Interesting people I met

In spite of travelling on my own, it was really easy to meet people, especially in the camp ground. 

Some were pretty ordinary, but most were really interesting. 

One of the strangest were two couples I was sandwiched in between in a really packed caravan park in Alice Springs. 

I joined them for a late afternoon chat but was gob smacked when all they spoke about was how much money they had accumulated in their working life. It was like that Monty Python sketch about living in a hole in the ground. Each was trying to outdo the other.  I kept my mouth shut. 

By far the most interesting was in a roadhouse park where 2 fairly eccentric fellows about my age set up a tent next to me. When I say two, one did ALL the work, and the other just watched. 

The tent was the the most ridiculous tent ever. It looked like it was bought in Kmart in the children's toy section. It was shiny red and yellow and looked big enough for two eight year olds. 

How they fitted in I don't know. 

I got talking to them because neither of their mobile phones worked and showed SOS only. They were pressing buttons randomly, and trying to send texts with no result. They were obviously totally  bamboozled by technology.  

After I got talking to them, it turned out they were both professors of Earth and Paleo Climate Science at ANU university in Canberra, and one of them, the one who stood around had discovered the worlds largest meteor impact site in Australia. 

I looked him up on Google, and he is actually quite famous. 

For some reason we got on quite well, and he was busy explaining the theory of meteor impact sites. 

They were on their way to Wolf Creek, and then the Pilbara. 

In fact he invited me to visit him next time I visited Canberra. 

The other interesting couple I met while whale watching, was this fellow who while sitting around the campfire, pulled out a selection of home brew including beers, gin, and whiskey. He had been an industrial chemist during his working life, and now usd his knowledge to make all the experimental drinks. 

In spite of not going to plan, it's been a great trip, and now it's homeward bound

Whale Pictures

Here are some of the whale pictures. Where there are 2 black shapes visible, that is the calf and the mother. It was a really spiritual experience.

Whale watching

I have been slowly heading west, with the great benefit of much better weather. In fact it has been blue skies for the past couple of days. The early mornings are still icy, but it doesn't take long to warm up. Here is a pic of the icy car at dawn. 

My destination has been the Head of the Bight, which is a famous whale watching spot. I can't believe that two years ago when I headed out this way, I didn't stop. 

It's a much over used word, but awesome is the only way to describe the experience. 

The public walk onto a viewing platform which overlooks a large stretch of the ocean.  

As I arrived, there was a mother and calf swimming just below. 

The mother was swimming sedately along, and the calf was playing up like crazy with heaps of duck diving, tail slaps and generally acting like it had far too much energy. 

The really exciting experience was the periodic deep and incredibly loud resonant call from the mother. It sounded loud even over the 60-100 metres distance. 

Needless to say I was taking heaps of photos but they are on the Canon, with the telephoto lens and have to be transferred via the laptop. Hopefully I will do this in the next few days. 

There were quite a few more whales around, but none as close and entertaining as this pair. 

I was able to count about 12 whales

Tomorrow I plan to call in for another session. Apparently it is pure luck if you see them close up. 

This arvo I crossed the border and briefly drove into West Australia, which means I have ventured into four states this trip including Soth Australia, Northern Territory, West Australia, and Victoria of course. 

Great spot for camping

Heading South.....brrrrr

Heading South might seem the wrong direction, but I was keen on visiting Port Lincoln. 

There are some very pretty scenic little sea side resorts on the way south, but they were all deserted because of the freezing weather.  

I did a 40k detour to a museum which was supposed to have s good range of vintage agricultural machinery. 

The problem when I arrived, was that the proprietor was so pleased to see some one, he would let me go in but kept talking. I finally had to make an excuse so I could go and see the exhibits. 

One highlight was a vast collection of barbed wire. I had no idea so many people collected barbed wire. It seems there are thousands of different patterns. 

After that I heading on to Port Lincoln   A very nice sea side town, with a lovely national park with some very pretty and cold camp spots right on the sea where I am now set up. 

While visiting the obligatory museums, I called into the local train museum. 

There I saw the following letter admonishing a railway employee for loosing a consignment of chickens. I hope you can read my attempt to copy it

Iron Knob

How could I go past a town called Iron Knob without calling in. 

But retracing my steps, I left Wilpena Pound and headed off South to Quorn, hoping to catch a ride on the Pitchi Ritchie steam loco. 

Sadly I was too late, but I did hang around to take a photo of its return. 

Then onward through Port Augusta to Whyalla last night. 

This morning I went on the Steel Works tour. This took the form of a tour bus, and dissapointingly, we could only take photos out of the windows. 

The place is stark industrial, and I feel the photographer in me busting to get serious. 

Because of the drop in the world iron ore price, the place is in trouble. It used to be BHP, but has now got a new name. 

