30 May 2026
We have left the agricultural land surrounding the Murray River for the salt bush plains. This is sheep country, dry and not suited to much else but sheep.
As we were coming out of the dry country our view of the horizon was interrupted. It was foggy but in the distance you could just make it out. It wasn’t a mirage, it was real. As we got closer it became more apparent with a clearly defined shape. It was a …….. hill!
This was the bottom end of the Flinders Ranges which I’m sure some time ago was a substantial mountain range; not anymore. It turns out the Flinders Ranges are one of the oldest mountain ranges in the world!
We continued on to Burra for a coffee and snack.
Burra was settled by Cornish miners so in this town you can be confident about two things. All the buildings are built from local stone and the bakery includes Cornish pasties on its menu.
There is something about ruined stone cottages in the vast open fields. I just can’t imagine people in future times waxing lyrical about ruined sheds built from corrugated iron and colourbond.
Port Augusta is home for two nights. This town is full of travellers heading west across the Nullarbor or north to the centre and NT. Either direction involves huge expanses of remote country with distances between fuel stops and food measured in the hundreds of kilometres.
So Port Augusta is the town for last minute purchases of fuel, food and drinks and anything else you think you will need over the next week or two. Time to top up fresh water tanks and empty waste water.
From here maybe no phone or internet coverage for a few days; will we cope?
A Traveller's Tale 
If you’re not coping over the next few days, give me a call. Oops, I forgot…..
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Did you try the crunchy wings and sauce?
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No we didn’t but last time we were here we had a coat of arms pizza. It was made of emu and kangaroo meat the two animals on our coat of arms.
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We had camel hamburgers last night.
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