Lake Hart bushcamp to Woomera

 Lake Hart bushcamp to Woomera = 46km
Cummulative totals = 7217km and 27,218km
Travellers Village = $20 unpowered

I may have mentioned in one of my past blogs recently that while in Coober Pedy we picked up some packets of dehydrated tofu at one of the local supermarkets well here is our  meal using it

 In the pot is the tofu after adding hot water and letting it soak in and also onion and coconut milk in the bowls is 2min noodles, carrots and dehydrated peas.  We have one more  meal left and I will endeavour to remember to take a photo of when the tofu is in its' dehydrated form as it looks like dried dog food and when it is cooked it looks like little doggie terds!!!  But it is really nice to eat (but don't use the seasoning that comes with it as it is mega hot and spicy - we used the seasoning from the 2min packet!)
Now while in Coober Pedy Neil went clothes shopping and came back with 2 pairs of socks and 2 beanie type things.  One beanie is pink and he hasn`t used it yet but the other he loves - here he is with it on ...

 my question to you is what can I call it?  I have to give it a name and it has to be as if we are taking the piss out of him!  You remember those short light blue fancy nancy pants of his ... well along those lines ... at the moment all I can come up with is his `man band'  bearing in mind it is a tiger print pattern on it and another name could be his 'gay band' a bit like his gay pants he sometimes wore when we first cycled (they were tights and Neil just doesn't have the legs and butt to pull it off so they just hung of him and he looked hilarious!!!)
So todays ride was short and completed before lunch.  The wind is still a northerly and the terrain is quite barren and only stunted salt bush can be seen.  We did see this massive salt lake on the way

 We turned north at Pimba and it is a 7km ride to Woomera ... like alot of roads in South Australia they can be half the length they are if they made them straighter ... the road to Woomera is one of them!
I came here 20 odd years ago and it was a thriving little suburb in the middle of the desert.  As soon as you got to this place it was like entering an American suburb like in the Partridge family (if you are Neils generation), Beverly Hills 90210 (if you are my generation) or Desperate House Wives (if you are younger than me!)  It was very lush and green and manicured lawns and gardens ... now the houses are mostly empty, drought or water is more expensive now has led to less care with the gardens (a bit like Bendigo when they had no water) but the houses are still well kept and are in good condition.
the supermarket is half empty but still well stocked, the buildings are not in use, the museum is closed and only open on weekdays - yet there were heaps of caravans around where they display the missiles, planes and military equipment (I will take photos of those for you tomorrow Ray!).
We think the town is now taken up by those working in the mines about 80km north (Roxby Downs) as we saw them coming home early evening.
It is a lovely well kept town but not like it was 20 years ago.
It is an interesting town with its origins from the missile and rocket testing facilities established here back in the 50s I think.  As you enter town there is an information board and opposite is this Long Ton rocket ..

 and below is a Blackstone diesel engine ...

we will be having a rest day here tomorrow, the supermarket is open from 8.30 to 2pm Saturday and Sunday.
The campground is okay, no grass so we are camped on sand.  It is an interesting park - the owners are a bit strange - when we arrived just before lunch they were setting up in the caravan park bbq area a small get together of them and their friends and it is opposite the unpowered section so we could see and hear their music (in fact all could hear the music)  so we set up thinking they will just have lunch and move to their own private area ... no they stayed there all afternoon and then moved to the caravan park bar and have just finished sort of now - 6 hours we had to put up with them with their drinking.  Although not obnoxious just getting a little louder and annoying towards the late afternoon.  We think this is strange as no one could really go and use the bbq and I know this is their park but for crikeys sake you own a caravan park don't treat the facilities meant for the paying customers as your own private use - create you own in your home!  I don't think they are the ideal caravan park owners or operators.  the music was loud but not too loud that it was annoying but your paying customers are 60 plus in age ... if they wanted this sort of atmosphere all afternoon then they would have gone to a Club Med!
Anyway more photos tomorrow of planes, missiles and rockets!

