"An Around-the-World-Ticket for Two, Please."

Feeling hot, hot, hot!

Posted by Sarah O'Neill , Friday, 28 January 2011 00:53

After the skype date with the family on Monday we packed up in good time and got on our way, however it was slow going getting out of Adelaide! Once we were out of the city and on our way it was plain sailing all the way to Port Augusta, stopping for lunch in Port Pirie which was rather nice! We have managed to stop in lovely places for our lunch everyday, and Port Pirie was no exception. We sat by the water eating out sandwiches (made there and then obviously!) and watching the world go by for a few minutes.

Port Augusta is a very hot place, and is referred to as 'the gate to the outback' in this region, so you can imagine the landscape! We couldn't do anything before getting into the pool as it was far too hot! After a refreshing dip in the pool we felt ready to attack the tent. We pitched the tent in bright red sandy earth that was very hot and hard! It was incredibly dusty! The campsite was not busy at all, as it really is not a place many people would ever go to, we were only there on our way to the sharks! Had the ferry been running that takes you across from Adelaide to Cowell, we would have been on it, as it's only a short drive to Port Lincoln after that, but as it was not we found ourselves at Port Augusta driving the 650 km trip! The campsite did have the BEST camp kitchen we have ever seen, and it was air conditioned! It was soooooo nice to go in and sit down for a while, but then absolutely terrible once you came back outside! It was all decked out in stainless steel, and looked like a professional chefs kitchen, so Ben was in his element! After pitching the tent we got back in the pool to cool off! Then off to the supermarket for something for dinner! We could not believe how hot the ground was, and it stayed that way all night! We were just settling down for bed at about half ten, when Ben complained about how I had not pumped up the bed enough. However, we had both been sat on it reading and emailing etc, and it had been fine, then we suddenly realised it must have a puncture, and it started to go much faster and we could hear it! So, I had to get out of bed and hunt around in the car for the puncture repair kit, then we had to get all the air out, and patch it up and wait, sat on the hot ground, for half an hour before we pumped it up again! We decided to put our sleeping bags under our sheet as a small comfort incase it deflated in the night! So, off we went to bed not knowing what state we would be in come the morning! It became apparent after just five minutes that it was now a very slow leak, and we were glad we had put the sleeping bags underneath for the little bit of comfort they might provide! Come the morning the bed was pretty flat, but not completely, and remarkably we both slept ok which was a blessing! We googled K Mart (a cheap shop here) to see if Port Lincoln had one, and it did, so we knew we'd be stopping there for a new bed!

So we got up very early as it was going to get pretty hot very soon! The guy in the office said we had been lucky yesterday as the temperature had only hit 37 as there was a good wind, but today was going to hit 45, so we thought we'd better get moving pretty quick! We drove all the way to Port Lincoln, stopping off for lunch by the sea again! We arrived at Port Lincoln in the early afternoon and were pleased we would have a whole afternoon to relax, but alas that was not meant to be! The camp site is a big site right on the sea, and it's a tiered site up the cliff side and it is pretty windy! We took a while working out which way to face the tent, and once this was decided we got on with it, but the more we put up the worse it became, the whole side of the tent was folding completely in on itself under the wind. We were both very concerned, it was crazy windy and the tent was becoming half the size being battered by it! The tent was mostly up apart from a couple of pegs, but we decided to go and ask if there was a more sheltered spot! There was inbetween two big vans so we decided to relocate! So we put the tent down, quite tricky in the crazy wind, and moved over to the other spot! We began putting it up, and it was a much more sheltered spot, still with a bit of wind, but the issue we had here was how hard the ground was! Ben was having great difficulty banging some of them in, as it was gravel and rock hard underneath, and many pegs got bent! A kind man who had lent us his mallet (as we only have a hammer!) came over to see how we were getting on, and had a go at the last peg that was not going in at all and couldn't do it either! He bought over a really thick peg, and even that bent! We ended up banging it in slightly in the wrong place, but at least it was in! So, tent finally up most of the afternoon had gone! However, we ventured to the information centre to find out where the K Mart was, and what else there was going on here. The lady was really helpful and informed us that it was the 5 day festival of 'Tunarama' here!!! They are big on tuna here, and have this festival every year, and this year was special as it was the 50th anniversary! We had missed the big stuff over the weekend like the tossing of the tuna! But we were in time to see the watermelon eating contest on Wednesday and the slippery pole contest! We bought oursleves a new bed and had a relaxing evening. We went for a walk along the sea front and Ben threw stones and rocks into the sea, what is it about boys throwing things?!

On Wednesday we enjoyed not having to get up and pack up the tent etc!!! Had a lazy morning and after smelling bacon on lots of mornings and wishing we had some, we got some yesterday and enjoyed a bacon and egg sandwich for brunch! Did a load of washing and then got everything sorted for the next day - Shark day! We went to find the parking for the place, and found the office but they were shut for lunch and it said be back at 1pm, it was now 1.15pm, so we left and went to check out the Tunarama festivities. On our way we had the radio on and the lady said something about coming up to 1pm, and we both looked at eachother and wondered if we had missed a time change when we crossed over into South Australia days ago!!!! We really needed to find out as we had the shark dive the next day!!!! We went to the information centre and asked the time, and it was half an hour earlier than we thought!!!!! We had spent days on the wrong time zone, but had never noticed! Lucky we did today, or we would have been very early for the shark dive and might have thought it was cancelled! No wonder the shark dive office was still shut for lunch when we turned up! After moseying around the Tunarama and seeing a bit of the slippery pole contest and the kids watermelon eating contest we got dinner for the evening and tomorrow as we could be back late, and packed our bags up ready for the early start! We had to meet them at 6.30am, so alarms were set for 5.30am!!! Definately on the right time! Three alarms to be precise! I had a skype chat with school which was excellent! It was my old class, now in year four, and the next door class too! They all looked grown up and it was so funny feeling like I was back there, but I was sat outside in a campsite in Australia! They had prepared some questions for me which I did my best to answer! They were celebrating Australia Day so it worked really well! After that was done it was time to shower and get to bed ready for the day ahead!
I will try and get Ben to blog about shark day very soon!
Sarah x