We spent three days in Adelaide catching up with family.

The weather had been bad for the whole time, wet and cold, and the morning of the 12th was no different. We went looking for odds and sods for our trip inland, importantly a spare tube for the 4WD and tyre levers. We also looked for a replacement air con hose for the one that went in Norseman, however no luck. We decided to risk it and not worry (as far as I know it is still running on the temporary fix it job), we were just looking to get away and find some sun.

We set off travelling up through the country where Heather was born briefly stopping in her birthplace, Laura. It was all kind of nostalgic for H and kind of (well, interesting?) for Avan. By the time we made it to Hawker the weather was clearing so we stopped at a Laundromat to get our clothes washed and dry, to have a fresh start for our inland adventure. We met an elderly local and chatted, learning that he remembered H's dad from when the family had lived in Hawker and H's Mother had taught him in Sunday School!

Everything up to date we travelled the last 40 odd K's to near the entrance of the Flinders Range National Park and set up camp down a track, running along side a creek. We were careful to stay on top of the creek bank remembering some of the rain we had been having may cause the creek to flood overnight. The spot proved to be a lovely camp ground and in the morning were able to observe numerous roos drinking from the creek ponds. We also observed two roos having a boxing match (a first) but were unable to catch the moment on film. 
 
We moved on into the park, bought our National Park ticket which allowed us to camp later in the park and immediately set off to climb St Mary's peak the highest in SA. The weather was by now fantastic and even though the climb was quite stiff work the view from the top was worth the effort. On the way down we were faced with the choice of returning the way we had come (more direct) or deviating through Wilpena Pound back to the camp. As we were feeling pretty good we decided on the longer route. Going down was easy and we were rewarded with the scenery, but once we reached the bottom with still about 5 Km to go we realized we had been far too cocky. We fair had to talk each other up and it was way dark by the time we limped (literally) back to our car. We were that stuffed and sore we just drove to the nearest campsite, climbed into the 4WD and crashed without a whimper.

Next day we surprisingly woke in much better shape than we thought we would be, we could still move. We set of North through the park enjoying the drive through Bunyeroo Gorge and then Brachina Gorge meeting up again with highway B47 then to Leigh Creek. Earlier in the trip we had heard on the car radio an interview with a shopkeeper in Copley which sold unusual Australiana pies and as it was the next place we decided it would be our lunch stop. After a feed which included Quangdong pie we travelled (past the Strzelecki track turnoff at Lyndhurst) to Marree the beginning of the Oodnadatta track. About 100 clicks up the track from Marree we came upon Coward Springs, where a our gazetteer mentioned there was an artesian spa. We stopped in and enjoyed a hot natural spa to ourselves and only moved on when some more weary travellers arrived. The Oodnadatta track is quite historic in that it runs parallel to the Old Ghan Rail Route as far as Oodnadatta and old rail buildings and bridges are still quite evident. Our plan was to only stay on the track as far as William Creek.