Glendambo to Bushcamp - near Lake Hart

 Glendambo to 5km South of Lake Hart = 78km
Cummulative totals = 7171km and 27,127km
Bush camp
Well it seems like we will be getting reception nightly now as we have internet reception.  We think this is due to the face that Roxy Downs is not far away so communication is important.
We woke this morning to a lovely sunrise just outside the tent ...

 The tree makes a lovely silhouette (spelling?).  We left just on 8am and the breeze picked up straight away ... it was a strong north easterly! and guess which way we are now going ... east!  Can you believe that!  The road swings east until Pimba which is 113km away - this northerly is about 2 days late and is only here for today and tomorrow.
Just out of Glendambo we saw our first live Kangaroo since coming down from Normanton ... that is over 2000 km ago!  Yesterday we noticed as we got closer to Glendambo we started see dead kangaroos and lizards on the road - previously we had seen NO dead animals since being in NT and South Australia!  So the bulk of the ride today was into this cross headwind, although predominantly a cross wind it battered and shook us around and pushed us out into the road so we had to constantly struggle to keep the bike aligned to the white line!
Traffic was heavier than normal but as we get closer to civilisation the more traffic we will encounter.
We had a cuppa in a hole!

 to stop the wind from getting to the Trangia we found this handy hole to boil our water in!  And here is a photo of my favourite flower at the moment ...

there were quite a few clusters of these today - predominantly on the left hand side of the road, in fact they tend to be more on that side of the road than our right side of the road!
I looked forward to getting to Lake Hart - I stayed here before at the rest area but now it is really popular so we won't be camping there as there is no privacy to go to the toilet.  Our first glimpse of Lake Hart ...

 it is strange seeing this body of salt water (which is our first body of water since Normanton river!) and in fact when you see it it is a bit like being at the beach!

 while at Lake Hart there was a couple chatting to us and they asked if we were camped at Barkley Homestead and we said yes about 5-6 weeks ago and they said they thought so as they were in the hotel there and they recognised the dog!  Small world!
So after filling up with water at Lake Hart we continued on down the road and got about 5km and came to a drive and took that and we decided to opt for shade rather than privacy today so we are in front of some trees that gives us shade for the rest of the day ... although the flies are very thick here!

tomorrow we will make for Woomera - about a 45km day.  In time for the Geelong vs. Hawthorn game at night - after 9pm your time Mum!

Coober Pedy to Glendambo

 Coober Pedy to Glendambo = 256km (day 1 = 84km; day 2 = 86km; day 3 = 86km)
Cummulative totals = 7099km and 27,100km
Glendambo BP roadhouse = $23 (unpowered - OMG look at that price and see below for what you get ... something that is marginally better than a free bushcamp!)

Day 1 - to bushcamp
We got up at 6am this morning and it was a mild morning  - around 5 degrees and no wind to speak off until just before we set of at 7.40am.  The wind is blowing an east north east so it will be a cross headwind for the first half and then predominantly a cross tail wind unless the road starts veering towards the east!  Since it is a warmer morning we don't have to have many layers on - I even went 'sockless' if there is such a word.

But first here is a cute photo of Kouta ...

 he sure loves the sleeping bags and tolerates us when we deliberately thow it over him!

I forgot to mention that Coober Pedys' water is drinkable yet coloured!  Especially first thing in the morning the hot water has a brownish reddish tinge to it and by the end of the day it is almost clear.  We got our water from the rainwater tank although to fill up the caravans there is a water bowser through town or 2 opposite the caravan park next to the information center and it literally is a water bowser!  It 20 cents for 30 litres - here is Neil pretending to 'fill up'!

 as you can see by the last photo it truly looks like a petrol bowser.
So we are happy to have no head wind today and it really makes a difference at the end of the day.  We always knew that this part of the ride when finding a bushcamp it will be very hard to find even a bush!  This is a very barren (spelling?) land

 We are also entering a restricted zone about 40km south of Coober Pedy ...

