Travelling in a motorhome called “Blue Snoopy”

We were up with the alarm at 6.30am (est) and on the road by 8.00am (est).

We departed Broken Hill driving into a very bright and low sun.  Cruise control was set to 100 kilometres per hour as we headed towards our next destination, Cobar.

The drive was uneventful and was highlighted by the sighting of over 100 wild goats during our trip.  We actually had to slow down several times to make sure that the goats had cleared the road.  Today we also noted a higher than usual number of road kill.

The area between Broken Hill and Cobar appears to be very wet within numerous areas of water located near the road.  We both commented that with the exception of Northern Queensland, the majority of the areas we have passed through do not appear to be suffering from extreme drought.  The area between Broken Hill and Cobar is very green.

We arrived at the Cobar Caravan Park at 1.30pm and decided to check-in and then have a quiet afternoon.

Tea consisted of pepper steaks with a mushroom sauce.

Shortly after we finished tea, we received a telephone call from Sydney that we had been dreading.  A close friend lost his fight for life today.  Tonight our thoughts and prayers go out to the family during this very sad time.

Last night provided both of us with the best sleep we have had since leaving home.  The alarm was set for 7.00am and we drove out of the caravan park at 8.45am.  First stop was to a local caravan accessory outlet where we purchased a replacement bracket that holds the main door open ($2.50) and a supply of sealant to be used on the windows to reduce the chance of future leaks.

We returned the key for the sculptures to the information centre, spent some money on gifts and then headed to the lookout on the “Line of Lode”.  The wind was bitterly cold so we decided to head to Silverton.  When we visited Broken Hill 12 months ago, we had a grand total of about 30 minutes in Silverton before the sun set.  The road to Silverton displayed evidence of recent flooding and we drove through Silverton to our first stop at the Mundi Mundi lookout where you are able to see the curvature of the earth.  The view from this lookout cannot be described as the landscape looking to the north is absolutely flat and yes, the curvature of the earth is clearly visible.  We then travelled to the Umberumberka Reservoir which is a body of water held back by a dam built almost 100 years ago.  This is the source of water supply for Broken Hill.

We returned to Silverton and visited several of the local relics and galleries before having lunch in the local café.  This was followed by a visit to the local museum which must have, in our opinion, the best collection of memorabilia in Australia.  As an example, the museum contains the original documentation for the incorporation of QANTAS plus the first ticket that QANTAS issues.  We cannot understand why this is not in the QANTAS Founders Museum.  Entry to this museum was $3.00 and it has to be the best value for money ever.

Final visit for the day was to White’s Museum that contains an excellent display of mining information and an extraordinary display of dolls.

We decided to have fish and chips for tea and this turned out to be one of the best take-away meals we have ever purchased. 

We will set our clocks forward tonight (to NSW time zone) as we commence the final stage of our journey home tomorrow.

We were up at 6.00am and ready to depart at 7.45am.  We said our goodbyes and left Rawnsley Park at 8.00am.  During the next half an hour, we stopped on several occasions to take photographs of the Flinders Ranges.  We also had to slow for a kangaroo jumping on the road in front of us and we both commented that during this half hour period, we saw more “live” wildlife than we have seen during this trip and our previous trip to the centre.

We stopped for a break in Peterborough and then drove straight through to Broken Hill.  Just before crossing the border into NSW, “He” had to break the motorhome due to several emu walking on the highway.

After checking into the caravan park, we visited the local mint where “She” made several purchases of silver chains.  It was during this visit we spoke to a lady behind the counter who informed us they had not heard from friends who were travelling to the Flinders Ranges via the back roads.  We were all surprised to find out that the friends were the couple we met at Rawnsley Park and we were able to confirm their well being.  It is truly a small world.

We then went to the local visitor’s centre where we collected the key for the entry gate to the desert sculptures.  The sculptures reside at the top of a hill about 11 kilometres from Broken Hill.  One of the optimum times to visit is at sunset and we gave ourselves 40 minutes to drive there and navigated through 2 locked gates.  We arrived well before sunset and then enjoyed both viewing and photographing the sculptures as the sun set.

We returned to Broken Hill and had a pizza in a restaurant before finally setting ourselves up in the caravan park at 7.15pm.

Tomorrow we will visit Silverton.

The alarm went off at 7.00am and a quick look outside the door revealed a dry day with high cloud cover.  We had a quick breakfast and then a trip to the office confirmed that we would be flying after all (this was subject to the aircraft landing safely after the first flight of the day which was taking place at that time – assuring?).

We collected our new friends and we all drove to the airstrip in Blue Snoopy. 

30 minutes later we were in the air and for the next 45 minutes, we experienced one of the most scenic flights we have ever experienced.  The presence of a fair amount of cloud and haze did not spoil the flight in any way.

After the flight we spent the remainder of the day looking at the pictures we had taken and sharing travel experiences with our new friends.  “He” DID burn tea again and it was only just edible.

We set up the satellite dish and the TV in the camp kitchen and several of us watched the rugby league. 

The alarm went off at 7.00am and a quick look out the window revealed low cloud over Wilpena Pound.  There would be no flying today.

We decided to drive to the Wilpena Pound Resort (there is an airstrip there and hopefully in better condition than Rawnsley Park).  We stopped at the visitor’s centre and enquired about flying (not on!!) so reluctantly we purchased a DVD on the Flinders and a couple of postcards (can always scan the pictures and add the scans to the trip pictures!)   We visited a lookout (Solar Hill)  and then had a look at the original Wilpena Pound homestead.  Another trip back to the visitor’s centre confirmed that there would definitely be no flying so we headed back to the caravan park.

We made tentative arrangements to have a flight on Wednesday (tomorrow) but this would be subject to the weather conditions and the state of the airstrip. One has to be optimistic!