After that, the next main attraction was the ex naval boat "Whyalla", which is on blocks next to the visitor info centre. 

To complete my iron ore education, I have taken a detour to Iron Knob, which is where the ore is mined. Tomorrow I will join a small tour to see the open cut mine. 

Arkaroola to Wilpena Pound the wrong road choice

The weather forecast was awful for South Australia, (and Victoria), as I headed back South again. Definitely the wrong direction. 

Wilpena Pound is in the Southern section of the Flinders Ranges, and I had only travelled briefly in the area on the last trip. In fact the best way to see the missing roads was to take a short cut off the highway at the exit to Brachina Gorge. 

On the road south there was a spectacular rainbow which got better and better as I got further south. 

I took the turnoff, and after ten km or so the dirt road started to get muddier and muddier. Soon I was sliding around in 6" of mud, and thirty km to go. 

What I was to find out later at the camp site was that they had a huge bucketing of rain that morning and that had turned the roads into a quagmire.  

The most amazing site, however, was as I came sliding round a corner in four wheel drive, there was a Mazda 3 with a fellow out it with his camera. I stopped to see if he was ok. " Just taking some photos " in his best British accent. 

How he would have got back I don't know. 

Anyway I am on the road again. 

Arkaroola

I wasn't sure what to expect at Arkaroola, but it has turned out to be sensational. 

The setting is amazing hills with a very nice and very isolated campground. 

On the internet I had read about the famous ridge tour, and I forked over what I though was quite a lot of money for a 4wd drive through the hills. 

It was worth every penny. The track is extreme, and the views are unbelievable. Through a stroke of good luck, I ended up getting the passenger seat in the front of the ute. All the others were squashed sitting sideways in the back of the ute. 

I don't know if the pics show how good it was, but I rate it close to the best off road experiences ever 

The pic above shows our final destination  for the ultimate spectacular view 

In the evening they offer a session in their astronomical observatory. So I signed up for it. For such a remote place, they have some interesting things to do. 

I also bought a biography of the founder of Arkaroola. His name somehow reminded me of the Goons. Reginald Spriggs. He was one of Australia's most important geologists. 

Plan B

I have been in sat phone contact with the rest of the group, and they have done a bush mechanics job on the broken spring with tie wire, shackles, and ropes, and amazingly they are still on the move. 

The new plan, now is for me to spend some time in the Flinders Ranges, which is where I am now, and I'll rejoin them on the last leg of the trip for the visit to Maralinga. The access to Maralinga is from the Nullabor, so I still have some driving ahead of me. 

Disappointing news

Yesterday I was in Alice Springs on a hunt for a replacement battery tray. 

That turned out more difficult than I would have thought. I went to three 4wd outlets, and a 4wd wrecker, but no luck. 

Finally after a few recommendations found one that should do the job.

My plan was to join the others at the top of the Connie Sue road and do the last half of the trip with the group. 

Murphy's law is alive and well though and from my call to their sat phone this morning, it appears one of the utes has broken a rear spring. They are in the middle of nowhere, and it's not looking good. 

Since then I have been unable to make contact, so it looks like I may be coming home earlier than planned

EMU (the atomic bomb site) and Hilux problems with an Aldi solution

After leaving Coober Pedy the convoy headed off onto the eastern beginning of the Anne Beadell Highway which is the biggest misnomer ever. 

From the beginning to Emu was nearly 400 km of pounding road corrugations. The travel speed should have been 25 k, but we travelling a fair bit faster than that. 

After a lunch stop on the first day I noticed the main battery mount in the engine bay had broken, and the battery had moved. 

There was some combined group head scratching, and a temporary repair was made.

Sadly it didn't last, and that night a more concerted attempt was made. 

Next day after arriving at Emu, after more corrugated roads, the battery gave way, and I temporarily lost power. 

That night we tackled the problem seriously. One camper from a vehicle not in our group got under the Hilux and attached half a ratchet strap. That was the belt. The braces were reinforcing the two spot welds which were slowly pulling away from the engine bay chassis. This was actually most likely the cause of the problem. 

Finally, we cut up some scrap steel with Barry's cordless grinder and used it to reinforce the holding strap as it had bent with the battery bouncing around. 

The piece de resistance was the notched Aldi bread board which we cut up to form a top to help prevent the battery moving. 

I decided to head back to civilisation as I really didn't have total confidence in the repair.  This meant back tracking to Coober Pedy and heading north on the bitchumin to Alice Springs to see if I can find a new battery mount. At the moment I am at Marla, half way to Alice. My options are to meet up with the others at Giles weather station, or spend some time at Uluru if the repair fails. There are no problems on the bitchumin of course. 

Incidentally we took a Geiger counter to the bomb site, and the readings were really high. 

There is evidence of twisted metal from the bomb blast.