Two months on the road!

This month was all about the magic of the Flinders Ranges and the aqua blue shores of South Australia.

Oh, and selfie frames! The SA Coast know how to do a selfie frame or two.

Let’s look at the numbers for this month (trip total in brackets):

3,903 kms travelled (9,556kms)
Fuel bill for the month: $1,493.09 ($3,661.59)
Most expensive diesel: $2.609/L
Most expensive campsite: $53.10 per night
Cheapest campsite: free! Plus one $5 donation – free camps were few and far between this month but we snagged some good bush/beach camps at a good price.
Accommodation costs: $1,080 ($1,232)
States & Territories visited: 2 (3)
Pools swum in: 2 (7)
Natural waterholes/beaches swum in: 1 (2)
ParkRuns completed: 2 (3)
Playgrounds visited: 20 (33)
Chocolate factories / lolly shops visited: 3
Brewery/distillery/winery visited: 4
Big things: 3 – Rocking horse, Lobster and Olives (4)
Harry Potter audio books listened to: 2.5

Most heard phrases:

“Matilda, stop talking!”
“Emily, eat your dinner”
“Look at that tree”
“No karate in the caravan!”

Things we should have left at home: The TV (Mums view – the girls and Dad don’t agree).

Things we should have brought: a few key Christmas things – the girls Christmas dresses and socks, a couple of Santa hats, Santa sacks. Christmas decorating is a big deal in our house and we’re all realising those few things would have helped everyone feel more festive (and less homesick for the little one). Not a disaster – we can grab what we need (and have of course!) but lesson for those planning a trip.

Best buys: The full set of Harry Potter books (it was a bargain!) and the Harry Potter audio books. We’re all listening to the audio books together and our travel days have never been so quiet. We are all engrossed.

Highlights:

We did A LOT this month! We know the first month was big – but we had much longer travel days and stays. It seems near impossible we started the month in the middle of nowhere (Marla), checked out Port Augusta (don’t believe everything you hear), headed for the Flinders, smashed out the Yorke, visited family in Gawler, thoroughly enjoyed the Murraylands and Fluerieu peninsula and are now heading south to the Limestone Coast! Let’s see what each of us picked as our top experiences.

G: Blood moon over the fire pit in the Flinders Ranges, driving the Bunyeroo Track through Wilpena Pound, Pichi Richi Railway, Quorn Silo Light Show, catching up with Karen and Paul, Monarto Safari Park, Little Bosa and cruising in Lake Alexandrina.

M: Monarto Safari Park, The tunnel of time (dinosaur mouth) at Wadlata Outback Centre, blood moon, quondong soda, Quorn, Cornish pasties, kids play areas at the Prince Albert pub at Gawler, Harry’s horses, table tennis and putt putt at Tailem Bend, all the chocolate factory’s, Ice cream stops, oh and the strawberry picking!

E: Harry’s Bush Camp, Little Bosa at Port Elliot, lots of playgrounds, Quorn, Wallaroo, Spud’s Roadhouse and Port Augusta (and everything we did at all of these places!), putt putt, table tennis and the table top games at Tailem Bend, the blood moon and strawberry picking.

H: Oh gosh this is really hard. There is so much – I’ll try and keep it brief… Driving through Wilpena Pound, particularly the second half through the magnificent gorges – the almost dry creek beds, the trees, the views – ahhhh take me back! (I loved it so much I have no photos!). Spending some quality time with Karen and Paul was so good – it’s been too long! Strawberry picking at Beerenberg – I’m craving those darn things. The SA Coastline in general has me enchanted – it’s spectacular and the water colour is incredible. I’m putting Second Valley on my list of return places – I need to swim there! Finding really good low cost camps has been a highlight this month as well – as the others have said it was so good to stay at Harry’s and Little Bosa and really made the experiences in these areas better.

Watching the family “embrace” parkrun as part of our travel schedule makes me so happy. I have wanted to do them for ages and I really appreciate that they are all doing it with me now!

Finally, the mighty Murray River – the cruise to see the mouth of the river as well as standing by the river as the communities around it prepare for what will be a difficult and emotional month is something I won’t forget. The communities along the River, particularly those of Mannum and Murray Bridge will be with us in our hearts as the water approaches.

Oh actually, one more – lunch at motherduck in Goolwa is going on the record as the best food we’ve had on the road.

Lowlights: the biggest mozzies we have ever seen at Woomera! Seriously these things were nasty – they even bit through our clothes!

Otherwise we seem to have hit our grove and so not many lowlights.

The colder weather and the wind were a little disappointing (no beach swimming), but to be honest that’s not such a big deal.

There’s of course been the adjustment into van life – four people in a small space is quite the adjustment! There’s not a lot of quiet time or alone tome, but that’s a small blip in the grand scheme of things.

Lessons learnt: Garth says “Don’t feed the kids baked beans”