Port Augusta – “The Big Smoke and Mitre 10”

Port Augusta had two visits from us. One on the way there (3rd Sept) and one on the way back (17 Sept).

On our first visit, we stayed at the Big 4 caravan park which was very nice and had an ensuite which we luxuriated in! So nice to have one's own loo!

We had one day in Port Augusta to do a bit if sight seeing and a place to buy a few items for the caravan. (We might get ourselves organised by the time we get back to Victoria!)

We visited the Australian Arid Lands Botanic Garden and it was fascinating to see all the beautiful desert flowers and trees that we would encounter. Absolutely, fell in love with Sturt Peas. They look like little aliens from outer space with big black eyes.  (Reminds me of the book "Day of the Triffids". Now that's scary!)

We wandered over to the Wadlata Outback Centre with the entrance through a large snakes' mouth - interesting! The centre was very hands on and obviously to keep kids entertained, but it was very well done and we purchased some goodies for the family.

BUT, nothing goes smoothly with this motley crew. Got back to the caravan park and the door of the caravan was wide open.  A near "poo panic" as we both looked at each other in shock.  Dived out of the car and found that nothing had been touched. It seems the door lock had come undone and the door came open due to an old lock that had come loose and also not being locked properly.  Instruction to Nigella on the key to lock the door. I must admit it is not an easy lock and caused further investigation later on. So off to Mitre 10 for a new set of screws and a new coiled wire to tighten the mechanism.  All good. Got everything sorted, screwed in and nail glue applied and then realised we hadn't put the new coil wire in!  A short expletive in the form of "bugger it" and we had a cup of tea.

The South Australian architecture always has me enthralled. The beautiful old sandstone buildings with the lined pointing is just fascinating.  A trick to it all is to mortar the rocks to form walls and then render with concrete. After that the concrete is scored with lines and then the lines are painted in white to look like mortar and perfect brick work.  Veeeery clever.

An interesting feature of Port Augusta is that it is a plastic bag free town.  No plastic bags, so if you don't bring your green bags to the supermarket, you will have to buy more!  Good plan though, 'cos no-one arrives without the green bags, except, you guessed it  us!

Also there is no alcohol in any public place, or anywhere for that matter. Alcohol is obviously a real issue in SA and NT. To purchase alcohol has restrictions depending where you live.  Cooper Pedy is one bottle of wine per day and you need to have your driver's licence to prove your identity and be checked for any alcohol related crimes.  In Alice Springs, you can have one bottle of wine and a six pack of beer per day. I was taken by surprise but it seems to work as the crime due to alcohol related issues has dropped and certainly the streets are not as noisy with screaming, drunken behaviour that I remember from 20+ years ago.

Anyway, after Port Augusta, a 5.30 hour drive to Coober Pedy

Lovely sandstone buildings

Sturt Peas or the "little aliens!"