Up early to hit the road heading for Ceduna some 400 odd kilometres west.
But first we called in to Port Augusta to resupply. The place has a busy industrial estate feel to it and aprart from walking the main street in search of a coffee we didnt really see much to snag our interest.

There was an edgy vibe in the air and for some reason there was a large presence of police, patrolling in 4WD’s and K9 units.
In our haste to get on the road before it bacame uncomfortably hot we totally didnt spot the Wadlatta Outback Centre until we were on our way out of town.

Port Augusta also marks the begining of the 1,660 kilometre Eyre highway as it cuts westwards to Perth. We felt this was our first expereince of proper remote(ish) driving with long sections of undulating straight road passing through semi-arid and desert landscapes.

The condition of the road was really very good, and with the airconditioning in action it was a very pleasant drive requireing frequent eruptions of full-contact karaoke to add some spice.

We both commented that despite being semi-arid the flora was far from sparse, or desiccated. Tortuous stunted eucalypts, saltbush, bluebush, Mallee scrub, and other succulents all surprisingly intense in their colour palates.

It was weird travelling such a long section of road with hardly any other traffic about. We listened on the UHF to some comedic banter between two caravans travelling behind us. Then they pulled off for ‘tea and sandwiches’ at Iron Bar and we were on our own. There were a few oncoming caravans and motor homes we exchanged waves with, but we pretty much had the world to ourselves.

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Thankfully no dealings with the dreaded road trains that we had read about. 50 metre long behemoth trucks pushing a shock wave of compressed air up the road in front of them that could strip the skin right off of Ripley’s steel skeleton and shove us all off into some deep god forsaken desert ditch never to be seen again. At least I think thats what I read.

Tonight we are staying in the town of Kimba. Here, there is another great example of Silo Art, completed in 2017 and requireing 200 litres of paint to complete.
Even more impresive is the superb gold coin donation campsite the town provides for travellers.

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