 LOL upon coming to Coober Pedy whenever I dug my toilet hole I always hoped that I would strike an opal ... now I think when I dig my toilet hole that I might just find a missile!  This area lasts for quite a while and won't be until around Woomera when we leave this zone.

There is very little small time opal mining south of Coober Pedy as you only see the odd pile of small mounds but what is out here is the start of corporate mining - like  Roxby Downs.  We came across this at 40km and couldn't figure it out

 it wasn't until around 60km that we came across another 2 very close together and there was a sign by Arrium - we had seen their mining cars in Coober Pedy and they are mining for Iron.  So roads like the photo are actually going under the highway and we are wondering what it was made for - rail connection? or for trucks as the roads all run perpendicular to the highway and we can't see where it comes from and where it goes too!
After lunch we decide to keep going until around the 85km mark and look for a bushcamp there - we have reside to the fact that we probably won't find scrub but we can go in 100m from the road it will be okay even if we are out in the open and in full view of the highway!  so the road wiggles alot and does a big swing towards the south east and although the winds are light I am beginning to tire and around the 84km mark we see this big area of scrub so I took a photo from the road and got the scrub on the right and on the left is what the majority of this landscape looks like - so if we don't camp on the right then we will be out in the open, like what is on the left, if we continue further

 We push the bikes of the road and as you go into the scrub it becomes very sandy and almost impossible to push the heavy bikes through the sand - I have to take the heavy front panniers off so I don't sink, also Kouta has to get out!  For Neils bike we just took the back yellow bag out.

In the morning we will have to load up the bikes just down on the track where the road is firm!  Here is our bushcamp

 It is an okay spot - heaps of flies and a bit too much sand for me - it gets into everything!  Tomorrow hoping for the same - winds and distance cycled!

Day 2 - to bushcamp (near Bon Bon Rest Area)
Tell you what I am over red sand!  Sand is in everything - clothes, inside the tent, usually at the bottom of the pots and also in the food, it is everywhere I even find some at the bottom of my coffee cup!
So this morning was a lot longer in packing up, around the bushcamp the sand is like being at a beach and we had to carry all the gear down to the bikes where they were parked as the ground was firmer.
We didn't get going until 8am and there was no wind anywhere.  We rode the 9km to Ingomar Rest area and picked up some water.  This rest area is on top of a hill and is very exposed to the wind, it is not really suitable for tents - in fact there was no where for a tent!
We were hoping to get past Bon Bon rest area which was about 85km today but the wind just wasn't in our favour.  We had really no wind or very light winds up to lunch time and it came from the east.  After lunch the wind swung towards the south, albeit light it wasn't expected - the winds were suppose to be swinging towards the north today and for the next 2-3 days so we are not hopeful for a northerly tomorrow.
So I found the going a little tough today - if you remember last night I described our dinner of dehydrated tofu ... well I had a sore tummy today - no bad bowel movements just a sore tummy and whenever I ate today it hurt ... I couldn't figure it out and to top it all off my back is a little sensitive as Kouta is moving a fair amount now and the jarring on the back takes it toll.  So I perservered as there is really no need to stop cycling.
One thing that was positive about the scenery now is from about 100km south of Coober Pedy there became more bush so a bushcamp is easy to find and it was like that for most of the way just a few spots here and there where it is bare.
Here is something that took me by surpirse ...

photo of sign

 and this is what they have done to the highway - turned it into a mini runway!
 the RFDS stands for Royal Flying Doctor Service - think Flying Doctors Sharon!  Alas no planes landed as we rode by!

We get to the 400m sign for Bon Bon rest area and we can see that the rest area is out in the open, it does have a toilet and water tank but no where to strip and wash so just before it there was a group of trees and we are behind them, here is a photo taken from the road ... can you see us?

 can you see us now?

 alright here we are ...

