South Austraila Road Trip, Part 3 The Finale

It’s been a week since I last typed up part 2 and I left you in the Flinders Range National Park.

From there I headed south to the town of Port Augusta, population 15,000, making it the 5th largest city in the state. It is located at the head of the Spencer Gulf. I needed some supplies, a shower and a plan for the rest of the trip. I had spent time in the desert, the mountains and now was looking for a little beach to inhabit. Entering town I stopped in the information centre to make my inquiries. There are 3 peninsulas in the area, The Eyre (air), the Yorke, and the Fleurieu (no idea how to say this one), all with national parks at their tips. The Eyre being to the west and fairly large was going to take me farther away from home and I was on the back leg headed towards home so that one was out. The Fleurieu was south of Adelaide, another 322km (200 miles) south of Port Augusta and too far to go for the day. This left the Yorke Peninsula and Innes National park. After grilling the nice lady at the information centre. I went back to Tommy the Tank and realized I had locked my keys in the truck! Oh My God what do I do! Luckily, I was prepared for just such a brain fart! Having done this particular brain fart several times in my life! I had taken my extra set of keys from Michael before leaving Melbourne and vowed to always keep them in my pocket just in case. 5 days into the trip “just in case” happened and I needed that extra set of keys. So I hopped back in Tommy being sure to place the extra keys back in my pocket should I be so forgetful again and headed to the local truck stop for a shower before doing some shopping. 2 hours later, clean, stocked (one purchase being a hand air pump for my mattress) and fueled up I head south once more with my new destination in mind.
The day itself was showery and windy. Not particularly good for anything but driving and listening to the radio anyway. The highway (a real 4 lane separated highway) hugged the flat coast line for a about 100kms before the Yorke Peninsula jutted out westerly. I hooked a right turn and started down the road past slightly rolling farm lands and through several tiny towns, like so many others I had passed on this trip already. I came up on this truck pulling a motor home and realized I had seen this vehicle before. Actually I have seen it about 5 times before in the last 5 days. The picture is a little fuzzy,(click on it to enlarge) because I was driving when I took it. But as you can see Carol and Graeme are out there to do as much as they can before the good lord make it impossible for them to do so.

I stopped in the last town, Marion Bay, to fill up on petrol again, before entering into the park about 5pm. I was tired and ready to call it a day. I had left the Flinders Ranges at 7:30am that morning and driven almost 600km (375m). Doing the typical cruise of the camping areas I settled in at Shell Beach campground with no one else in sight. The solitude lasted about 20 minutes before a bogan (redneck) in a car pulled up. He had been fishing all day and was going to sleep outside next to his car in a make shift tent of sorts. It was really just a canvass tarp slid over a pole and propped up at one end on the fence. It didn’t seem like much, defiantly not as warm, cushy and secure as the bed in the back of Tommy. I don’t remember this guy’s name but since I was well supplied I invited him over to my campfire and was chatted the evening away. Talking about nothing really but keeping each other company, around 10pm most of the fire wood was gone and it was time to hit the hay. I climbed in to Tommy and he wandered off to his campsite. The next morning I fixed my hot chocolate and scrambled eggs. I had the intentions of spending the day at this park near the beach. After breakfast I took a long walk along the beach snapping these photos. I found a spot to sit and watch the waves crash on the rocks until a rain shower came through and made me head back to camp for some shelter. By this point in the trip I had unpacking and packing of the vehicle down to a science. My neighbour had left and as I was bored with this spot. Still only being about 10am I decided to drive back out and find another place to spend my Thursday evening. On my way out of the park I found a view point by a light house at West Cape Headland. Always looking for that picturesque spot to play my sax I stopped and carried it the 1km (0.67m) out to the tip and set up. The wind was at gale force, playing was going to be difficult and my hopes of setting up the camera on a tripod to get pictures didn’t look good. But as luck would have it an older couple came along just in time to help me out. The lovely lady snapped this picture of me while I stood bracing myself against the wind and trying to blow air out of the saxophone while mother nature tried to blow it back into my lungs.
I rolled into Adelaide about 2pm. I had spent 5 nights out mostly by myself and was ready for some social interaction with other gay people, and see what Adelaide had to offer. I was greeted by a traffic jam, a car on its roof and a rainbow. Once again the information centre helped me locate an Internet cafe. Where I could locate some gay bars, Adelaide had 3 according to the web. I wanted to find a hostel or backpackers place within walking distance of one of them. So I typed in the address of the first one into my GPS and set off to find it. Turns out is was no longer a gay bar. Off to the second I go, this place was closed for remodelling. 3rd time is a charm right! I found “The Mars Bar” closed and not opening until 10pm. But I did meet a queen on the street that told me about Sunny’s backpacker accommodations around the corner and a location of a launderette (that’s what they call a laundry mat here) I was in need of clean clothes for which to go out in, so that was my first stop. While my clothes spun through the cycles of machine land. I did what any aspiring musician would do and practiced the sax right there in the laundry mat. Luckily, there was no one around to be critical of my playing. I did get many stares as people walked by on the street and at one point some lady came in and emptied all the change from the machines. But no one ever said a word to me. With my clothes clean the next stop was Sunny’s for another shower. $20 for a bunk style bed and a hot shower is not bad at all. But I have to admit a well filled air mattress in the back of Tommy was more comfortable. I made myself some dinner in the communal kitchen with a bunch of students from various places in the world, keeping to myself mostly. Many of them spoke in their native tongues (not English), had groups of friends with them, all were half my age. After dinner I sat to watch a little TV. A Caucasian woman had the remote and she kept laughing a strangely eerie laugh every minute or so. It was really weird like she had voices in her head and they we’re telling her funny scary things. I don’t recall what it was that we were watching but it wasn’t a comedy that’s for sure. After about 30 minutes, not knowing if she was going to completely flip out any second or not, I decided I’d wander the streets until the bar opened. That seemed much safer anyway.

