Catninga Station Stay to Port Broughton Bayside Park

Day84 (Oct 8) Catninga Station Stay to Hill View Camp Mt Torrens.

A very windy night, I'm lucky because I don't really hear it once I take my cochlear out but it keeps Carol awake a bit. We decided to pack up and have breakfast on the road somewhere out of the wind. On the road about 8, and headed over the hills. It is like another world on the other side! Green fields and lots of small towns every 20km or so. Stopped at Wilmington to top up the water and had breakfast in a very nice park. Enjoyed the towns that we went through, stopping for lunch at Rhynie at a very nice picnic spot beside the road that's also a 24 hr stop over point. While we were getting lunch ready a couple turned up and gave the place a good clean, including the BBQ which looked pretty spotless to us.

Got to the camp spot about 3. The host text and said he'd see us about 5 so we set up tucked in against the hill to get some shelter from what was quite a stiff wind. Nice view over the farms, so nice to see green grass after a couple of months of scrub and salt bush. 

Host came and introduced himself after he finished milking. They only milk 120, wouldn't think it would be profitable but he said they sell their milk to a local dairy company who sells it to local coffee shops. Apparently it froths good! Leftover rissoles for dinner. Lit a fire after dinner but it started to rain so we had to retire to inside the camper to finish our wine before bed. 339Km travelled.

Day85 (Oct 9) Hill View Camp Mt Torrens to Hahndorf & return.

Cloudy and raining this morning. A quick breakfast then in the car and head for Hahndorf. Not a lot of parking in town but we eventually found a spot and had a coffee in a nice warm coffee shop.  

Then it was a wander around the town looking at the historical buildings, including the tree where in 1875 nothing happened!

Had to move the car after 2 hrs so went for a drive out to the Beerenberg berry farm. Lots of sauces but nothing to exciting. Came back into town and got a park at the German Hotel car park and had lunch there. I had a mixed grill and Carol had a hot dog, which was enormous. She had to ask for a container to take half of it with us. 

Back to the camper and still quite miserable weather wise. Had a thick fog roll in, managed to get the fire going and had chicken toasties for dinner. 

In bed by 7:30 to keep warm. 63Km Travelled.

Day86 (Oct 10) Hill View Camp Mt Torrens to Mt Barker, Victor Harbour, Strathalbyn & return.

Up early and on the road by 7 to get the camper to Mt Barker to get the shock fixed and also to get a service done on it. Dropped it off then headed for Lonsdale to get a new flap for the Stone Stomper. Got a call from Mike the Pioneer agent saying the bearing covers had a pin hole in them, so told him to change them. We drove around a couple of the beaches close by then decided to go down to Victor Harbour. Got a call on the way there from Mike again, the bushes that were flogged out on the shock, had caused the holes in bracket to elongate, so a new bracket would have to be made and welded on. Gave him the go ahead, we haven't got anywhere else to sleep! We'll have to pay for it and try and get the warranty sorted with Pioneer later.

Had a good walk around Victor Harbour and lunch as well. Got some info about going over to Kangaroo Island which we may do after the Eyre peninsula. 

Got back to Mt Barker and fuelled up, also stopped at a meat shop and bought some steak and lamb chops for the freezer. When we got back to pick up the camper, they weren't ready for us, the bearings had been late arriving which had held up the welding as well. We retired to the Prancing Pony Brewery to sample there wares, award winning apparently. Went back and picked up the camper, bill was a bit more than we thought, then back to the camp spot for a late dinner. 

Lit the fire and used up the last of our wood. Left over Mongolian goat and cold chicken for dinner. 313.7km travelled.

Day87 (Oct 11) Hill View Camp Mt Torrens to Port Pirie.

Much nicer morning at last. Packed up and met Roger the host at the gate as we were leaving. Great spot for a couple of nights, pity the weather wasn't kind. Stopped for lunch at Snowtown after a detour through the town of Owen! 

Set up at the caravan park by 3:30, nice big site. There's a country music festival on in town, so pleased we booked although it's not full. Called Mike about the BMS, the batteries don't seem to be charging at all. He said it could take a while because the batteries had been disconnected. Not convinced but I'll check it again tomorrow. Leftover meatballs for dinner. 380Km travelled.

Day88 (Oct 12) Port Pirie.

