Well, the day finally arrived and we headed off on our BIG TRIP yesterday. It's quite strange how, when we first set the date of 1 May 2011 it seemed a long way away but then it seemed to arrive very suddenly and we had this mad flurry of activity to be ready!
After a few prolonged farewells (and a few tears on my part) we headed off about 11.45am yesterday. We met my brother and his wife at Port Wakefield and had lunch then parted company and we headed off. At that stage it still didn't seem quite real and in some ways it still hasn't sunk in that we are off and away for about 6 months! (I am feeling a bit homesick and missing everyone but I am sure that will get better).
We camped last night at Mambray Creek rest area. As always it is quite a nice setting but the traffic (and train) noise is a bit of a nuisance.
We both slept reasonably well and in the process of packing up this morning to head off Royce had a whopping waterfall of a blood nose! It finally settled and we toodled into Port Augusta, did a bit of shopping then headed off again.
We have had Miss B-Haven and UHF call number put on the back of the van and have had it used once yesterday (by someone who overtook us and just wanted to chat) and twice today. The first time was when Royce pulled over to let a Linfox truck past and he called us up to thank us. The second time was a couple travelling behind us (also towing a van) who asked whether the road was clear ahead for them to overtake. We chatted with them for a while and they mentioned they are also going to Darwin but were going to detour to Andamooka.
Royce and I thought about it and decided "why not" so at Pimba we turned off and headed towards Andamooka. We were going to camp at the Roxby Downs Rest Area but it was a bit of a muddy site so decided to go on to Andamooka. What a mistake!! The area where we can camp is at the Campground. Sounds OK doesn't it? Unfortunately the Campground is just a large, very muddy, area and we nearly got bogged getting in. We hope we can get out when it comes time to leave but at the moment we have decided to stay 2 nights and have a bit of a rest day tomorrow.
It has been raining quite a bit since about an hour out of Port Augusta and it has clearly been pretty wet here at Andamooka. I decided to drive for a while today and as luck would have it that is when we had the heaviest rain! I hate driving in heavy rain at the best of times but since there was nowhere to pull over I had to just keep going. Visibility was pretty poor for a lot of the time but luckily there was very little traffic.
I haven't taken any photos yet to post and doubt I will be taking any here in Andamooka. It is a bit of a 'hole' (from what we have seen) and as muddy as the place is I am not sure we will be able to get out and about and explore - even if we wanted to.
We have put the awning up and set up chairs and tables (it isn't too cold - just a bit on the cool side) and then Royce copped his second blood nose for the day (AND NO - I HAVEN'T HIT HIM YET).
As I said we will probably sit around and do little or nothing tomorrow then expect to head off Wednesday and maybe explore Roxby Downs for a while then move on to our next camp site. We may choose to go straight through to Coober Pedy or we may camp somewhere else for a day or two - only time will tell (and assuming we aren't stuck here for longer than expected)!
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