I made my way towards the bar and about 9:30 noticed a group of 3 other gay men standing outside waiting for it to open. In all my years of going to gay bars and we’re talking 20 of them! I’ve never been to a town with only 1 bar that doesn’t open until 10pm on a Thursday and that people would actually be waiting outside for it to open. But here I was making small talk with the locals. One guy was a native of Adelaide but now lived in Melbourne and was home visiting family. He was really skinny, had really bad teeth and an attitude like he was god’s gift to gay men with the look of a meth addict. The other 2 lived there and I think were a couple. One of them was already pretty drunk and not making much sense. When the doors opened at 10, we took up our places at a small table near the dance floor. A group of kids came in a played pool at the one lonely pool table. But otherwise at 11pm there was no one else there. The drunken guy was moving on to his 5th beer and starting to make moves on me. The meth head hadn’t stopped talking the entire time, the bartender looked bored out of his mind and I was right there with him. I finished my 2nd vodka and left my new friends to party on without me. As I walked the street back to Sunny’s I passed a pub with pokies (slot machines). Unable to resist the urge for SOME excitement, even if it was electronic and mostly likely to cost me some money, I went in and found a penny machine to sit at for a little while. Much to my amazement I actually won $40 which that paid for my accommodations and drinks at the bar. To this point Adelaide was a bust and the most exciting thing had been the car accident and rainbow. I went back to the hostel with plans of getting out of town as quickly as possible in the morning.
Up and over Mt Baker towards the town of Murray Bridge (named so because is near a crossing of the Murray River, very original) and Coorong National Park, a long sliver of sand arching slightly, facing the Indian Ocean. My hope was to be able to drive along the beast from the town of Salt Creek to Tilley Point about 42km (26m) and take a walk or play the sax somewhere. As soon as I could I got off the main paved roads and dart on to the dirt tracks again. My reference guides told me the “42 Mile Crossing” was the best one to take across the slough in winter. So I put Tommy into four wheel mode and followed the soft sand road towards the ocean. No real mud puddles here but the sand did make for interesting driving. I did lots of little fish tails and high revs of the engine to keep my forward momentum going. Cresting the final dune to the beach I soon found out it was the peak of high tide and with tonight’s moon being full it was a VERY high tide. What this means for those not accustom to beach driving is your stuck way up on the beach in very soft sand. Not down below the tide line where the sand is more firmly packed. It also means as I found out on my first trip to Australia in 2004 on Fraser Island that you run a good chance of getting stuck between the ocean and a non-drive able hill side. That lesson taught me not to take my own vehicle out there to be washed away. So I sat for a few minutes listening to the sounds of the sea and enjoying the view before making me way back through along the crossing road. When life gives you lemons you make lemonade right! So I found my joy in doing as many of the crossing roads as I could find. All were 2 to 4km long (1.2 to 2.5m), clearly defined albeit very narrow at times through the brush, full of fun soft sand that I was unlikely to get stuck or washed away in. The was Tea Tree Crossing, 32 Mile Crossing, Wreck Crossing, 28 Mile Crossing all along the Old Coorong Road. At each time I made it to the beach I’d st oped to walk for a few minutes, taking in the sights, sounds and smells or these beautiful spots. Snapping pictures of the interesting and strange things I found washed up on the way. Once I had gone past the park my next plan was to spend my last night on the road at the Lower Glenlg National Park in the far south western corner of my home state, Victoria. But First I had t few more towns to drive through. The most notable being Kingston South Australia. It is notable for this giant crayfish on the edge of town. This big red guy is featured in an Australian tourism commercial and stands about 30’ high. So I had to stop along with several others to snap my photo. From there I pushed on once more past Millicent and Mount Gambier into Victoria. A strange thing happened to me as I crossed the state line. I wanted to be home! I had driven 550km (341m) so far today but Melbourne and my own bed were calling me. The GPS was telling me it was another 450km (280m) to home and about 4 more hours of driving. So I resupplied the front of the truck with snack food and redbull. Put the pedal down and headed for home. Just as the sun was setting, the full moon began to rise and I got this great photo. (those are sheep in the foreground) It seemed a perfect ending to a GREAT trip. 3250km (2020m) in 7 days, 6 national parks, miles and miles of 4x4 tracks, peace, solitude and oneness with nature that always seems to bring some peace to my soul. Mission accomplished!


