Day 8 - Pt Augusta
Saturday, June 2, 2012 at 07:13AM 5 minutes & 3 seconds! That is how long the light stayed on for today! So yesterday I went & complained & they got someone to look at the switch & add an extra 16 seconds to it! Thanks very much!!!..... South Australians.
We left Christies Beach this morning & headed north to Pt Augusta, one of the major roads into the city is closed so the traffic was pretty bad leading into the city, I thought about skirting around the edge of town and missing the city, but we probably would have ended up on that road through the Bullshit National Park again so decided just to stick with traffic.
Adelaide is not a bad town, it is fairly clean & smaller than other cities. The houses here have a very distinctive style, lots of large bricks & intricate stonework, very nice.
Vanessa has had this thing with her hair for the last week, apparently the water down here is very “Hard” and it makes her hair dull & lifeless…… Sounds like an ad for a shampoo huh…. “Is your hair dull & lifeless?… use new Oxy wash for bright & lifey hair!.” Quite frankly I have not noticed any difference! And how can your hair be lifeless? Its dead isn’t it? Or am I missing something. I said to her “It still looks good” and she gave me “The Look” you know the one where they don’t have to say anything but you know exactly what they are thinking!
On the way down we pulled in at Pt Wakefield, just to have some lunch & a nappy change. While we were there this busload of aboriginal kids (Boys) pulled in for lunch also. There were about 15-20 of them & they got their lunch and went to different parts of the park to eat it. But they started yelling to each other in their native language. I said to Ness it’s great to hear that they still communicate in their language…..because one day it will be lost!
I stand by what I said the other day; the drive from Adelaide to Pt Augusta is as boring as! I don’t know what makes it so boring but there is no visual stimulation. Apart from trucks & other traffic there is very little to see, when you get close to Pt Augusta you catch glimpses of the Flinders Ranges but apart from that not much else. I still reckon there should be a barge across the Gulf! Cut out Pt Augusta…
This caravan park is a gold mine! It is at the junction of the Sturt Hwy north, the Eyre Hwy heading west & the Princes Hwy heading south. So from around 3PM there is a constant stream of caravans pulling up for the night. At a rough count there are currently between 80-100 vans here (there are 160 powered sites) and they charge $36.40 per site…… Do the maths, that is over $3500 per night! Just for parking your van on a bit of dirt, using $3 worth of water & maybe $5 worth of power! And it is only 2/3 full, during peak season this place books out. Anyone want to buy a caravan park with us? Yarra Glen really needs one!
A couple of years ago Ness & I went to the Caravan & Camping show, we watched this guy do a demo on a thing called a “Dream Pot”, it works by cooking in its own heat, you get all your ingredients together, partially cook them in the pot, then you put the pot inside the Dream Pot and seal it up and it is meant to cook in its own heat & juices.
Initially I thought it was a gimmick, but Ness thought it would work & would be great to make dinner in the morning, let it cook while we drive & eat at dinner time. So we bought one.
Well to cut this story short, we have used it several times now & I’m seriously impressed! Tonight we put 500g of beef, 800g tin of tomatoes & a packet of soup mix into the dream pot and a few hours later we had a gourmet meal! Boiled up some cous cous & bon appetite. Don’t knock it till you try it!
And don’t get me wrong, Ness’s culinary skills are not slipping, its just some days you need an easy quick meal.
Readers comments & info.
Tom & Andre’ are celebrating their 10 years of coupledom. Well done, have a great celebration, Rob will be there to fill us in on the night. Ness will raise a glass of Chateau Cardboard tonight in your honour.
Mel from Qld has joined us on the blog again, great to have you back Mel…..How’s Tom? He must be due for trade in soon????
Ally sent a message trying to explain the Poo thing! Just don’t make sense to me Ally, as her Dad I just can’t help but look at her when she puts the “Poo Face” on, it is hilarious. It brings tears to my eyes. And as for checking the contents of her nappy to see how creative or brilliant she is!.... You gotta be joking!, between dry retching & wrapping the foul mess up so it doesn’t escape the last thing I want to do is check it out to see if I can see Jesus’ face on her nappy! If she ever wants to be creative, please let it not be with Poo!