Car was booked in at the local Mitsubishi dealer for a service at 8:30 this morning so dropped it in after breakfast after putting all the stuff from the back seat into the camper. Took the freezer out as well and plugged it into the camper outlet. Not far from the caravan park so a pleasant walk back. Spent the morning around the camp, rang a couple of places about replacement bushes for the other shock on the camper but they need the number of the shock to get the right ones. Rang Jim at Pioneer in Perth and he said he could post some to me so got him to send them to Streaky Bay post office. Picked the car up about lunchtime, they'd found one of the back tires had a split in it on the inside so swapped it out for the spare. Had a look when I got back to camp and it was split all the way round about 20mm or so from the rim. Lucky we didn't have a blowout I think! Had a bit of a ring around town getting some prices for new tires but in the end decided to put the case that we bought for $30 before we left and had on the roof, onto the rim. We won't be travelling remotely in the foreseeable future so don't really need it as a spare, spare.

Carol went to do some shopping after lunch and I stayed at camp so we didn't have to lock everything up. Noticed the freezer was at -5 and not running which was odd and it tried to start but switched off immediately. Grabbed the multi meter and checked the voltage, down to 11.5 so unplugged the freezer. Had 0v at the cable from the solar panels and found the 15amp fuse in the merit plug was blown. Rang Carol and she managed to get some spares while she was out. It seems my concerns about the BMS were right and it's definitely not charging.

Went up to the local Tyrepower and got the tire changed over. Had a chat to the owner about a possible cause and he said it looked to him like it had been cut by something. He said it definitely wasn't caused by pressures being too low which was a bit of a relief to hear. I had visions of having the rest do the same thing. Went to the office when I got back and booked a powered site to see if being on 240v would help the battery situation, so it was a repack of the car and a quick move of about 30mtrs or so. Leftover Moroccan goat for dinner. 36.1km travelled.

Day89 (Oct 13) Port Pirie to Port Broughton Bayside Park.

Checked the voltage this morning and it's still at 11.5v after a night of being connected to 240v so there is definitely something wrong. Rang Mike in Adelaide but no reply so after we packed up we stopped in town and I rang Jim in Perth. He talked me through how to do a reset on the unit so I'll try that once we are set up. We intended to head north a bit to Port Germein but there was no reply to our call. A quick check on Wiki Camps showed there were a couple of parks further south at Port Broughton so we made a call to the Bayside Park and the caretaker said someone would meet us there in about 45 minutes and show us where the sites were.

When we got there it was mainly permanent caravans, with shade structures of various materials, shapes and sizes over them. A guy called Baz met us and showed us where to set up, there were 4 sites by the look of it so we chose one of the powered sites and set up close to one of the caravans to give us a little bit of shelter from the northerly wind. 

Baz pointed out the amenities and the kitchen and said there would be happy hour at the kitchen at 5 and we were most welcome to attend. After we set up I did the reset on the BMS and it came up with a fault message which said “AC Supply over temperature”. Checked it a couple of hours later and still no change to the voltage reading so repeated the exercise. Had the same fault message and the manual says the unit will stop charging until the fault is cleared. The “Action” for the fault according to the manual is to “contact supplier”. I'll check the voltage again in the morning and if there's no change, we'll have to go back to Port Pirie and buy a battery charger or else we will be out of power. I'll also have to ring Pioneer in Perth again and see about getting the unit replaced. At least with the powered site we can run the fridge, which is our main load, on 240v. Have to say it is getting quite frustrating having to deal with these issues all the time. Especially seeing as how we just had the camper in for a service and to get the shock replaced.

Carol got the clippers out and gave me a badly needed hair cut. While this was happening, a lady from one of the permanent caravans came and asked if we liked fish and gave us 2 large freshly caught salmon fillets. Wow, nice dinner coming up!

Took our beers down to the kitchen area just after 5. Spent a very nice couple of hours chatting to a few of the residents. A bit of a late dinner of fresh fish which was delicious, especially with the fresh lemon that another of the residents gave us! 60Km travelled.

Day90 (Oct 14) Port Broughton Bayside Park to Port Pirie & return.

Rain in the night …............. apparently. I got up early and checked the voltage again, no change so it looks like a trip to Port Pirie after breakfast. Had a read of the paper while Carol had a bit of a sleep in, then it was back to Repco at Port Pirie to see what they had in the way of chargers. I do remember looking at the 240v charger when we were packing up back in Rockingham but decided against bringing it, I had complete faith in the Redarc BMS30. Oh well, can't win 'em all! They had a Ctek 15amp charger on special at $299, but as much as I would like to have one, I couldn't justify the cost so I settled on a Repco 16amp one for $139. Fuelled up as well while we were in town. Plan A was we were going to head to the Eyre Peninsula after getting the car serviced in Port Pirie, or was that Plan B? Anyway, it now looked like Plan C was in place which was heading back to Adelaide to see if we could get the BMS sorted. Just as well we're flexible. The only problem is we'll have to get the shock absorber bushes sent on from Streaky Bay, but can't see that being a major issue. Had a really heavy downpour while we were at Repco, hopefully it was going around Port Broughton. Got back to camp and hooked the charger up. It could take a while to get them back to full charge seeing as how they are down to 11.5v.

