Today, Sunday, was time to do washing but there was a small problem, there was rain overnight and there was a shower or two about. Anyway, washing was done and put in the dryer when a shower approached. There was only about 5 mm recorded but welcomed by the local community in this dry area.
While we were waiting for the washing to be sorted, our Kimberley Karavan attracted lots of lookers. We do not mind showing interested people our Karavan. Most are envious but inventively it leads to a good chat with exchanges of where we had all travelled to in the past. In other words, it is a great way of meeting people.
After the washing was sorted we went for a drive along the western side of Spencer Gulf but only for a short way after we ran out of interesting sights. From that side there is a good view of the main part of Port Augusta. The power station, with its high stack, is very obvious on the sky line. The shopping precinct and the foreshore look very good from the opposite side of the Gulf.
Soon after, we crossed over Spencer Gulf and went to the shopping area. While there, we bought some items in Big W and then a few grocery items in Woolworths. Then we returned to the Karavan and had some lunch.
After lunch, we travelled to the Australian Arid Lands Botanic Garden. As we arrived into the Botanic Gardens, we drove to the Matthew Flinders Lookout.It was first visited by Matthew Flinders in the early 1800s when he was surveying the Australian coastline in his small ship “Investigator”. One of his team, Robert Brown, collected, named and sketched the new plants that they found in the area. Many of these plants originated near the lookout.
Following the Lookout, we then drove the short distance to the Arid Lands Visitors Centre. Our first priority was for a cappuccino and scones with quandong jam. Yum!! After this break we then walked around the wonderful display of plants and trees that are mostly found in the arid areas of Australia. Each plant was identified in various locations and I am certain we will be seeing these again as we travel through the Flinders Ranges. This is a very busy place with all us tourists wandering through. There are numerous walking trails of varying lengths. They go through the whole area with one walk of up to 12 kilometres. However, as the day was getting on we did only the short one. It is an amazing display and one that is worth stopping for.
Soon after our return to the Caravan Park, we chatted to Malcolm and little Isaac on Skype. This is always rewarding to us. We saw on Facebook some photos of Malcolm, Carrie and Isaac’s visit to the snow in Victoria with some friends. Isaac soon became used to the snow and appeared to have fun.
The day wound up as we cooked a stir fry on the outside cook top. It was cold but the meal made up for it. It was so tasty and full of vegetables and beef. As usual, we helped it down with several glasses of our red wine. As a friend, who works in Goulburn, told me last night, red wine is very good at getting rid of coughs, colds and other ailments!