Day 9 - Elliston
Sunday, June 3, 2012 at 06:52AM After a somewhat noisy night in Pt Augusta, why would you build a caravan park right next to the busiest north/south truck route through central Australia? Trucks were going past alllllll night!
We packed up the van, had brekky (Cornflakes & honey…..Mmmmmm) and then headed out of the caravan park. I looked at the fuel gauge and it said that I had 130km to go to empty. Now for those of you who know Pt Augusta you will be aware that the caravan park is North of the town & to get fuel you have to actually drive back towards town to the nearest service station. So I said to Ness, “is there fuel at the next town?” Have you ever done a Youi (U Turn) with a 20ft van behind you?
Ness quickly pulled out our trusty Michelin Truckies Road Atlas, supplied by Pete Appleby (Thanks mate) who works for Michelin. And she said that the next town we were heading to was Iron Knob (more on this later) and there was fuel there according to the Atlas.
So off we head, a beautiful sunny morning, Annie snoozing in the back, Ness doing Sudoko & me lost in my thoughts whilst concentrating on the road. We passed the refugee camp that is just out of Pt Augusta, I’m going to call in there one day & say g’day to a couple of new arrivals…. Sorry getting sidetracked…
We turn into Iron Knob…..(Why do I smile every time I type that?) and we see the abandoned shell of what used to be a petrol station! Definitely no fuel there. I say to Ness, don’t worry it will be in town. Only to spend the next 15 minutes driving around Iron Knob (Hehehe…) looking for a fuel station!
By now the fuel range is down to 65km & I know that Whyalla is 55km away, so we make the decision to head to Whyalla & fuel up. Now I was not really worried as we carry 2 Jerry cans with us with 40 litres of diesel, so we could have used this. But it just goes to show, you can’t always trust what you read.
Pete, your map book is in the post back to you…..you know what to do with it!
Iron Knob…..Hehehe, funny isn’t it? Did any of you see Billy Connolly’s World Tour of Australia? He rode through here and spoke about it. So I can’t say any more than the great man except that it is a great name for a town that now does not have a fuel station!
Our Country
Today on the way to Elliston we saw some of the most amazing terrain, huge fields strewn with white rocks, it almost looked like snow, there is no way that grass could grow to support sheep or cattle. We saw several paddocks with Goats? Maybe that is all that can survive down here? Imagine the early settlers coming down from Adelaide to establish farms and their disappointment when they find out that their 100 acres is covered in rocks! Check out the pics when Ness puts them up.
Customer Service
Now I’m not whingeing here but have a listen to this, I know a lot of you work in hospitality or customer service, have a think about how people see you. Today we arrived at Elliston Caravan Park, Ness jumped out of the car to check us in and pay. She said when she walked into the office it stank of cigarette smoke….(for the smokers out there if you take offence….Bad Luck!) but then she explained that I was in a wheelchair & if they had an accessible bathroom. (Now I don’t need it as the van has a shower & toilet, but if I can use theirs it is much better) He said to Ness, Yes we have one but because the park is fairly quiet I’m not opening it as I will have to turn the power on to it & then have it cleaned!
He just didn’t give a hoot! So guess what, we won’t be staying here again & I’m asking you to make your own decision if you ever get to this part of the world. (Don’t stay here he is a dickhead!)
My Aunty Liz,
Aunty Liz rang me the other week, she asked if I could make it to England for a few days as she was having a Shindig to celebrate her doing the same job for 60 years. Imagine that, she has worked at the same place for 60 years, never gone on strike or got shitty with her boss!
I had to tell her that we couldn’t come as we would be on our road trip. She said it wouldn’t be the same without me there, But keep yr chin up Aunty Liz, have a fun week & say G’day to Uncle Phil. Kinda glad we can’t go, Cousin Charley is a pain, but his wife is ugly as! You are a shocker Mr Wood!
Special Mention
I just want to say hello to my friend Jack Allan, Jack comes out to visit me, Ness, Annie & Panda at our house, and he loves his dad taking him for a ride on the Quad Bike. Jack fell over on Friday and broke his leg. Now he has a big plaster on his leg so it will get better. Hi Jack, we can’t wait to see you when we get back. I hope your leg gets well soon and you can come and see us all at our house.
Replies & Responses
Marg sent through her endorsement of the Dream Pot, she used one for years & then when she was finished with it sold it on Ebay! Hope there was no Porridge left in it Marg. Hey thanks to you & Norm too, we always love your responses to the blog, I’ll share today’s message with the readers in a future blog, it made me & Ness smile.
Heather & Arama are both envious of our travels…..Hahaha suffer! We will try not to rub it in too much ladies…. (No way!)
Heather also reminded me that my Dad used to make up stupid lines to well known songs, so that is why Ness & Dan go crook when I say “All the boys & girls want a pumped up Kitchen…a pumped up kitchen”
Egg you are now officially on the list, sorry but for some reason your email disappeared? Maybe it was due to the fact that I didn’t want you to hear about every time the old Land Rover broke down?
Rob suggested that Ness go dreadlocks with her hair? No thanks Rob if I woke up next to her with dreads I’d not know whether to kiss her or fight her!
Annie’s Blog
Today Mum & Dad had one of “Those” discussions! Dad left the place where we slept last night and said to Mum “We’ve got enough fuel to get us to the next town” Mum said “Are you sure?” and then checked in this book thingy that tells them where you can get stuff. (She always double checks stuff Dad says)
But when they got there the shop that sells the fuel stuff was closed and all the windows smashed. And there was nowhere else in town to get the fuel thingy. Dad drove around for a while, I could tell he was hoping there was a fuel shop somewhere else just so he could be right….. but there was none! Mum got that look on her face that says “Why didn’t he just get fuel before we left!” apparently she got the same look on their last trip when the car said they had 83km of range and the next town was 90km away!
Anyway Dad said he would just drive to the next town & in the end we got there and found a Fuel thingy shop. It’s fun watching my Mum & Dad work together like this.
What’s the deal?
When we were driving today Dad kept looking at these fields that had heaps of rocks in them, he was getting soooo excited, he kept saying to Mum look at those rocks, nothing would grow in there, how hard would that be to farm!..... What’s the big deal Dad, its just rocks! It would hurt my knees & hands to crawl on & it was just boring! Parents are silly some days.
We stopped at this place called Cowell, Mum & Dad bought some fish and chips and guess what happened? The Magic Flying Fairies turned up!.....See they really are Magic, wherever I go they know and keep following me. A bit like the box on wheels, we can’t get rid of that either.
Bye till tomorrow….I’m tired tonight. So tired that you went to sleep immediately after I put you down…Bliss.
Love AnnieInAVan….Kisses & hugs
Reader Comments (2)
Damn! I just google Elliston caravan park and to my dismay found out that the australian salmon fishing championships started there on the 1st June, James if you havent already had a fish for salmon, get out there now !
now that I know about it, I have put it at the top of my bucket list
good luck
How slack is that park owner ! Mate lucky I wasn't there ;-)