May 31

ananuvverday

by in Uncategorized

The rain has stopped. The road is still impassable. Went into town last night in Suzy but had to use 4×4. Rescued a Maui. Couple in a renta motor home thingy attempted to get to the c’van park we’re in, decided the road impassable, did a uey into the weeds and buried it. RAA called up, no towey just a 4×4, broke snatch strap and gave up. We happen along all dressed up to go to town and being good Samaritans (?) we offer to help. Back up Suzy into the weeds other side of road, hook up winch and, bugger me, pull them out. Good little Suzy. 4 tonne jigger too, buried to the axles. Then back to camp to climb down off our boots, change clobber and on to town. Walk into the Italian Club, not a soul inside. Shit, wrong night. Nope just a wet Saturday night in downtown Coober Pedy. A small gathering as it turns out hovering round the chiminea on the outside porch. So we join in, have a meal, a few drinks and a great chat with the locals. One of their daughters is about to head off on exchange through AFS to France so we had a bit to talk about.

This was Friday (which is pretty bloody obvious cos the dates on the pics)

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It didn’t really improve on Saturday but the rain stopped late in the day and there became  a hope that we might get out before the Ark turned up. Well what a difference a day makes…..

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We’ve spent now 10 days in Coober Pedy which is more than some peoples lifetime in a place like this and we’ve seen the good and the bad. I’m struggling to differentiate but ……

We did of course spend 3 of those days touring to William Creek and Oodnadatta but apart from the long terrible roads they’re sort of just suburbs of CP anyway. But we love it – its another new adventure and what  would two old farts be doing otherwise.

We did collect rainwater and refilled our tanks. Its really good water – no fluoride, no chlorine, just cats and dogs.

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We also shared ground with Peter & Linda in their Winnie. This is their permanent house, travelling for the last 9 years odd jobbing wherever the mood strikes…

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Take ya back. Jude reminded me that I hadn’t uploaded photos of the Ochre Pits which we explored somewhere south of Lyndhurst a bit after the Flinders Ranges, Leigh Creek and Farina, however far back that was. Well I don’t need to be told 6 times so here they are….

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All this coloured mud/grit/stuff is apparently used by the non-reflective people to make them reflective or at least stand out in a crowd at night.

Must say though that it is an intriguing sight.

On an altogether different tack, for those interested in such things, we put a new engine management chip in the Winnie before we came away. Supposed to boost power and torque by about 15% and supposedly lead to improved fuel consumption if you don’t get sucked into using the power high and by golly it works. Not only does the truck feel nimble, almost Spritish we’re seeing fuel use down to 20.4l/100km. This is a 5% saving which in this trip could mean as much as $400.00 not spent on fuel.

So far we’ve done about 4000 km between the two vehicles. Suzy continues to average around 12l/100km. Pretty thirsty for such a little beast but she is versatile and bloody useful as two stranded travellers discovered last night. Both vehicles are filthy but with limited water they’ll just have to “suck it up”. Maybe when we get to Darwin there might be enough water for a splash.

Back on the road tomorrow, bound for Yulara and a meet with Robyn Mason, who will then travel on with us for the next cupla months.

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