Packed the car , headed to the local Big W for new sunnies for Brian and a new bag for me as I'd snapped a handle on the one I'd brought with me ( big enough to carry my iPad and all my other day junk). Had a Maccas breakfast then navigated our way to the Barrier Hwy. The rain had passed followed by strong winds which again had blown up the red dust.
Arrived at the South Australian border and took some photos. I managed a few with me and Brian almost in them haha and took one of Brian. He assured me he didn't need to photograph me there cause he had a photo of me on the digital camera already. Struggled back into the car against the wishes of the gale winds which didn't want me to open the car door. As we drove away I looked through the photos Brian had taken....yeah , right I was in one.. Not! Looks like I'll need to do a little photoshopping when I get home. Least in my photo my hair won't have the blown away look and I might just be wearing stilettos haha.
Had our first experience with a kamikaze road train. It was all over the road and even off the road at times, sometimes parts of the trailers were off the road before the truck swerved to drag them back onto the road. It reminded me of how a hose swirls on the ground when you turn the tap on fast. It was scary to watch but I reckoned as it was in front of us at least we knew where it was. Did I say in front of us???? Well it was for about ten minutes then I diverted my eyes for a moment ( think I was unwrapping a mintie) . Then it was beside me as Brian did a typical Clark Griswald. Couldn't even scream as we raced passed avoiding the truck through sheer luck I think!!!! When I got my voice back I told ( hmmm yelled???) Brian we could not stop between there and the 300 or so kms left til Adelaide for fear the truck would pass us and we would need to repeat the death act!
However, after my heart returned to a normal beat I found us a diversion through a place called Peterborough where 25 kms we would come to Magnetic Hill . Google said it was made of something ( iron??) so you put your car in neutral and it rolls UP the hill. Found the hill at the end of an 8 km gravel road. Followed the directions and guess where our car went??? Yep , it rolled BACKWARDS , tried a few times with repeated results :(( seems according to the sign or car mustn't be all steel ( or the hill is a hoax hahaha) .
Rain started and we hit the Barrier Highway again. I was always keeping an eye out for that truck.... Next we had coming towards us a utilty bearing the sign " large load following" and it was LARGE . We had to slow down and pull onto the dirt to let it pass, then a few more minutes the other half of the load was on another truck of the same size!
The rest of the trip was uneventful, though wet , until the petrol bell in the car rang to signal 40 kms left and our next town was 26 kms away. I so wanted to have faith in that tank!!! My faith was restored as we drove into the towns BP service station with 17 kms still showing as available.
Brian picked up more lollies which we ate as we got closer and closer to Adelaide. Along the way the hills looked just like that windows desktop picture though the clouded were grey not white. The countryside had lost the red earth look, the plants were taller and greener and remnants of stone homes of long ago littered the road line.Had there not been barbed wire fences I would have loved to have a close look in the abandoned homes.
Used the iPad as a GPS to escort us to our hotel in Adelaide. Settled in and decided to go to a pasta place a block away. Conned to walk as there were no closer parking spots, I grudgingly did it. Had a great tasty meal and we decide to take gelatos back to the hotel. As we stepped out with our desserts the heavens opened on us. But, I covered my ice cream carefully with my hand and hoped the new bag was waterproof enough for my mobile phones ( yes that's plural haha) and iPad ... And it was :)))
Going to google Adelaide now to see what to do in the next few days. Oh it's not even school holidays here til Friday
Love Kerry-Anne and BRIAN xxx
PS How lucky was I??? Apparently the pandas (the whole reason I wanted to come to Adelaide ) have been off exhibit this last week in the hope they would mate and little pandas would soon be born. Luckily today they returned on show! How disappointed would I have been if they hadn't been on exhibit :((( Apparently they don't think the pandas mated. I remember in my house pandas multiplied too easily hahaha :))
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