Had lunch and then decided to go for a walk into town. It was pretty blowy and looked like rain but we decided to risk it. Walked out onto the wharf and the wind was really blowing strongly, I even held on to my cochlear in case it blew off. Had an ice cream then walked back to camp along the beach track. 

Carol went for a shower and one of the residents stopped by and said there was rain about an hour away and pack anything away that we didn't want to get wet. We were going to pack up the awning anyway so got it down and packed away the kitchen. The problem of dinner was solved when he told us that the pub had delicious pizzas ! It was time to adjourn to the camp kitchen by now and while we were there the storm hit pretty hard with strong wind gusts and a heavy down pour. It came straight off the water so we were facing in to it which wasn't so bad for the camper. The couple beside us in a forward fold had set up facing the water so they didn't fare quite so well and at one stage pulled the camper down and hung on to it inside. There wasn't too much rain n it but the wind was pretty bad and we ate the pizza inside the camper. It was huge so should do us for a couple of lunches as well. 118Km travelled.

Yulara to Catninga Station Stay SA

Day77 (Oct 1) Yulara to Marla SA.

A lazy start to the day, we filled up the water tank before leaving. Not sure how much we had lost with the broken tap so it's good to get it filled. On the road by 9:30. Put 10lt of diesel in at Erldunda , still a madhouse, then fuelled up 75km south at Kulgera roadhouse where it was 8 cents a lt cheaper.

Stopped at the NT/SA border for lunch and had to eat all the fruit and veggies because you can't take them n to SA. We planned to stop here for the night but it was only 1:30 so we kept driving. 

We checked out a few roadside stops further south but none was particularly inviting so we drove on to Marla. The camping ground is behind the roadhouse and has quite good facilities. The non powered area is grass but you can't put your vehicles on it. Set up so that the kitchen was over the grass, it was quite full by nightfall. 

Saw a group that we'd seen at Home Valley, they're 4 older guys travelling in a couple of 4wds and campers from NSW and they were heading back home via the Oodnadatta Track after an eight week trip. Leftover chow mien for dinner. 

521.8km travelled.

Day78 (Oct 2) Marla SA to Coober Pedy.

Not far to go today so a cooked breakfast before we packed up and set out about 9:45. A few spots of rain but not enough to cause any concern and it was cloudy all day. Checked in to the Opal Inn caravan park about 11:30. Mostly quite small sites but ours was plenty big enough. There was a sign at reception saying the Stuart Highway will be closed today from 2pm until 10pm. The receptionist couldn't tell us much more in regards to what days it would be shut so we'll have to keep trying to find out information.

Went for a walk in town to check out the opals. The first shop we went into, we got given an opal and also a bag of chips, or small bits of opal that looks like rock. I guess it's very competitive, the guy told us there were 20 shops in town. He was really good to talk to and gave us a good insight into what it was like to grow up there. His parents were immigrants from Greece, who'd moved to Sydney initially, then to Coober Pedy 42years ago for 3 months and never left. He made all the jewellery in the shop, which we came to find was a common theme in the shops we went into. Try as he might, he couldn't convince us to buy anything, even with his “generous” discounts of $1!! We eventually bought a pendant for Carol from another place in town. 

Headed back to camp via the bakery where we bought a tasty blueberry muffin each. Leftover salmon rissoles for dinner. 

242.8km travelled.

Day79 (Oct 3) Coober Pedy.

We booked a tour starting at 1pm for today, so this morning we walked into town again and to the Old Timers Mine where we did a self guided tour. Very interesting place showing how the miners operated in the early days. Stopped on the way back to camp at the butchers for some goat meat and the bakery where we bought a pie which had big wraps on Wiki Camps. Have to say, sadly, it didn't live up to the hype.

The tour was with Noble Tours and was great. We went to Umoona which was on of the original mines in town until mining was banned there because of safety fears. It has a museum and a shop, of course, plus Aaron the tour guide took us through a part of the old mine. 

Next up was the Serbian underground church.

Then Faye's House which was built by 3 women over a 10 year period and is a fascinating story. 

Then it was out to The Breakaways a little out of town via the dingo fence which goes all the way to Queensland. 

Finally there was a special treat when Aaron took us onto the opal fields to his claim, really special to be able to drive in there and see how it is all done today. Excellent afternoon and if you are ever in Coober Pedy I can thoroughly recommend Noble's Tours. 

I found Coober Pedy to be a very fascinating place. While physically it is almost totally unattractive, the stories of the people who started the mining and those that are still there today is amazing. Leftover teriyaki beef for dinner. 0Km travelled (driven)

Day80 (Oct 4) Coober Pedy to Kingoonya.