Something I did since returning was to go to a bar called Chillon here in town. My friends Jeff and Phil, fellow Americans from Texas and I had been talking about this place for several weeks. So I finally got off my duff and made the reservation. It’s a bar made in a large freezer with everything of ice. It cost $40 for a warm coat, gloves and 2 drinks in a 30 minute period. It was cool and interesting, good place to go with a group of friends. A fun thing but not something you ever need to do twice in your life. Here are some of the pictures we took that night. The rest of the evening was spent at a couple warm places and Melbourne’s rooftop bars.




It’s also Grand Final weekend now, Victoria’s league of rugby. The St Kilda Saints against last years losing team The Geelong Cats. I had just arrived last year and the weather was nice to I went to Fed Square and people watched the crazed fans. This year the weather is crappy. A high of 15 C (59F) is forecasted with lots of wind and rain. You can look at my old postings for more information on the game. I have a few more friends this time and we’re going to a local gay sports bar, DT’s to watch the hunky men chase a ball in the mud.

Plans for the coming weeks are a camping trip to the Grampians National Park for Melbourne Cup weekend. A horse racing event the first weekend in November and it’s a 4days off work! Then another Thanksgiving dinner here at home with friends, later in November. Not much is really planned for October so there probably won’t be another update.
Happy Birthday goes out to my brother Mark who turns 43 on the 28th and my friend Ed who will be 51 on October 7th. Ruth is having a birthday on the 17th, Laure Wrobleski's is on the 28th (maybe the 29th) of October too.

