Morning shot at Marla

We headed off from Marla looking forward to the opportunity to pop into one of our more regular stops in Coober Pedy, Beaurepaire.  Seems that overnight, as the tyre cooled, most of the air had escaped around the small screw Will and Gary had spotted in our tyre prior to leaving Alice.  “Not to worry,” said Will, “We’ll pump her up and see how far we get. I can put the spare on anytime we need.”  So off we went, both with high tuned hearing waiting for a sign of things having gone wrong.  We stopped and pulled off quickly after hearing a ‘pop’ from the back of the car.  No, nothing!  Tyre still inflated and nothing else amiss.  We had heard a similar noise another day as dried mud hit the road surface so we hoped that was all it was and continued on our way.  Thankfully we’d left Marla early so we made it to Beaurepaire by 11am.  It tickled Will’s fancy that the owner of the business remembered our vehicle from twelve months ago, when he had told us the tyres were nearly stuffed and wouldn’t get us far.  He was pleased to see he’d been wrong!

Wedge Tail Eagle

After a satisfying lunch at the road house, one of the best souvlakis I’ve ever had, we headed off to see how far we would get and that’s when we began our new game.  “Look, a lizard” said Will.  And off we went lizard spotting.  Last year we didn’t see one on any road, yesterday we were averaging one ever 5kms for about 80kms.  Will pointed out how dark under their chin they are and we talked about how much they look like the orange stones along the road, when I got over excited, claiming to have spotted one – “Oops, I corrected, “that’s an old boot!” 

A lizard playing chicken!

Of course we were also spotting road trains, and when on occasion I’d snap a photo and realize it was just a B-double I’d quickly demonstrate my new found understanding and state, “Just a B-double, I’ll get rid of that photo!”  Will’s not working with an amateur this year (well, only some of the time).

We were aiming to stay the night at Glendambo when Will got a second win.  So a top up of fuel and an ice-cream later we were back on the road and headed to Woomera.  I’d been told of a nice country camping spot nearby but as one of us is still learning about bush camping we chose to stay at the caravan park in town. 

 

When I asked for information about the places to see the receptionist looked at me, pointed to the map and said those two places are it!  I’d have never guessed she was a local who has chosen to live her entire life here.  Regardless, Will and I wandered off on the ten minute walk to see the outside display of weapons and rockets that have been launched from here.  The walk around town reminded us of Oodnadatta in the feeling of desolation that went with the place, however, that was very much where the comparison stopped.  Woomera is clean, well presented and has had money spent on it! There is an outdoor pool, theatre, paved footpaths, swept roads, new cars and not a junky yard in sight.  There are plenty of large two story dormitory style accommodation blocks empty and becoming derelict but there isn’t graffiti or vandalism to speak of.  We wondered about the town’s history and recent use so made our way to the bar at the caravan park to see if there was a local to chat with.  The bar manager was more than happy to chat with us, as long as we waited for the ads and half time of the NRL match he was watching!  He was a very funny man and eventually began to explain more and more about the town.  Its population has dropped from 7000 to 120 give or take a few.  The school has ten students enrolled and the town is now a RAAF town, as of January this year.  There are four private business in town, of which the caravan park is one.  The other businesses all service the community. You can’t buy a home unless you are a company who needs it for a worker who services the town and if the home has occupancy less than 30 hours a week you have to up the living hours or move out.  This creates some business for the caravan park as for example the worker who drives the street sweeper machine for certain months to keep the runway at the airstrip clean stays on sight as his company can’t meet the living requirements so can’t purchase a house.

After a few drinks at very reasonable prices, (they haven’t put their prices up since they opened nine years ago) we headed back for a dinner of curried sausages and a quiet night.  And Will needed to make a call about his prized new truck.  He rang David to let him know that the purchase had gone through and that at some stage he would need it carted home, and also to ask about the K4 door David mentioned he might have.  Before we knew it a genuine and keen invitation to come and stay the night (or three or four, whatever you want!) had been issued.  Neither of us could refuse so our plans to go to Spear Creek and travel a similar way through the Flinders Rangers have been swapped for a night at Port Pirie and an adventure into unfamiliar places.  Let’s wait and see what happens!