Culburra S.A to Fort Glanville (Adelaide)

We all awoke to the passing  sounds of trucks and other vehicles on the Dukes hwy not too far away so we hastily ate a simple brekky and made our way further west.

Coonalpyn was only minutes up  the road and we took the time to do a geocache nearby and a toilet break.

We made a call to a few parks and booked into one in Semaphore park right on the beach for 3 nights so we could get some work done on the car before we took off up the Oodnadatta track.

This organised we headed into the Port Adelaide area to check out the markets and be tourists ,\one we were hungry for lunch and i thought some cheap books may be in order for all of us.

The kids and I climbed the old lighthouse with great view views all around and some interestng history 

why not check it out .

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Port_Adelaide

http://maritime.historysa.com.au

The Adelaide region is rich in Bavarian culture so we  partook in a Bratwurst fest and my first ill fated bite burst the skin open and squirted a nearby germanite narrowly missing his face oops lol.

A few toy trucks for dash and sme books for EJ we were marketed out and walked back to the car via the old wharf and admiring the Old Port Adelaide architecture and its worldly charm.

We hightailed it to the caravan park and set ourselves up comfortably for the next few days , whilst it was a Discovery park its still only basic as its undergong some fairly big  works and a shared ensuite toileet was a fair walk away but its only $30 a night for all of us as its an off peak special so it gives a  us good base to explore some more and wait for the car repairs and get some needed goodies for our remote ventres ahead.

Once we were set up we explored the nearby beach and then a few frothies at the local surf life saving 

club and listened to a awesome two peice drum and guitar group TRAV & DAVE.

Then kids choice was Barnacle Bills for tea , which the parents didn't much care  for but kids enjoyed Then a cuppa and a sundae for dessert at maccas before we hit the sack feeling very tired but totally loving Adelaide and its beauty  of course the weather was a bonus.

Broken bucket to Culburrra S.A via the Border Trail (Red Bluff)

The morning was looking a little ominous weather wise so we struck camp fairly quickly so we could continue northwards again.

Once out on the Murrayville rd again we took the turnoff for chinamans flat so wecould hopefully find the rings Corinna had lost the afternoon before (fingers crossed ).

6 kms down the sandy track we began comparing the track against the photos she happened to take  while the kids  were out jumping on the sand dunes.

we were in luck with the  comparison as we could easily see the different  flora and then the kids footprints heading down the dune where i had pulled over and within aonly a few minutes all 7 rings were back on associated fingers and tears of joy were flowing my beautiful wifes face .

I found a hard packed area up ahead and headed back to the Murrayville rd to rehich the camper up where i had hidden it only 30 minutes before with Deakin university students trackside no doubt wondering what was going on

The road along the park boundary was fairly good going execepting some sof sand and massive wet boggy sections through the massive fire break area .

We actually passed a fellow traveller heading towards us and about a slow hour later a large very sand dune appeared in front so i aired down further as i had my doubts we would make it up ,

it  was all a little short lived as i started to rev her for the run up i spotted a chicken run to the right hand side and passed to the side of the dune system and passed around it .

The going was slow and very bumpy and at some stage we scraped the drawbar and cut an anderson plug lead but only just exposed the lead (easily  fixed with heat shrink that night!) .

we finally made the Border Trail section and traversed the border several times and became amazed at the size of the bog holes further  south and rabbit warrens abound.

The bikes became dislodged a few times unfortunately due to low hanging dead trees ass we dodged around several car sized bogholes .

Once  we reached the Emu Flat section we darted out to a sealed road as rain was starting to spit down on us and soon after we were in Bordertown for a very late lunch and a few supplies and some much needed stop for diesel.

There was only 2 hors of daylight left after this so we pulled stumps just out of Coonalpyn at a place called Culburra at a out of  the way track alongside te railway line.

That night we dined on chicken and pumpkin risotto around the fire and slept soundly .

Day 2 broken bucket conservation reserve ( exploring Wyperfield )

The morning sun had dawned on us ?warming the not so cold night early on.

The boys in their swags had risen before the parents and dashman had already put the kettle on for our morning cuppa ( a good start to our day ).

I arose reluctantly after my coffee was placed on the outside bench in the beautiful warmth of the sun.

Dressed for the most part we hooked into brekky around the fire a simple affair of wet bix.

After dishes we organised the kids into the schoolwork for the morning while I scouted the area for some more firewood which was scarce of any decent logs mostly just mallee scrub.

The mallee fowl was nowhere to be seen unfortunately as typically I had the camera in hand  haha .

The kids had moved onto nature studies organised by momma bear with a diary to suit and they studied the local plants and their habitat .

I ran some cable and installed a solar regulator to the newly installed solar panel on the front roof of the    Cruiser which feeds the secondary battery which powers the fridge and charge leads for all iPods iPhones and iPads we all use :(.

After ham and cheese toasted wraps we set off in to the Wyperfield national park and took a track down to china mans flat and chinamans well , a good 3 hour drive along very sandy sand dunes bumping along merrily but stopping to redo the my  bike which had bounced due to its shock absorber not being locket out.

The drive wasn't overly exciting but I was having fun .

Chinamans well is still accessible but is all fenced off with bird wire over the top but it still enable you to see to the bottom , funny isn't it I was always taught Chinese well were round as they believed dark spirits hid in the corner of square set holes and tunnels .

Once we were out of the park we went along a sealed dirt track through Netherby and Yanak where we right turned for camp after stopping for some decent sized firewood.

A simple meal of sausages , burgers and onion in bread filled the hole in our stomach which was soon to be turned over at finding Corinna had lost all of her wedding , engagement  and other rings whilst we were driving she had put on hand cream just before I adjusted the Nike on the roof and they lay in her lap as she inadvertently hopped out of the car to help Shahla go to the toilet where they no doubt fell onto the ground !!!!!.

This brought the night to a big standstill as all thought about the when where and why of it all.

There was no point going out in the dark to find them so reluctantly we will put it aside till first light and try to find the elusive needles in the haystack :(

Day 1 Barham NSW to broken bucket conservation reserve ( Waggon Flat )

It's always comforting to see a frost early in the morning through the window of an insulated heated house , one because your rugged up away from the chill and also due to the fact it generally ensures a marvellous sunny day .

Such was the case for our first day back on the road heading North  then West .

It was only a short jump over to Kerang to say hello to some old customers of mine before heading along the old hunting ground to quambatook along roads that were flooded and inaccessible the last time I was around this area for work.

Back roads between sorghum and canola crops we were all enjoying the freedom of travel once again.

Birchip then across to Warracknabeal and down the Borung highway to Dimboola where we finally got on to the Dukes highway which brings us to Nhill for lunch at a superb little playground where we were attacked by minor birds with intentions of prying our tasty fresh sangas from our grasp.

The supermarket was handy for some fresh bread and drinks as we still needed to do a fresh veg shop over the border in case of a random inspection .

After a short play we set the cruiser up towards murrayville where we turned off only a short 60 Kms from Nhill at our stop for the night here in Broken bucket campsite ( part of the Wyperfield national park ). 

Not a lot of firewood around but a lot of searching found us sufficient for the night .

While looking around we spotted an elusive Mallee Fowl scratching for food nearby but he wasn't exactly camera friendly .

The kids were so in the element out here , kept busy with making dilly bags of kindling for another night and bagging them up .

Singapore noodles awaits me so I'll sign off for the night .

It's great to be on the road again .