next door to the park. $30 bucks cheaper in fact. I did get my money refunded when ants were running across my forehead whilst back in the office. They were ok about it but realistically you are treated like the second cousins when you just want to camp and not cabin.

Relocated to next door and met up with the lady who looked after us from the Canning trip early last year. She actually remembered me. I told her of my predicament and she was more than helpful. Got a great shady room and she even came around with a jug of iced lemon water about ten minutes after I checked in. Will stay here again in the future.

Got in and turned the aircon on. What a day. We went to the local hotel for dinner which was OK but no Ceduna. Then I found I had locked myself out of my room. Got bag and was let in. All good.

Tomorrow we land in Nairne where we will catch up and stay the night with Webby. A SA Police member I worked in East Timor with. Has a great dry humour and is very witty. Should be good fun for our last night away from home. We John and Shirl as I grab my wife and throw her on the back and head across to Tassie for a lap.