 And this is the site we are at, plenty of bush to hide behind and it is firm sand and not soft!

 By the time we got here I figured out what was wrong with my tummy - last nights dinner - the seasoning for the tofu was really really really chilli hot and I think the chilli burnt my insides!!!  So tonight I had my part of the tofu without the seasoning and Neil only had a little - his was still a little too hot for him so even less seasoning next time!  But mine was better without the seasoning and only a little soya from the noodle packs and some coconut milk.  My tummy is a lot better now ... as is the back!

Tomorrow we will make Glendambo which is another 85km away.

Day 3 - to Glendambo

A warm night last night and by the time we go on the road the layers came off.  A light breeze began early and it was coming predominantly from the east (and not the north like predicted).  The first hour had no wind and then we had a cross wind.  

Alot more traffic today especially tourist traffic - caravans, cars and trailers, utes/4WD loaded to the hilt with camping gear.

A fair bit of bush camping is possible between Bon Bon rest area and Glendambo but I think after Glendambo it might become a little scarce as we will be passing salt lakes.  Just before getting to Glendambo we exited the restricted zone as cautioned by the Department of Defence - not that they patrol the area!

As we rode along today the wind was playing havoc with us - sometimes it was a cross wind, then a headwind then a tailwind ... all in a space of about 1km - not sure what it was doing but by the afternoon it had settled and was coming from a north east direction - so for the last 20km we had predominantly a tailwind ... better than nothing.  this  wind is suppose to be here tomorrow but we swing more east than south!

This is a great sign as you come into Glendambo ...

 last time I was here this was a nice spot ... now you pay $23 for unpowered and a bushcamp (complete with toilet paper hanging from the grass!)  This is the park ...

and this is our spot under one of the trees ...

 it is all bore water and they have rainwater tanks that are nearly empty so we loaded up a few bottles but only have to go 70km tomorrow before getting to a rest area with water.
The showers in this park has very hard bore water, no lather what so ever!  I think in hindsight we should have carried some extra water and continued 1 or 2km down the road and bushcamped instead of wasting $23 I think I can go another day without a shower!

Tomorrow we head for Lake Hart rest area - a salt lake ... last time I was here this was a beautiful spot at sunset ... although I am not holding my breath on that anymore!

Still @ Coober Pedy

We are still at Coober Pedy - just waiting for the wind to settle before heading off tomorrow (Tuesday).  It is a nice day today with not too much wind about - the week long strong southerlies seems to have finished.  Tomorrow the north easterlies will start and will take us all the way to Woomera (hopefully!).  

I don't mind Coober Pedy, although Neil has strictly forbidden me from looking at the Real Estate window - a stern I couldn't live here was noted!  I can't say I could live here - I think the constant hot weather in Summer would get to me - usally around the 45 - 50 degree mark!!!  Hence why when you come to Coober Pedy a great deal of the town is underground.  When we were walking around we did notice that there were quite a few less older houses that have built above ground and really the underground homes are occupied by the people who have been here for a while or even some of the miners.  Below is a photo of 2 side by side  and the one with the tyres in the ground to act as a retaining wall has small pipes coming out of the ground - they are the breather pipes ...

 this is another house and a close look at how the front of the house or entrance is built in front of the mound and the bulk of the house is in the hillside ...

 looking at the house fronts they aren't exactly the most architectually designed houses and we did wonder when 2 houses are next to each other how do they decide where the boundary line is in the actual hillside - Neil thinks there is no regulations here in terms of building codes but I think there has to be some or else the hillsides would collapse as people would just go into the hillside and tunnel out into their neighbours rooms!
When you look at Coober Pedy there is alot of metal - not sure on the recyling here but in this photo you can see at the bottom a whole heap of trucks, cars etc ... this is someones yard!

 maybe when things break down or when miners want to build a contraption for their mining they come here and create it from this junk!
The best spot to view the town and surrounds is at the Big Winch ...

from here you can see town ...

 and all around the barron surrounding area ...