South Australia Road Trip Part 2

When I last left you I had just trekked across a wide open prairie of farm country, speeding along at 120 kph (75mph) hoping to get to a hotel for a shower. I forgot to mention the massive wind turbines on the hill tops in the distance as I drove and this rainbow I caught somewhere north of Mt Bryan
The hotel was a welcome respite after 2 days of driving. I showered and enjoyed some dinner by the TV before climbing into bed with a glass of vodka and eventually nodding off. In the morning not really knowing where my next shower would come from I decided to take another one. I packed up my CPAP and other things into Tommy and hit the road. I’d make it to the Flinders Range National Park in a couple more hours. But first I wanted some home cooked nutrients. Finding a little cafe in the bustling town of Peterborough wasn’t hard, there were 2 to choose from and I could see them both on the main street. Opting for the closer of the two I sat down to a typical Australian breakfast, fried eggs, sausage, baked beans, a baked half of tomato and of course toast with Vegemite! Something I have grown to love. It’s made from the extract of fermented beer and is a salty tar like substance. For those interested in trying it I know you can get it a World Market Cost Plus in the Clackamas Town Centre Promenade. Spread it thinly on some buttered toast and enjoy. In no time at all you’ll be heaping it on and begging for more of the savoury goodness.
Once the tummy was full, it was back on the road only to stop for more petrol and some supplies in Orroroo (Pronounced OR RO ROO, just like its spelt. One thing about Australia is there may not be a McDonald's in every town (YET) but they all have public toilets and these for the most part are very clean welcoming places after a long haul across vast tracks of not much. As my pit stop drew me ever closer to the destination the mountains rose in the foreground before me. Kilometre after kilometre the peaks were getting bigger and more majestic on the horizon. Now these aren’t the Rockies mind you, hell not even the Appalachian mountains for that matter, but after several days of nothing but scrub grass, farm lands, and small towns they are quite beautiful and worthy of National Park status. Stopping in Wilpena at the visitor centre I picked up a park map and started the tour of campground seeking the best spot to call home for the next 2 nights. As soon as I turned off the paved roadway and onto a dirt track I came across these 3 wild Emus. They were barely concerned that Brian and his big bad 4x4 were there and sauntered off into the fields. After these large birds I was able to see some more kangaroos booking across the track at different intervals on my journey up the Bunyeroo (Bun Er Roo) Valley to my home at Cambrian Campground. Lucky spot number 13 awaited me and my saxophone. This particular campsite was tucked away in the back with a nice knoll about 5 meters high (16’) separating me from the roadway and a dry creek bed on the other side. There was a stone bench area along what would be a nice river view if there was any water and a big old gum tree with 2 large birds nest atop of it. About 200 meters (650’) away was the only other camper, another solo nature enthusiast I came to know as Jeff. Once settled in for the afternoon I broke out the sax for some more practice and as I expected that scared all the birds away and brought my neighbour over to investigate. He was happy for the company and didn’t mind me doing my scales. Although I quite minded the small house type of flies trying to investigate the internal workings of every open orifice on my body. They were not phased one bit the squawking of my horn. By the time evening rolled around I had prepared a good fire and this time there would be no wind or rain showers to dampen the festivities. I was able to get a little reading done and make entries into my journal before the sunset. As soon as the cool air of evening set in the flies disappeared and one was able to enjoy being outside again. I cooked my chicken, veggie and sauce concoction wrapped in good old American Heavy Duty Reynolds Aluminium Foil. A camping essential I learned over my many trips in the Pacific Northwest. You can only get it here at the USA food store and it’s about $12 a 50’ roll but worth every penny when out in the woods and hungry as the proverbial koala bear. I place the tightly wrapped dinner right down into my bed of coals and turned it every so often while sipping my iced cold vodka. Now it just dawned on me that all of these blog entries I’m always drinking vodka.... don’t worry my many mom’s I’m not doing any driving and I only had a single 5th for the entire week of camping. So I’m not the alcoholic it sounds like. But then again denial is one of the first steps in recovery, isn’t LOL! This 3rd day of the trip ends some 1300 kilometres (810 miles) from Melbourne. However tonight I’m lying on the rock bench staring up at the stars of the southern hemisphere. Seeing Orion’s belt and thinking of my many friends in the north that can also see this constellation.
The night’s sleep wasn’t great once again as the air mattress just didn’t have enough air in it. I had tried changing the batteries but I realized my pump was just getting old and not able to produce the needed pressure to fill it all the way up. This is something I’d have to solve before too many more nights in the back of the truck. By the cool crisp air of 6 am I was wide awake and making some Coleman camp stove hot chocolate and scrambled eggs for breakfast.
Today’s plan was to do little driving and to get out on a hike. I selected Bunyeroo Gorge because it didn’t have a lot of elevation gain and would keep me in the shade. Yesterday had been very warm somewhere near 80 I guessed (still winter folks) and I was expecting this day to be the same. The hike was only about 4km (2.5m) each way and promised some great views of the rock formation. What the trail map failed to mention was the damn (a word much harsher actually comes to mind) flies. As I set out along the dirt path following the dry creek bed they began their never ending attack on me and any bit of moisture they could find. I spent more time with my baseball cap off swishing them away from my face than I did actually wearing the thing. Other than that the hike was nice. At times the walls of the gorge closed in on me and steeply rose several hundred feet into air. Sometimes the path would widen and was riddle with giant old gum trees. The 8’ diameter thick trunks had many branches providing a beautiful canopy to walk amongst. Cockatoos and several other types of bird life chattering in the tree tops. Alerting all other living creatures that a dreaded human was near. Reaching the end of the hike the creek bed become a flat stone lined wash about 200’ wide. I was interested in finding some vantage point to get a good view after walking so far tucked away into the gorge so I found a hillside to scale and got myself out of the forest for what was a magnificent view of the gum trees zigzagging across the plains. It was here in my sweaty still state that the flies did their best to annoy me. More than once I looked down upon my legs to see at least 100 of them soaking up the particles on my pants. Using my hat I was able to kill 15 or 20 at a time and those few were quickly replaced by more. I was glad I could not see my back as I had removed my day pack and could feel the sweat running down it. Every few minutes Mother Nature would give me just a bit of rest to enjoy the landscape by with a large gust of wind. This was too much for the flies to overcome and I’d get 30 second at a time without them. It was a peaceful spot if not for my annoying tiny friends I would have lingered much longer than the 15 minutes I spent perched on this hillside. But it was hot in the sun, my sunscreen had been removed by the perspiration and only the safety of Tommy the Tank would save me now. I made my way down the hillside and back along the creek bed the way I had come. Half way back I met a couple heading to the view spot wearing mesh netting over wide brimmed hats and thought to myself if I EVER come back to central Australia I got to get me one of those!
Once back at the truck I quickly changed into shorts and a dry t-shirt and had decided that another day driving around the park might not be so bad. At least the flies couldn’t keep up with me. So I set out on a looping adventure around the park’s roads. This expedition took me up to the Aroona Ruins in the far north of the park. A place where John Hayward had first settled in 1851 with 3000 sheep and only 40 pounds (The British pound was the currency at the time). He managed to build himself a 5 room bungalow with always cooling slate floors, which are still visible today. The homestead was complete with running water in the bath house, fig and fruit trees in addition to melon and pumpkins in a garden. Probably the reason he picked this spot on a lonely hillside in the middle of nowhere (even today) was for the ample supply of water at the time, but one must think the view of the Flinders Ranges had to have been a nice bonus. As it happens in a desert country the water dried up and John sold off his property in 1862 and return to England a rich man with over $40,000 pounds just before a long stretch of drought in which the new owner lost everything and had to abandoned the place. I managed to spend about 20 minutes exploring the area before the flies got too bothersome again and I retreated to Tommy and set off on to the next section of roadway.







