Driving Through the Outback

Some of the houses that are built into the hills. 

You can see the air venting pipes.

No stop signs, no homes, no nothing for miles.

Sometimes the outback looks like this...

and sometimes not far down the road it looks like this. 

A salt pan reflecting the sun,

Robert and his niece.

Friday, April 8^th.

I was up early again, but had a good sleep without a bunch of other guys in my room, just a few large green beetles. I got organized and set out on another long day of driving. I started at the Bar and Grill in town where I had bacon and eggs. The sun was out again, although it was cool. I drove the whole day, with only short breaks to fuel up and get a snack or a drink.

I had been thinking about trying to see Kangaroo Island while I am out this way. It is south of Adelaide just off the Fleurieu Peninsula. It is a very long way to go from Melbourne for a weekend, so I thought I should try to go now. I had checked on the internet about the ferry service and found out they have evening sailings but the morning returns on Sunday are sold out. Which means I can only really stay one day. I would have had enough time except I spent an extra day at Uluru. So while driving all day I tried to figure out what to do. I finally decided I would try to catch the last ferry Friday night, spend Saturday there, and come back to the mainland that night so I had all day Sunday to drive to Melbourne.

So with that in mind I pressed on. The drive was easy but as always when coming from the country I always find urbanization depressing. People certainly know how to mess up nature. Then I got to Port Augustus and there was more traffic and the first traffic lights I'd seen in four days. I drove another three hours to Adelaide and then had to drive right through the city to catch the highway to the peninsula. Of course I arrived at Friday rush hour and traffic was slow, but I kept going. The road to the peninsula was about a hundred kilometres and very hilly and windy. It took a lot longer than I anticipated and half way through it got dark. So I missed most of what looked like a very scenic road.

I arrived at the ferry just after they had raised the ramp! A lady came out and asked if I had booked it and I said no I was just a lost tourist. So she told me the next one was nine in the morning and gave me some pamphlets about the island, tours and accommodation. Then she suggested a local tavern to get a room and dinner. So I had to rethink my plans, because now I don't have enough time. Even she thought one day wouldn't do it justice.

So I drove up to the tavern, secured a room and they sent me out back to room three. The block of seven motel style rooms were all dark and it looked like a deserted building. So I went back across the road and asked where was the room. The young man walked across with me and was surprised that none of the outside lights were on. The key worked but I couldn't turn on the lights. That surprised him more, but it turned out I was flicking the switch of the outside light and the next switch over turned on the room light. All good.

I went back to the bar for dinner and a drink. I was wandering around waiting for my garfish dinner and watching people and hoping to find an Aussie to talk to, when a man said 'good day' to me. We struck up a conversation and I joined him at his table with his niece and her two little children. He turned out to be a 67 year old, gay (self identified), psychiatrist and art collector. When he heard my accent he asked me how I wound up in the Cape Jervis Pub. He was interested in my story and told me a lot about his life. He asked me if I had a 'pleasant' divorce and then told me about his. He was bitter as his partner never worked and he had to give him half and buy him out of the house here. I asked if he was really married and he said that real gay marriage (which the government is debating) is a joke because all the laws already are in place for the divorce, you just can't get married. He lives in the area and apparently has a beautiful piece of land facing Kangaroo Island. Before they left he invited me to drop by to see it tomorrow on my way back to Melbourne.

So again, I got lost and something interesting happened. I finished my beer and went back to my little motel room without wi-fi. We'll see what tomorrow brings.

A total of 985 km of driving today.