It was amazing this morning to drive out of Port Augusta and see the landscape change almost immediately. Gone were the big trees and along came the open plains of shrubs and the emergence of the red dust Australia is known for.
The boys were fascinated by the cattle grids (at least for the first few) and the signage that denotes the start and end of each station boundaries. The absence of fences and signs warning of wandering cattle were also an interesting talking point as was the spotting of a couple of wild emus!
The kms seemed to pass by easily today with a brief stop off at SPUDS roadhouse to top up fuel were the boys had the opportunity to see close up a crusher on a float that was Enroute back to Adelaide after having spent time out at Roxby Downs. The 'cruising Granny' was the pilot for this very large load and her and the truck driver were a wealth of information and explained that this particular machine was actually the secondary crusher of the operation and asked if the boys had seen the other machine under pilot before pulling in to the service station. We had indeed seen the other machine so it was nice to put the pieces together along with the further info that there was also a third machine involved that then graded all the rock. The truck driver also let the boys climb up and have a look at his rig including the sleeper compartment which was fully decked out with a fridge and sundry to make travelling easier. We stopped off for lunch at a roadside stop and had the chance to get a closer look at the black grey stones that we'd been looking at for kms that give the impression of a Tarmac road but in fact close up resemble seasame seeds, although not quite as small but definitely all shiny and almost a little slippery to walk on.
Day three wouldn't have been complete without some small incident and following on from yesterday's fuel issue, we pulled into Coober Pedy not long after 2 and decided to take the opportunity to fill up the water tank of the van at the 'water bowser'....... Wil managed to push the bowser in but we were then met with water gushing from all points under the van?!?!?!?
Yup, we'd managed to detach the pipe inside the van and basically flooded the van! Thank god for microfibres towels and tea towels!!! Needless to say we have just finished mopping up and have put a load of washing on. On the upside, we are now all in shorts and the floor of the van is very clean - just hopeful that the carpet dries out!
We are contemplating writing a song called 'Don't go camping with the Stevos.
If you are following this blog please say a prayer, light a candle or burn some incense for us that tomorrow will be event free!
We are still laughing and still happy to be away!!
Lots of love from the travelling comedians - the Stephens Family.