Somewhere between Slippery Dip (an actual dip in the road where a real live somewhat moving water way crossed the road) and Trezona campground I spotted this bearded dragon lizard sunning himself in the middle of the track. At first I thought it was a stick in the road but his high arch back made me rethink it. I stopped the vehicle and got out to snap a picture. When he didn’t move I got closer. While he puffed himself up and was clearly agitated by my presence he never once moved from the spot and I was able to stand directly over him and get this great photo. In all he was about 18” to 20” long and one very dusty pissed of reptile. Back in the truck I took extra care to go as far around him as possible and he never moved an inch. My hope is that the next person to come along was travelling at a reasonable speed so this guy would not be hurt.
The next stop on the way was some ruins called Appealinna. There wasn’t a plaque so you’re spared the history lesson this time. But I was able to capture another picture of a lizard. This time it was a blue nose stub tail or something like that. I actually saw 2 of these guys and one very large and very dead kangaroo. As your luck will have it I did try and take a picture of the kangaroo with his skin stretch taught of his bony skeleton. A very startling sight and something out of a horror movie but when I got home and looked at the pictures something had gone wrong and it didn’t come out. The pictures of the lizards did come out but they not really good, as one was hiding under a rock ledge and the other had his face buried into a rock wall. If you really want to see it send me an email and I’ll forward them to you.
The final stop in the day before returning to camp was a placed called Stokes Hill Lookout. Only 4x4 can make it up the hill to this 360 degree viewpoint and its well worth the 3km detour off the main road. I took 2 videos of it 180 degrees at a time to give you a chance to see it. Trust me these images do not do it justice at all.
Back at the campground my neighbour invited me over to cooked dinner by his campfire and enjoy come conversations, which I gladly accepted. Jeff did have a hand action air pump which he let me borrow and I was able to completely fill my air mattress for a good night’s sleep. I hadn’t really talked to anyone for more than 10 seconds in 4 days now. Jeff was a single (straight and not cute) guy in his mid 40’s that had made some major changes in his life by quitting his job, selling everything he owned and buying a small camper van which he now lived in and was travelling around Australia. An idea that sounds appealing to me, but I think I’d rather do it in America.