 it certainly would take a lot of getting use to if you wanted to live here - we saw a piece of land in town that was going for $30,000 with sewer but I would hate to know just where the sewerage would go considering the surrounding underground is peoples homes!
The main street is pretty full on and higglety pigglety and cars, utes and trucks go everywhere with no regard for pedestrian safety.  There is NO grass anywhere!  It is all dust and red dirt.  Quite a few accomodations and restaurants and cafes have the underground experience and most people go to them as a novelty.  Every 2nd shop is an Opal shop selling jewellery or pieces of opal. There is an IGA and another supermarket called the miners market.  Both are good and since there is an Indian population here they both have exotic food.  Neil tought that instead of taking pasta and salami why not try something different and he found dehydrated flavoured tofu packets that he has decided we should try - you soak the dehydrated tofu in hot water and then add the sachet flavouring and coconut milk and cook off.  We will add carrots, dehyrdated peas and onion to this and also have 2 minute noodles with it.  This is our food to Woomera - we have 4 meals of this - roast chicken, chicken, curry and mixed vegetables with another Chicken Satay tetra pack meal to break up the monotony!
We had a curry one yesterday just to try the tofu out but we didn't have the coconut milk - it wasn't bad but I insisted that it had to have coconut milk with it and we found some coconut milk powder instead of taking the tins.
Tomorrow we head off and it will take us 3 days to get to Glendambo which according to Wiki Camps has internet but when you look at the Telstra map of coverage - there is none so maybe there could be a blog on Thursday or Friday if not we will get coverage at Woomera on Saturday or Sunday at the latest - depending if these northerly winds pan out!

Marla to Coober Pedy

 Marla to Coober Pedy = 237km (day 1 = 75km; day 2 = 56km; day 3 = 54km; day 4 = 52km)
Cummulative totals = 6843km and 26,844km
Oasis Inn hotel/motel and caravan park = $18.00 unpowered (with $2 top tourist discount, also showers are 20 cents for 4 mins)

Day 1 - to bushcamp (just before Cadney Homestead)
Somebody forgot to enable the alarm this morning (namely myself!) so we ended up getting up later than what we wanted.  We looked on Elders and saw that there will be strong southerly winds until the end of the week so that means hard days to Coober Pedy.  Generally we can get an hour or 2 in before the wind really picks up - this makes the day easier but alas we got up 30mins later than we wanted.

We had a good rest day at Marla and it is a full moon now so moonrise in the evening was much better than sunset!

 On the road just before 8am and it is cold this morning and I don't think the day itself is going to be very warm once the wind kicks in.
We got to around 9.30am and then the wind really kicked in so we dropped to around 13km per hour and sometimes down to 10km per hour when there was a slight long rise in the road or when there is no shrubs on the sides of the road to protect you from the wind ... which was like that for most of the day!
Before you all say that we should be use to it by now ... which is true, we can cope with these days alot better now we are stronger compared to when we first started out but for most cyclists head winds are very debilitating (I think that is the word I am looking for!) we say we go at 13km per hour and so we will cover 13km within that hour but when you are on the road for 6 plus hours and are going at that speed and all you have to show for it is 75km yet your legs feel like they have covered more than 100km then it feels like a real bummer and then you have to do it all again tomorrow - that is why cyclists dislike headwinds!
A few people we have spoken to have noticed that there is not much road kill or even wildlife around and they are in cars and even we have noticed it that we haven't seen a kangaroo, camel, dingo, or even cattle for that matter in ages!  (Since coming across to Normanton)  However we did see 2 wedgetail eagles - our 2nd lot since we joined the Stuart Highway and obviously there was road kill around as this one stayed on the ground and refused to budge - it was massive

 We think we have seen camel poo and prints but have yet to see a wild one which we know are around.

