Well, we left Adelaide this morning, heading north to Alice Springs, with detours to Coober Pedy and Ayers Rock. It’s so nice to be back in warm weather, wearing shorts and tops rather than layers which you constantly put on and take off because the weather can’t make up it’s mind! And jeans! Normally we love our jeans, but not having worn them for a while it’s amazing how uncomfortable they feel when you start wearing them again. It was also very wet in Adelaide, which has been lovely for the locals, but, well, as I’ve mentioned in previous posts, we’re a bit over the rain. It’s been following us around for a while.
We’re staying tonight in Port Augusta and it’s a gorgeous day – about 25 degrees, and sunny and the weather’s only going to get hotter as we go north. I believe it’s about 32 in Alice. Despite the weather, we had a great time in Adelaide. We spent a lot of time with our friends Steve and Jill and their daughters and grandchildren. We also did a bit of touring around, mainly to the Barossa where we tried some lovely wines and had a great meal at Saltrams winery (they do a fantastic moreten bay bug ravioli, which is what I ordered and what David thought I was going to share with him, silly David! You’d think he’d know me after 35 years together).
David and Steve got a few projects completed on the truck and van – they made a tripod for the front which has made an amazing difference in the movement inside the van, they also made rear outrigger stands (extra legs for the back) which has also made a huge improvement to the stability. They lined the floor of the truck with some heat insulation so the floor doesn’t get so hot from the exhaust. They also completed a project for Steve – installing a GPS in his car. Now he, like David, gets to hear a lovely woman’s voice telling him where to go! Don’t know why they had to spend money for that when Jill and I could do it for free!
Our plans have changed slightly – we aren’t going to Darwin right now. We need to be back in Adelaide at the end of July for a few weeks (bugger, it will be freezing!), so we will probably see if there’s any work in Alice for a couple of months. Don’t know which direction we will go after that – might go over to Perth and up the west coast. We’ll see. We have a very fluid lifestyle! Not sure what internet access will be like in Alice, although they’ve been advertising Next G being available there, so should be ok. Will update soon, if that’s the case, hopefully with photos of the lovely gemstones I’m going to find fossicking around Coober Pedy, and of David climbing Ayers Rock