After the luxury of a 06:00 lie-in, we breakfasted in Coober Pedy and set off South. At this point we weren't really sure where we were going, as the bush fires in the surrounding area of Adelaide were threatening our plans. The aim of the day was to get to Flinders Range, where we would camp under the gun trees.
Some time beyond Coober Pedy we paused to take some photos of the road (yes, the road!) and whilst we were standing there, a large vehicle came past, creating quite a side-draft. On the Stuart Highway, we've seen many large vehicles called 'Road Trains', which are basically huge lorries with three or four trailers on the back, as opposed to the usual single trailers common in the UK. The next stop for us was at 'Lake Hart'. This turned out to currently be a very fly-infected salt lake. Huge, flat and eye-wateringly white, this certainly was a sight to behold.
Back on the the road, we were lucky enough to see some Emus crossing - they're pretty tall! I think they should work on their 'Stop, Look and Listen' skills though. We worked on our 'Stop' skills by breaking for lunch, which consisted of Kangaroo meat in wraps. These were nice but made me think about Lelani a little, which was weird.
After lunch I was thankful to be back in the bus, away from the horrid flies, who also appear to like Kangaroo. Unfortuantely, it takes just one fly to be an annoyance, as I discovered when one flew right up my nose. I happened to simultaneously sniff then choke, cough and deliver the fly into my hand. Wholly unpleasant to think that fly did the full circle through my airway!
Glad to have survived the fly incident (much to Peter's amusement - he's still giggling about it now - humph) I concentrated on staying awake and taking in the scenery. Although still quite flat and desert-like, the weather was setting up some interesting effects. In one direction some very black clouds and heavy rain loomed. These were preceded by a 'whirly-whirly', or 'dust funnel', which looked like a red column on the black cloud, and was basically a mini dust cyclone. We missed the whirly-whirly but did drive through a short patch of heavy rain and wind, which certainly made a change.
When we reached our campsite at the base of Flinders Ranges, it wasn't raining. However, storms were forecast so we were put up in what seemed like luxurious dorm cabins. This meant we needed to empty our belongings out of our rolled up swags in order to pack them up tomorrow. Admin done, we settled down to an evening of food, cider and chatting in the kitchen - a lovely corragated iron spot. We were also joined by the resident dog, Stone.
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