So plodding along and the scenery is pretty much the same  throughout the day 

 We have gone back to drafting again - 15mins in front then 15mins behind since there is very little traffic and the wind is basically front on.  So we are going up the rise that you can see in the above photo and Neil is in front and next thing you know he is veering of the road and my wheel is overlapping a bit so I have to go as well - I am cursing him as I don't look ahead but concentrate on the back wheel of his trailer as Kouta has anxiety attacks during the 15mins I am behind Neil and so he tosses about in the trailer and so I have to be careful that my wheel doesn't knock Neils as Koutas movements affect my steering especially when we are going at these slow speeds ... anyway after cursing him that I nearly knocked his wheel he says that he put his hand out to indicate that he is pulling over so I tell him he will have to say it as I don't look at anything but his wheel when I draft!  So after a few grumbles I see why he has pulled over - someone has left a bag of oranges hanging on one of the roadside pole reflectors.  Of course we take them!  After many a discussion I firmly believe that someone left them there for us as there are 4 large and 4 small oranges, they were hanging there and not tossed out the car and I think someone saw us and decided to take pity on us and further up the road found the opportunity to pull over and leave the oranges for us.  We don't know how long they have been there but they are greatly appreciated - we don't carry oranges as they don't really go with weetbix (for brekky or dinner!) so they are a luxury food so we carry apples which go with weetbix and so are an essential food!  We had an orange each at the next break with our muesli bar - they are so sweet and delicious, I will carry the other 6 and that will be our treat each day on the last break!
 So we decided to pull over around 3pm or the 75km mark - about 5km before Cadney Homestead, originally I had us down for just over 80km past Cadney Homestead but we will try to make up the extra 5km tomorrow and if we can't because the winds are just too strong then we will have 3 long days and a short 4th day into Coober Pedy.

Our bushcamp is a good one and is right next to the train line as it is very close to the road - about 150m from the road.  We can categorically say there won't be any trains tonight as we saw 2 (1 in each direction) go by between 1-2pm.  I thought the Ghan passenger train might go through but Neil said that is on Thursday.  This train line follows this road to Pootnara which is about 80km away.  

 look at that train line wouldn't it make the best rail trail!!!

So as some of you may know we are on our Vita Brits dinners now and we have 4 each, small handful of dried fruit and nuts and yoghurt - we bought yoghurt at Marla 2 x 1kg pottles at $7 a kilo!  It is so cold that we don't need a fridge to store it and we eat so much of it it doesn't last long enough to warrant the need for it to be refridgerated!

 Neil is yet to put his yoghurt on when I took this photo.
I think we may try to get up early again to do some kilometers before the wind.  But I  suspect this wind will be stronger tomorrow as it is meant to be even colder than today!

Day 2 - to another bushcamp!
Okay we didn't manage to get up earlier this morning as it was too cold to get out of bed and we have found that it is pointless getting up early when it is so cold as we pack up slower than what we would if we waited until the sun creeps over the horizon to warm us up!
But once up we were quick to have brekky and pack up and be on the road around 8.15am - the wind was just beginning to blow gently at that time.  It didn't really start blowing until just after 9am and from then on it really blew hard all day - we knew todays wind would be stronger than yesterdays but we weren't quite expecting just how bitingly cold it was - we rode in all our layers all day and never built up a sweat!
We resumed our drafting ritual and just plodded along.  We passed Cadney homestead and it is a small place and there were a few caravaners there.  From here the landscape resumed its usual sparsely vegetated state and we chose a good camp spot last night, no trains last night!

Not much to see today just a couple of horses at our coffee spot 30km down the road.  Not covering much distance at the moment - sitting on around 13km per hour -sometimes up to 15 and sometimes down to 10km per hour.  The wind is coming from the south and is about 30km per hour, it is a full frontal wind for most of the day.  We realise now that we will not make Coober Pedy tomorrow but instead will make it Friday.  We discuss that we will try for 5 hours and see how far we get.  

