Thursday 26th February 2015 – Stuart Hwy Camp to Spear Creek Camp

Fine Sunny Warm -

This was our camp wake up this morning – just lovely.  It would have been really great to camp there a few days, but there wasn’t much shade and we have a couple of hot days coming up, so we packed up and headed towards Port Augusta.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We heard a “Morse Code” bird this morning - did-did-did, didee-dit  -  it is a crested bell bird. 

This is a file image so that you can what it looks like.  We saw one on our walk between the canyons at Cape Range National Park up the top of WA.

 

 

 

I thought we were further out of Port Augusta, but after I checked the mileage, we were just on 100 kms from the town.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is a view of South Tent Hill – named for its’ shape.  It was a very scenic drive along the Stuart Highway coming into Port Augusta.

Last night we did some research and decided against staying in Port Augusta – it has issues :)    It reminded me a little of Mt Isa, just pass on through….  Nice touch having a gaol right in town, the caravan parks with high fences and lots of signs about car theft everywhere, not to mention the paddy wagons.  To finish off, a group pulled up by police and a car search.  We opted for Spear Creek Caravan Park which is on Spear Creek Sheep Station about 20 kms out of town.  I asked the resident managers what they thought of Port Augusta – they tried very hard to find something positive – Would they stay there – absolutely not.  We will see more of it tomorrow, but our drive through impression that it was rough and ready.

We visited – The Australian Arid Lands Botanic Garden – free entry – I really enjoyed visiting here and walking around the gardens.  It was started in the 80’s using the last remanent patch of natural bushland and built upon and then opened to the public.  It has a lovely gift shop / information centre & plant nursery and cafe.  We stayed for lunch – we couldn’t believe how reasonably priced the food was and delicious.

Everything is named – we walked past this very ordinary plant, but were taken aback by the wonderful fragrance.  I took a photo of the name – yes, yet another one I want to grow.  It’s going to be hard trying to design a garden but keep to the principal less is more.

Back to fascination of Mistletoe and all of the varieties we have.  I think that this is different from the one we saw at Newhaven on our discovery of how Mistletoe worked.  It was in full flower and looked quite stunning.

 

 

 

 

 

 

(left) the Mallee flowers half way along the branch, the leaves are so uniform.  When it has finished flowering then there are a bunch of gumnuts in that place.  Visually it is really interesting.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A view of the water with mangroves.  It seems a bit odd to have mangroves down here.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A view looking across to the Southern Flinders Ranges and parts of the city.  Our drive through the town – left us with the impression that it isn’t pretty but industrial.  A trip to town tomorrow and we will see if that is the case.