So with several camping trips foiled, we finally got away for a 3 day break 2 weeks ago, despite forecasts for major thunderstorms across the State, we decided it was finally time to put up the family tent ...
I had looked at the weather maps more than the geographical maps, and our sole attempt was to get away from the worst of the weather. So we headed North West to our first stop in Ararat, probably the largest country town we travelled through all weekend, even calling itself a city - we managed to find a great little National Park just on the outskirts to do a bit of 'softroading' - Why 'softroading' you ask? Well they were pretty good trails, that didn't need any major clearance so I can accept that this isn't 'real' offroading/4WDing/4x4ing (pick your own name preference). It was a fun diversion, with some great views of approaching rain clouds, and enough to make Noëlle close her eyes when we couldn't see over the top of steep ridges, and make strange noises and occasional requests for me to slow down ;p
We finally made it out of the state, setting up camp for our first night in a place called Keith (we were informed later that we were probably better off camping in Keith than trusting ourselves to local accommodation).Balin loved the new space to explore, and was very excited by his very own camp chair.
One of the things I love about road trips are the strange things you find along the way, and attempts by small rural towns to get passing traffic to stop for something. There were a fair few of these 'attractions' along the way - This 'Landrover on a Pole' was one such thing that was clearly signposted from the main road, and an attempt to educate those who stopped as to the agricultural efforts in what was once largely desert.
Noëlle also found herself a friend along the way
We managed to escape much of the overnight rain as hoped, but didn't quite miss it all as we packed up the tent, so that went away wet. So, what to do on a wet Saturday? Keep heading North West away from the rain and towards an afternoon at the Adelaide Temple. We were lucky enough to find a kindly couple to watch Balin so we could go in together, as this was the first time either of us had been to the Adelaide Temple. Also thanks to a very friendly and kind Temple President, our early evening was sorted with his family for a casual pizza meal before we headed first into the city and then to the beautiful raw beaches of Adelaide's coastal suburbs.
Noëlle & I haven't been to Adelaide for almost 6 years, and even then it was only for a couple of days on our way to the NT. Our lack of local knowledge, and the unplanned nature of our trip found us driving through the centre of the city and right into a 'Pride' march. Maybe it was best that we didn't take any photos of those interesting sites!Our 2nd night was spent in Coonawarra - stopping at these tree carvings in the middle of nowhere, plus slow internet, meant we arrived at the small church building in Mt Gambier just as they were playing in the sacrament hymn, with no time to change, and no seats at the back, we ended up in our camping gear walking right past everyone to the front, I think they were glad of the visitors anyway.
After lunch we were soon back on the road, via a couple of coastal towns before heading back inland.Some people may think that as this is only the 3rd time we have been out of state since moving to Australia that travelling has become much less significant in our lives. Well to put it in perspective, with detours, this trip was a 2000km/1250mile + trip in 3 days, and barely got us into the neighbouring state, even though we live in the smallest mainland state.
If you look at the map above, below, left and right, you'll get more of an idea of how little of Australia our round trip covered. For those of you with limited Aus
tralian knowledge, it is a country that is about the same size as the US, and bigger than Europe, but with a population of 22 million with 85% of it's 
population living in about 6 coastal urban cities and their suburbs, almost half of that urban population lives in Melbourne or Sydney. It takes a long time to get places without much in between. It is a very different travelling experience to any other country I have been too. We are excited to still have so much more to explore and hopefully many more years to do that exploring ...Oh, and in the last 21 months Noëlle & I have driven or riden more than 60,000km/37,300miles
1 comments:
Wow. So different from the U.S. to have such an unpopulated interior.
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