I spent this morning working in the carpark behind the pub. Not our most scenic campsite but functional nonetheless. This earning-money stuff is really getting in the way of our working holiday! I had a “miner’s pasty” for breakfast, an interesting combination of apples, carrots, potatoes, and maybe (???) sweet potatoes inside a pastry shell that looked like a turnover. Not exactly what I was expecting when they said it was “apple-filled,” but there have been lots of surprises on this trip.
We left Blinman around lunchtime – Adam behind the wheel – and wound our way through the Southern Flinders Ranges – honestly some of the most beautiful scenery I have ever seen. I hadn’t expected such majesty. Adam and I are both wishing we’d camped among the hillsides there. If only we’d known. We saw hardly any cars and luckily hardly any kangaroos, either.
We stopped briefly in Leigh Creek, a former (but now very quiet) mining town. It reminded me of a ski village in the off-off season. All the buildings were attached or grouped together, but none were open. We also stopped to check out the campground at Farina, an “Outback ghost town” – an abandoned mining town with lots of cool ruins. The campground looked lovely, but we were looking to put a few more kilometres behind us.
We arrived in Marree around happy hour, conveniently. The Marree Hotel – another pub we’d be camping behind – was hopping! Cars, motorbikes, campervans, and even a bus or two of grey nomads lining the streets. A very different vibe. We met some very friendly guys in the pub who were drowning their flat tire sorrows at the bar.
Adam and I went back to Sherwood to do a bit more work, then returned to the pub for dinner. I had a camel burger!!! This was challenging, given my lovely camel ride early in the trip, but I had to put my thoughts aside and try it. Delicious, but I wouldn’t be able to differentiate it from beef, truth be told.
We are now the northernmost we’ve been on the trip and have begun the Oodnadatta Track. The plan is to continue along the track tomorrow to William Creek, then on to famously underground Coober Pedy.