Around lunchtime the clouds building up in the south reach us and our sun disappears so it begins to get really cold now!  Riding along and Neil says there is a dingo ahead and I manage to just see it as it gets of the road and into the bushes, it is not running just jogging along and it did glance down the road at us - that is my 2nd wild dingo ever - I think I saw one up with you Dad at Kakadu?

Unfortunately it was impossible to get a photo of it as a truck was bearing down on us and it wasn't an ideal spot to pull over.

At the end of every 1 hour of drafting we pull over and take a break and upon this one we let Kouta run around as there was alot of red dirt and bushes rather than stones which is common around here.  We said we would go for 1 more hour or until this bushline ended (whichever came first) - this is good bushcamping area with plenty of space for the tent and mulgar bushes for shelter from the wind.  

You could say Kouta chose this spot to camp as he refused to get back in the trailer, while Neil and I stood at the bikes telling him to get in the trailer he steadfastly refused to budge and stayed by the bushes, when Neil went to get him he took off and started to play and dart about (it must be the steriods he's on as we have to give him some tablets as he didn't like the grass at Marla!).  We ummmed and ahhhhhed and said oh well we are 100km from Coober Pedy we will do another 50 odd tomorrow and then another 50 into Coober Pedy on Friday - Kouta was happy with the decision - lets hope we can find a spot tomorrow - as we get closer to Coober Pedy the landscape gets really barren and not many places to bushcamp!

As soon as we moved the bikes off the road Kouta is dancing around, running ahead, looking back to see if we are following - he was very strange indeed.  I think today was just too windy and cold for him and he just didn't want to go any further!

Here is the bushcamp site he chose ...

 Day 3 - to yet another bushcamp!
Okay day 3 and it is getting harder and harder to get out of bed and start the day when you know what is ahead of you!  So after yesterdays cloudy afternoon we were rewarded with a sensational sunset as there was still cloud around

 This morning there was only a few clouds around so it promised to be a sun shining day but as the day wore on the clouds got thicker and more of them.  By lunchtime the clouds took up most of the sky and it was cold, now (4pm) the clouds have broken and there is intermittent sun ... enough to warm you up.
Again the wind was coming from the south and around 25-30km per hour.  The road is swinging towards the south east more now so the wind is coming on our right which means that as trucks coming in the opposite direction to us their turbulence at the back of the truck as it passes us creates a situation where you feel like you have just hit a brick wall and momentarily stop while riding your bike!  LOL really you drop from 12km per hour to around 7km per hour and have to restart again.  Fortunately not too many trucks around today!

We did see something we have never seen before and that is the machine that creates the rumble strip on the side of the road that is suppose to wake you up if you start to drift off the road, well it is not very high tech just a small slow machine that blobs out some special thick paint mixture to create the lump - it must dry very quickly as cars can drive over it.  This little machine is driven by someone who is continually looking down a small gap so he can see the existing white line to put the rumble strips on and then in front and him is a truck that has pulled over and the driver is putting bags of this special paint mixture into a machine that must do something and then that is transferred to the rumble strip machine and there is also another truck that follows behind to warn everyone that there is line marking ahead - he also must have been carrying the pallets of paint mix as he had empty pallets.  So far they have only done the north bound side - glad he hasn't done the south bound side as I detest those rumble strips!

So today we tried to draft but gave up after the first hour - I was fed up trying to control the bike whenever I was behind Neil as Kouta is a mover and it is just too hard fighting with the steering of the bike with him!  

Most of the day our view was this 

 a good title for this photo is 'looking for a bushcamp!'
Not much out here but scrub and stones! We had a cuppa at Pootnoura rest area (29km south of our bushcamp) and picked up a little bit of water as we don't need much as we are not drinking as much as it is cold and we are not sweating.

At about 55km north of Coober Pedy we saw our first 'danger' sign - in fact these 2 were close together ...