That’s where this entry ends, my friends. I think 2500 words are enough for one night. I’ll try to get the 3rd and hopefully last entry typed up soon.
No new happy birthdays to report, but if I forgot someone please accept my apologies.










dotted at both end enjoying the view after the long walk. Dean and I decided to just plant ourselves right there where the trail emerges and have our snacks. The one thing I noticed here was how loud the small waves where as they crashed onto the beach The video clipped I loaded isn’t even half as loud as some of them were. Dean and I rested here for almost an hour. We fed the seagulls some rice crackers, chatted with other hikers and soaked up the beauty around us for as long as we could. The hike in took us the better part of 3 hours and with sunset coming around 5:30pm this time of year we needed to start our trek back so to not be doing it in the dark. As always the hike back gives you a different perspective and you see things you missed on your previous trip. Mainly being the ominous clouds that kept threatening to rain on us all afternoon. But luck was with us and we made it back to our campsite about 5 minutes before the rain started.
As I made a hearty stew for dinner the rain just kept coming down harder and harder. Our tarp canopy held up quite well and allowed us to enjoy our evening without having to hide in the Tommy like most of our neighbors had to do in their tents. Unfortunately, the rain also kept the wildlife away too. Dean and I spent the evening with a few drinks and deep in conversations about men, life and our place in the universe. The drinks helped with this as you can imagine. About 9pm the long day had caught up with us and we climbed into Tommy. After last nights foam and plywood sleeping arrangements I wised up and inflated the air mattress for us to sleep on too. This reduced the head room we had, but increased the comfort level greatly. The rain came down all night long and the wind eventually whipped the tarps into a tangled mass. But the bungee cords help keep it all from blowing away. It was the driest night of downpour rain camping I have ever had and made me VERY glad to have Tommy. In the morning the rain had subsided for the most part and we managed to take the tarps the rest of the way down and pack up the remaining items quickly. Our plan was to find a hot breakfast back in the little town of Fish Creek. About 50km (31 miles) north of us. Since we had to keep the windows closed all night the inside of the vehicle got rather damp. Dew was running down the inside of the windows and with no fan on the heater we had to wipe away windshield several times so I could drive. Dean used some of the emergency toilet paper and I used my sleeve. This didn't work very well but we we're only going about 15 kph in the campground and needed to be done about every 30 seconds. Because out breath kept fogging it back up. We tried to open the windows to equalize the temperature inside and that helped a little. Dean played with all the buttons on the dash while I tried to drive us out of the National Park. I flicked a switch to turn the rear defroster on and all of a sudden the heater fan began to work. Now we don't really know if there was a connection as both Dean and I were fiddling with things. But once we got it going neither wanted to turn it off. 3 hours later we were back in the city and I had an hour of cleaning to do to get everything unpacked. My first camping trip with Tommy had gone very smoothly. More than a week later the heater fan is still working just fine. So keep your fingers crossed for me there's a lot of winter driving left to do here.