Annie’s Blog
Yayyyyy my friend William messaged me, that means William, Jack & Erica have all messaged me now. It’s so cool that I am so far away in the box on wheels and my friends are still keeping in touch with me, thanks guys. And William don’t worry about the tooth thing, it only hurts for a little while, and then you can bite your Mum & Dad, I got him a beauty the other day.
My neighbour Ally also sent a message saying that My Dad & Mum will always do weird stuff…. Ohhh Man, I’m only 8 months old and they already make the strangest noises and faces…. Oh and Dad makes up his own words to songs! What is with that? Oh and don’t worry about the Pony thing, I’m only little but I already know how to get what I want from Dad, I just put on this little smile and look slightly sideways at him and he just melts, I reckon I’m on a winner.
Flick sent me a message saying she was going to teach me to Fart….. Dad what is a Fart? I hope it is fun Farting, I think when Flick teaches me I will be the best Farter…..
Another day on the road tomorrow.
Love AnnieInAVan
Reader Comments (6)
Dream pots - FABULOUS. Not necessarily the meals, but the ease, the no-mess, the stability when your travelling, the bliss to know your meal is cooked when you are at the end of the day... And i am not paid to say this. Current models have much better billy/saucepans than earlier mpdels which were a lesser quality aluminium and sometimes food (porridge, cream sauces) burnt when doing the cooking. Stew and then rice in the smaller pot meanty absolutely no prep for dinner, as i'd done it before hitching in the morning. And by the way, sold it last December (after 10 years) for $105 on Ebay. Ness, cooks a nice egg custard too in the smaller pot over a casserole or something. Your blogs are terrific, and more than anything else makes me homesick +++. Now in Hampshire sitting a lovely black lab. Spring growth and verdent green everywhere. this is the Diamond jubilee weekend - so we have hung out an Aussie flag to match the Union Jacks everywhere.
Hey team
I'm now officially jealous!!!! Loving the blog and the pics.
James, an Idiot Abroad is a great show - Carl is a typical whinging pom and there is no way round that! Picture being on a tour bus with him hahahahaha.
Looking forward to the next update - love to all xxxxxx
ADELAIDE,PORT AUGUSTA ! I couldnt be more jealous, Adelaide is my favorite place, I walked all over that city last christmas
I am up for buying shares in a holiday house there if you are intested
Ness, I feel your pain in regards to your hair, its been raining for ages up here and I havent had a good hair day in weeks, my advice look for a rainwater tank , my hair is extremely soft after a good soak in the rain (too soft in fact, hence the bad hair days)
James, making up words to songs runs in the family, my advice is STOP NOW, before Annie gets old enough to be annoyed with you, if I had a dollar for everytime I have been told "thats not the words mum, please stop ruining the song" I would be rich enough to buy a caravan and join you - I can even remember Dan last christmas advising me the chorus to Pumped up kicks was NOT! bum tuck kisses, I think we got it off dad as I am sure some of his songs had random words included.
I just hope blurting out a song at random moments and for no reason is not heredity either as I get in SOOOO much trouble for that one, Brad has been hearing the chorus to "baby Love" for the past 20years , he thinks I have a mild case of tourettes
To My beautiful Annie
Farting is one of lifes little gifts and if you are anything like your grunda, who passed on the great farting ability gene, your life is going to be full of pleasure!
Thanks for the shout out to the boys, it was a lovely day filled with lots of love, laughter and sentiment. Great to catch up with old friends and make some new ones, and Tom's Portuguese declaration of love to Andre at the end of his speech was beautiful!
Now on to Ness' hair....have you thought about dreads?! Think you could really pull them off!
Hi guys,
Tom is going well, still less than 20,000 kms on the clock. Clearly I need to do a road trip with you guys!
Beautiful day here in Brisbane, blue skies and 22 degrees. Typical that it rained most of the weekend and now that I am back cooped up in the office it is stunning!
x
You could copy Eastlink on the straight part of the road and have a fake hotel and why not a fake petrol station (for all those people who like to live dangerously and see how far they can get to empty). Sounds fantastic trip so far and keep up the blog (and I love Annies what a little star). Also saw the news on Fern and Judy and baby Paddy how exciting for them. x