My kids are awesome!!!!
Premature statement considering we are at night 3 of our 3+ months caravan adventure, nevertheless it's true!
Driving out of our driveway on a cold and wet Woodend Friday afternoon we headed north largely in the dark with a quick fish and chip dinner in Marong, the kids were excited about the adventure awaiting them. Talk of missing friends dissipated as the evening turned to night and we arrived at Red Cliffs Victoria just south of Mildura for an overnight, the true test of how we and the kids would go began the next day.
Red Cliffs to Port Augusta was the target for the day and our initial search and stop for coffee has set the tone for the likelihood that a decent coffee is many months away (we are not in coffee kansas anymore)!!!
Zoe's first question of the day ... "Mummy, home?"
"Eventually Zoe".
We pull up just before 4pm in Port Augusta, traversing the beautiful country side that at times resembles the tundra of the Alaskan plains to the lush green hills north of the Barossa Valley. Citrus orchards and grapevines make way for aquaducts and wind turbines that scatter the landscape and look quite majestic. The quaint town of Burra would be worth a stop with many pioneer buildings restored and the smattering of old ruins dotted along the plains. Another time maybe for a stop, our push north continues.
Under the guidance of Dean I am mastering the 'wave' to fellow travellers although only if they are towing a van but not a winnebago ... who knew there were rules? Am I now a caravan elitist? Two to three fingers off the steering wheel big enough for the other driver to see but not too big that makes you look like an eager w***er!
The gateway to Port Augusta is the only low point with the boys asking "eww what's that?" "An oil refinery by the looks of it kids". There was no argument whether the view of the wind turbines or the oil refinery was preferred.
Day 2 is another early rise and a crisp 2 degrees which reminds us of home. It's not long before it's clear the landscape is set for the day ... a wide, flat plain of scrub and the occasional tree no more than 1-2m tall. The day is uneventful and we made great time only stopping twice for fuel and once more due to the call of "poo daddy" from the littlest.
We had our first "are we there yet?" from Ben 3 hours from Coober Pedy which I thought was a great effort.
Kids are entertaining themselves fairly well with only ipad when Zoe was asleep. Books and Thomas's game of whoever can spot the first native animal gets a marshmellow began 2 hours from our destination with a bonus one for an Albino kangaroo! (Thomas's current obsession). Ben persisted with the game but was becoming alittle despondent with cries of "there's nothing out here!!!" Needless to say the bag of marshmellows remains intact.
Making good time into Coober Pedy before 3pm the kids could run around and play in the park at the caravan park and we had a chance to have a brief look at the opal mining town. Lots of underground cave accommodation mine tours and mines really is really all there is. I'm grateful that we are here with the mild weather as there would be little comfort when temperatures hit anything higher than 25. The heat from the sky and the land encasing you from all directions. It's no wonder the area is often described as moonscaped.
We are grateful for the adjoining pizzeria at the caravan park so there will be no cooking or cleaning in the van with only an overnight stay. It also becomes abundantly clear as we sat down for an early kid friendly dinner that the grey nomads out number us, even with the young family of 4 kids seated next to us! It also means that the kitchen staff are flat out as it's not just families that eat early but the nomads were seated at 5!!!!