NEXT STAGE OF OUR TRAVELS

25th July 2020

A lot of water has run under the bridge since we left South Australia for Darwin.  Due to the worsening of the pandemic in Victoria and NSW we decided to start the trip up to Darwin on the 25th July 2020 for a number of reasons.

The first reason was that we were to meet about 30 people in Darwin for the spreading of the ashes of Maree's brother over Darwin Harbour as that was his last request. More about that later.

On the 25th July 2020 we finished packing the van for the trip after we had it serviced at the local service centre and commenced our trip to NT.

During the time we were in SA we had a diesel heater fitted to our caravan and also we had the Baby Q Weber that we had, fitted to the rear of the van on a slide out tray and also had a gas bayonet fitting fitted to the van so that we could use the BBQ from the gas supply on the van and not a separate bottle.

Once that was done and we left home we needed to stop at Port Wakefield so that we could have fitted a cover over the BBQ which we had previously ordered from the canvas maker. So we stopped off there and had it fitted. The pictures don't show the cover as it has bird droppings on it and I will show it later when it is clean.

This is the BBQ opened with the Pizza stone on it (Pizza last night)

 

This is the BBQ closed and the tray locked in

After we had the canvas fitted to the BBQ we fuelled up and left Port Wakefield to commence our travel North to the NT. The first stop was at Woomera in SA and we needed a couple of things so we drove to the local IGA to purchase before heading into the BIG 4 caravan park at the end of town.

It is a nice caravan park as we had stayed at it on a number of times previously and knew the layout of the park and we jagged a spot near the dunnies which was very convenient. As the NT border had only just been opened there was a lot of travellers on the road and the park was reasonably full.

The weather was warming up slightly and we used the new diesel heater that we had fitted to under the bed and it warmed the place up nicely. That was the last time we used the diesel heater so far on the trip. As you will understand shortly.

Next day we left Woomera and recommenced our journey North and our next stop was at Coober Pedy where we had also stayed previously on a number of occasions. The trip from Woomera was uneventful and the caravan park that we stayed at has its own Italian Pizza restaurant and we like to have a glass of wine and a pizza in the restaurant but to our despondency it had not at this stage opened from the border closures and we had to cook our own dinner in the van. Maybe on the way back.

We headed for the caravan parking spots and set ourselves up for the night and sadly cooking our own meal in the van. That night we slept without a heater and the windows closed as the we were getting a little closer to the tropics and its weather so the need was not there for a heater.

Next morning we headed into town and fuelled up the car and off to our next destination which was across the NT border at Erldunda. 

I mentioned earlier that there was a couple of reasons that we wanted to go to Darwin and the second reason was to meet up with about 30 other friends and Maree's relations so that we could attend a scattering of the ashes of Maree's brother over Darwin harbour which was his last request. I mentioned this in my last post.