Thursday, 10/4 Thackeringa Rest Area to Hancock Outlook

Stop creeps, ghosts, giant gums

     Our usual quickie brekkie of coffee and cerea,l and we were back on the road.

Roadside rest camping...easy off and on and best of all, free!  And there's a tree!

      From the time we crossed the Darling River in Wilcannia until we hit the town of Peterborough we drove through dry desolate country with only Broken Hill as a break, a distance of around 300 miles. There does seem to be a major problem in South Australia, take a look:

...Just Stop It!

     At Olary there used to be a small town but now all that remains is a simple roadhouse.

Hope we don't end up like this

     Mannahill is a little better off. They've got a nice train station to serve the three or four houses that look to be inhabited.

Mighty nice station for such a teeny tiny town

      The small town of Orroroo marks the beginning of wheat, grape and olive country. Fields are sparse at first, but within 50 miles it has the appearance of southern Spain or France. The main attraction in town is a giant red gum tree.

Seeing green again

They use corrugated steel for everything here

Red gum, 31 meters in circumference... Diana, considerably less

     Peterborough is a fair sized town, probably 8000, where we were promised by the tire lady to find good meat pies. We stopped for lunch at a funky restaurant set in an old movie theater. The seats had been removed and the walls were covered with large movie posters, an eclectic array of 50's antiques filled cabinets along the wall. There was an old Willy's army jeep in one corner, and a '52 Cornet sedan in another. Diana had a chicken pie and I had a Cornish pasty, a lot like the ones we used to eat up at Michigan Tech, and a locally brewed chocolate soda.

Alligator gorge and a beautiful place to spend the night

      In Mount Remarkable NP we hiked through Alligator gorge. No alligators there, and in fact there aren't any alligators in Oz. But it was a nice hike after a long day riding in the LC.

Alligator Gorge, no 'gators

Kevin trying to stay on the straight and narrow

      We spent the night at a small free campground overlooking the Spencer Gulf called Hancock's Overlook. We arrived near sunset, and it was sensually beautiful with green rolling hills and the changing sky. As the sun set the thought occurred to me that God created man so that he would have a witness to the beauty of the world he created.