Rounding off the lap.....

We left Ayers Rock Resort saying goodbye to Uluru and headed east for the Stuart Highway.  Within a couple of hours we were at the boarder, saying goodbye to the Territory and hello to South Australia.  To our surprise the terrain surrounding the highway grew more and more desolate with each kilometre, until there was almost nothing.  I’d been surprised at the amount of growth on the ground further north in the Territory – I had expected it to be like the type of scenery we were witnessing now.

We made it as far as Marla and set up behind the Marla Roadhouse – a surprisingly well appointed overnight stop.  Almost the best showers we’ve had in 4 months.  However the niceness stopped there – the overnight temperature dropped to minus 1.  It was a long cold night – at one point I thought we might wake up and the girls would just be four frozen sticks (imagine my horror when they all said they were hot overnight!!!).  The pack up early in the morning was tough too – you might say it was the straw that broke the camels back!  Thank goodness we’re sleeping underground for the next two nights.  We didn't know it at the time but Marla was our last campsite...

When we checked in and went deep underground (6.5 metres) the girls couldn’t believe it.  They couldn’t contain their excitement.  We’d been reserved a large room in the backpackers section – the only part that had it’s own door.  We had 10 sets of bunks to choose from – everyone could have a top bunk!!!

Cooper Pedy township was a bit depressing, tourism must be dying off a bit probably due to the decline in popularity of the Opal (nothing like it was 30 years ago).  Shopkeepers were turning on the lights as we walked in and off again even before we’d left.

We visited (on recommendation) the Serbian Church which was a small well carved underground church.  Followed by some ‘noodling’ (fossiking) for opals before doing a mine tour.  The girls enjoying weaving through the tunnels and walking through the underground house.

The highlight of the area was our drive out through the Breakaways Conservation Park and along the dog fence.  Some very interesting scenery. We also enjoyed reading about the dog fence and driving alongside it for a while.  The colours in the landscape were amazing.

The following morning we readied ourselves early and headed out to the car, to find the camper trailer and windscreen with a reasonably thick slice of ice on top.  The overnight temperature dropped to near 0c – but not in the cave!!!  The cave is a constant 23 – 25c year round.

We got away early with 850 kms to cover to reach Adelaide.  With our arrival into Port Augusta we realised ‘Our Lap’ was complete.  We’d passed this 3 way intersection 15 weeks ago – I can’t believe it’s finished, sadness has hit!!

140 kms south of Port Augusta the speedo ticked over to 20,000kms!!  All of a sudden we were back in civilisation – heavy (for us) traffic going both ways.  We also realised that it was the last day of school holidays in South Australia and we hoped it didn’t mean lots of traffic.

We were headed for my cousins house again to enjoy two more nights of cousin fun.  We’ll finish off the trip how we started it.  Perfect.  We had one full day in Adelaide - the sun shone beautifully but it was cold.  We had a picnic in Glenelg followed by a milkshake.  Once again the girls had a ball playing together.

We were treated to a gorgeous sunset and spectacular sunrise before we set off on the final leg of our journey......homeward bound.

A.