We were invited to “happy hour” by one of our neighbours and we enjoyed a couple of hours there in front of a nice fire.  Prior to “happy hour” we climbed to the top of a hill behind the camping ground and we managed to make a couple of telephone calls back to Sydney. The view was outstanding.

Once again, we would be having a late tea and today we had fresh food that would take an hour to cook.  “He” headed into the camp kitchen and with help from another guest, managed to get tea underway.  Five minutes later, “He” had to take a comfort stop and returned to find the evening meal burnt on one side.  Not to worry, the other side was not burnt and with luck, “She” would not notice.

One hour later we shared what must be one of the best meals we have had since being away.  The meal ended up being cooked to perfection.  We had also met another couple from Sydney and we stayed in the camp kitchen talking until late in the evening.  Robyn and Charles had also booked a flight tomorrow and it was the same flight as ours.

We awoke to a dull overcast day but fortunately it was dry.  As a result of driving through to Port Augusta we were about 3 hours in front of plan.  We refuelled the motorhome and then headed into Port Augusta and restocked our supplies at Coles.

Port Augusta to our overnight stop was a two hour drive and prior to arriving at Quorn, “She” spotted smoke on the horizon which turned out to be a steam train (Pichi Richi Railway).  We turned the motorhome around and headed back down the road to photograph the steam train as it passed through a rail crossing.  After another trip back down the road, further photographs were taken.  At this point we met another motorhome owner who passed comment about the repair done to one of the windows.  His motorhome had the same windows and he believes from his experience that this type of window can leak if the securing screws become loose.  Problem can be solved by using a sealer in addition to tightening the window screws.

We experienced a fair amount of rain during the trip from Port Augusta to Rawnsley Park Station.  When we arrived at the turnoff to Rawnsley Park, we were greeted with a very wet and rough gravel road into the caravan park.  Ten minutes later we were at the office of the caravan park and “Blue Snoopy” was now “Brown Snoopy” with virtually every panel covered in mud.

Whilst the rain had stopped, it was early in the afternoon and we decided to spend the afternoon relaxing with a game and a couple of drinks.  There was no mobile phone coverage, and to the best of our knowledge, no television or internet and to make matters worse, the weather was setting in, our intention to fly over Wilpena Pound was grounded due to the weather and also the minor fact that the airstrip here was dirt and was exceptionally wet. 

The time was also taken to tighten all the window screws so the afternoon would not be lost entirely.  At this time, Due to the weather conditions and the likely impact on our plans for our stay in the Flinders Ranges, “He” considered leaving and moving on to where there would be more activities available.

We had a late dinner after meeting some other campers in the camp kitchen and we also decided to attempt to use the satellite dish to watch “Sea Patrol”.  For reasons that we still cannot explain, “He” managed to locate the Optus satellite first go and we had a picture 10 seconds after turning on the receiver

As anticipated, the rain arrived. We had light rain overnight and this settled the dust in Coober Pedy. The plan for today was to head south and at Pimba (near Woomera), turn left and travel an additional 88 kilometres and overnight at Roxby Downs.

After posting the blog yesterday, we found that we had blown two light globes, one over the bed, the other was the exterior light. We had a spare for the internal light but not for the other.

The alarm went off at 6.00am and we vacated the caravan park at 7.30am. First stop was to obtain and install a replacement external globe and after this was completed, we were heading south by 7.45am in light to medium rain.

We stopped for a break and morning tea two hours later and it was at this point that “He” discovered that some water had entered through a window. After some hasty repairs, we were on our way again. The water issue actually turned out to be a non-event and it forced “Him” into doing some future proofing under the guidance and knowledge of AMH to ensure that the warranty was protected .

The weather deteriorated as we headed south with visibility reducing all the time. There was a lot of traffic heading north and we made a decision not to detour to Roxby Downs but to continue on to Port Augusta. In addition to reducing our entire trip by 160 kilometres, we would have a three hour start on our trip tomorrow into the Flinders Ranges. We cancelled our booking at Roxby Downs (apparently our booking had not been recorded anyway) and rang and booked Big 4, Port Augusta.

We arrived in Port Augusta at 4.15pm after travelling 540 kilometres in very ordinary weather. We saw nothing of the countryside and on occasions could not determine if we were looking at low cloud or a lake. This weather is unusual for this time of year and we are aware that it is raining from “Three Ways” to Adelaide with the cloud bank covering the majority of the Northern Territory and South Australia. We also understand that the rain will be here for another 24 hours. The satellite picture we saw this morning also has another cloud band about 3 days away.

We had microwave meals for tea and then played Blokus and watched Grey’s Anatomy before heading to bed.

The alarm was set for 7.00am as a day of rest and relaxation was planned.  We awoke to overcast skies with rain threatening, 

After breakfast, we packed up the motorhome and headed off to visit the local sites.  First stop was the noodling area where we secured an amount of discarded mine material to bring home so our son and grandson can experience the thrill of searching for opal.  The motorhome was then refuelled (still far from happy with the fuel consumption) and we then paid a visit to “Fay’s” home to catch up with the owners who we met last year. 

We then drove around Coober Pedy looking at a lot of the local attractions (you can count them on one hand).  This included the golf course and some deserted mines where we stopped for photographs.  We stopped at the local airport before heading back into Coober Pedy for coffee and a snack, visits to a couple of shops and a refill of one of the gas bottles.

We had intended to “eat out” for our evening meal but decided to make lunch the main meal due to the weather and the fact that we would have been walking to the restaurant in the evening.  After lunch we headed back to the caravan park for a quiet afternoon.

We will have a light meal tonight and probably head to bed early as we have a long drive tomorrow.  Whilst it is not raining, the sky is becoming very threatening and serious rain is not far away.