Went into town after breakfast and found Carol a pair of earrings that were a pretty good match for her pendant. We wanted to have a look in Josephine's Gallery but it was shut so we went and fuelled up and Carol did a bit of shopping. Still shut so we went back to camp and packed up the camper and got on the road by 9:45. Carol had found a number to ring about the Stuart Highway closures and we found out it would be closed today from 3pm until 11pm. We were well off it by then, got to the Kingoonya Pub about 12:45. The last 45km or so is a gravel road but apart from a couple of corrugated parts and a couple off wet bits it was no problem. Set up in the caravan park behind the pub, only small but as showers and toilets which were very clean. 

Had some lunch and then caught up with some blog stuff and Carol did some work. Flies were the worst we have struck on the whole trip so far I think. Had dinner at the pub, we both had flathead which was very nice and chatted to some of the locals around the fire. There was a cold wind blowing and we both ended up with our thick jackets on. Back to the camper to find a group had set up right next door to us. Thy chatted around the fire until quite late, not that I heard them. 

251.4km travelled.

Day81 (Oct 5) Kingoonya to Catninga Station Stay.

Up with the light and on the road by 8:30. After being told by the locals last night that the road out to the highway was pretty corrugated, we decided to take the road we had come in on. It is only about an extra 50km and probably take about the same time. 

We put 20l of fuel in at the Glendambo Roadhouse which was enough to get us to Port Augusta. Lots of long straight roads and the SA drivers aren't fussed when they pass you, not bothering to wait for a straight and going passed on corners which is a bit concerning. Being school holidays, everyone seems to be in a hurry too of course. Stopped in Port Augusta for fuel and some shopping. Not overly easy to find a park with the camper on but managed to find a place down by the foreshore. Took up a couple of parking bays but thems the breaks. Nice looking foreshore it is too. Headed out of town to our destination, Catninga Station Stay. Found it OK, Carol had an email to say the owners would be away all day but someone would be there to show us where everything was. No-one answered the back door when we rang the bell, so we parked under a tree until a young lady finally appeared. She wasn't too p on where everything was, she sent us back down the road to see the bush camping sites saying it was a 10 minute walk. We walk down a fair way and couldn't see any signs so decided to set up at the back of the house where there was some shade and it was reasonably flat. It's also close to the shower and toilet. The flies were terrible so we decided to put up the screen room for the car awning that we bought before Christmas but hadn't had to use yet. 

The site has a fire pit so we had a fire, it was quite cool and thankfully the flies disappeared about 5. 

Moroccan Goat for dinner. 

418.9km travelled

Day82 & 83(Oct 6&7) Catninga Station Stay.

We had organised to receive a phone call from the Eurobodella Council this afternoon, to discuss what is happening with the new sewage system that is being installed in the village. We didn't venture far away from camp, most of the day was spent updating the blog and planning where we might go next. We thought we might stay at Hahndorf Caravan Park which is not far away from Mt barker where the Pioneer agent is. It's quite dear though and Carol found a farm stay which is 30km away. They only take one van at a time and you have to be self sufficient but it sounds like a nice place. Sent them an email and got a reply to say the 3 nights we want are free so that's good. The call from the council rep was good, he was on site and it was a matter of discussing where the manhole for the pump and the pump controller would go. Not sure when exactly it's going in but it will be good to get rid of the bio-cycle which has given a few problems over the years.

The owner came by as well and it was nice to meet them and have a chat. Bought some fresh eggs but they are out of meat unfortunately. Also got some firewood, the first lot is free and then its $10 a load after that which seems pretty fair. I think what was dropped off plus what we have will be plenty for the next 2 nights. Daylight saving starts tomorrow, its been a while since we had to set our clocks for that. Look forward to taking advantage of it …................... until we're back in Queensland of course!

Penang chicken for dinner.

Sunday we had a cooked breakfast, bacon and fresh eggs yumm. Went for a walk after we cleaned up, there's a hut behind the hills we can see that is used as a base for climbing Mt Brown. We missed the start somehow but found the white markers after back tracking. It was quite a challenging walk, steep in parts but there was some shade to keep us cool. Stopped after 1 1/2 hrs and wiki camps said that the hut was 1.7km further on and we had walked 1.6km from the camp. We had a bite to eat and decided that we'd gone far enough. Retraced our steps back to camp and had lunch. 

While we were sitting there, a whirly-whirly sprung up and went straight through the washing which was drying on the frame. Needless to say some of it looks like it hasn't been washed! Carol had a Nana nap after lunch and I retired to the screen room away from the flies and got up to date with the blog! Sausages for dinner. 0km travelled for the 2 days.