 For the red and white one we expect to see alot more and I suspect some of the pictures and words will be altered so I will keep an eye out for them tomorrow!
At the 53km marker to Coober Pedy we start to look for a bushcamp and there is not much choice around!  We can see ahead that there are some scrawny shrubs that are a little taller than us so we head for that.  The trick is to find an area that is relatively clear big enough for the tent and we finally found this one

 you can see we are not far from the road but there is not much traffic and generally people don't look.

Glad to get the tent up and to climb in out of the wind.  We have a good wash as our last shower was on Monday and it has been a bit cold the past few nights so our washes have been somewhat brief!  My hair has not seen daylight since Tuesday morning - it has been under my beanie so I had a serious case of flat hair syndrome so I quickly washed it with water and while I was washing myself with my back to the wind my hair dried and I ended up with what I call a 'tail wind' hairstyle (the wind blowing from behind) so I am not sure which is worse flat hair or tail wind hair ... here is a selfie of the tail wind look

 crikey it looks like I have had an electric shock!
Tomorrow is another 50km day to Coober Pedy - we will endeavour to get up early to make the day easier - I have been saying that for the past 3 mornings and have never followed through - looking forward to the Geelong vs. Carlton game tomorrow night! (Friday)

Day 4 - to Coober Pedy

we just have the worse luck with weather - we set the alarm for 5am and it goes off and we both wake and what do you think we can hear outside - wind and rain!!! can you believe that!  The one morning we DO manage to get up early and the wind also decides to get up early!  The rain wasn't so bad just the odd shower or 2, so we have brekky in the tent and when we think the showers have passed we finish packing up.  Here is Neil on our rather gloomy grey morning around 7.15am

 Coober Pedy is 50km away and will take us over 4 hours to get there.  Again the wind is blowing from the south and is about 30km per hour so I think we will be sitting on around 10km per hour!
You begin to see the first signs of opal mining about 35km north of Coober Pedy

 if you look to the left of the photo you will see the miners 'duncan'!!!  At about 20km out you really start to see more mounds closer together and basically they take up your panorama view both sides of the road ...

 you do begin to wonder why don't they take the mound from the second hole dug to fill in the first hole they dug when looking for opals?
At the 20km mark I had had enough I was over this wind, sick off going 10km per hour and feeling like we are getting no where!  The wind is cold, my toes are numb, my nose is running, basically I am ready to pull over, set up the tent and stay put until this wind blows out (next week apparently!).  Poor Neil, had to listen to my ranting and raving as I pulled over for a break.  I think he is feeling it too!

 To make matters worse the road is wiggling its way to Coober Pedy (if it went in a straight line it would be less distance to Coober Pedy!
So basically for the final 2 hours into Coober Pedy I spent cursing everything - I cursed the road engineer that allows you to see Coober Pedy at 15km just east of you and he decides to put the road west ward and south and makes you do extra kms instead of a straight road into Coober Pedy, then I thought it has to wiggle due to the mines so I started cursing the miners and why didn't they back fill their holes so it is not a massive area of holes and then the road can just go straight.  I then began to curse the wind and mother nature and why does it have to blow so damn hard, and then this led to cursing the council and why don't they plant trees along the roadside to block this wind and then I started to curse the road makers as to why didn't they use smaller gravel to make the roads smoother instead of the large chunks of gravel and then I am back to cursing the road engineer who has told the road makers to use the large chunks of gravel and then I just cursed Tony Abbott simply because I can!!! Ha, Ha, Ha ... it was a tough day!
Just before the turnoff to Coober Pedy there is a working mine that you can take tours on or just walk through (for a price) or just do some noodling in the pile of dirt they have left there (this part is free!)
As you get closer to town there are alot of, what I call, salt and pepper shakers that the miners use ...

 a few small diggers are around and I suppose they do the bulk of the hole making ...

very relieved to get here and we are staying at the caravan park we both stayed in previously.  The showers cost 20 cents for 4 mins and since I haven't had a shower for 4  days I sort of couldn't wash in 4 minutes so I used 40 cents.

Looking forward to Geelong game tonight!