Woza’s. We remember when we first left, meeting travelling families that had been on the road for six months and thinking that was such a long time! Now we’re here, and we know it’s really just the blink of an eye!
This month we made the tough decision to turn around and go east to get the car fixed, spent time with good friends, actually got the car fixed, and, in the perfect twist of fate, finished the month in almost the same place we started with a celebration fit for marking half a year of travel.
Exploring Baird Bay on the first day of the month, who would have guessed we would be free camping here at the end of the month! 
The Big Farmer at Wudinna is stunning 
Camp over cooking competition in Wudinna – food was outstanding! 
When the small town you’re staying in has a colour run on at 8pm Saturday night, you of course take part! 
SA have a great selection of free splash parks and waterslides – this one was in the park at Wudinna (did we mention we loved this town!) 
Murphy’s Haystacks were well worth the visit. A stunning place that had a particular effect on Miss Emily. 
Pildappa Rock – SA’s “mini wave rock” 
Loving Murphy’s Haystacks 
The rock formations around Wudinna were impressive 
Taking a moment out to appreciate the view and have a cuddle with Dad! 
Pindalpa Rock 
Fabulous town, great low-cost camp and some amazing local art work 
Meeting Port Pirie’s Shakka the Shark – this display was well worth spending the time on. 
Port Pirie’s public pool was fun! 
This one was a little special – number 10 for all of us, first Parkrun we ever did twice and Emily’s first full 5km run! The crew from Memorial Park parkrun were so great we had breakfast with them both weeks! Thanks for having us. 
Laura Community Caravan Park delivers fresh scones on arrival. We didn’t know this so it was an extra special surprise. 
Loving Laura and the C.J Dennis history 
The King Tree 
A special place 
Before we reflect on the highlights more, let’s look at the numbers for this month (and total in brackets):
- 3,400 kms travelled (21,664kms) + approx 860km on the Spirit of Tas!
- Fuel bill for the month: $930 ($6,939.26)
- Most expensive campsite: $44 per night
- Accommodation costs: $1,049 ($4,935.86)
- States & Territories visited: 1 (5)
- Pools / splash parks: 2 (14)
- Natural waterholes/beaches swum in: 1 (10)
- ParkRuns completed: 2 (11)
- Playgrounds visited: 9 (77)
- Big things: 2 (12)
- Harry Potter audiobooks listened to: 5!!
- Other audiobooks enjoyed: Stolen Focus, Johann Hari (holy moly, is this good!)
Highlights
March was our first calendar month spent in one state!
We started the month turning east, rather than continuing west as we had hoped however, what started as quite a bit of stress and frustration at the delays proved to be a lovely month in a fabulous state. SA has definitely surprised us with its beauty and diversity.
We’re still behind in our posts – so another highlight reel before the posts for each place pop up! First stop was the small town of Wudinna (pronounced Wood-Nah!) – it was a blast! We know it’s not on the top of travellers to-do lists, but we’re here to tell you it’s well worth stopping and exploring.
After Wudinna, we visited Kimba (and found some friends) and then on to Port Pirie where we were determined to enjoy ourselves despite the unknown factor of the car.
Once the car was fixed (earlier than expected thanks to the legends in Port Pirie), we headed to Laura to explore the southern Flinders. We stayed for a week, but we’re all sure Garth could have stayed forever! From here we headed back to the EP to finish off the month.
And boy did we finish the month, and celebrate our six-month anniversary, in style – free camping and swimming with seal lions and dolphins in the magnificent Baird Bay! It was unforgettable
H: There’s no way I can go past the Baird Bay Ocean Eco Experience – like everyone else, swimming with sea lions and dolphins will forever be a highlight of the trip for me.
I also had a really special experience at “the King Tree” near Laura. It’s hard to explain, the energy here was something special.
My other highlights – discovering that there is more to Port Pirie than meets the eye, Sir Michael and his incredible customer service, the bird that adopted us in Laura, Wudinna and all it had to offer, camp kitchen dinners with travel friends and a week of off-grid camping (that included a good-for-the-soul return to Korinya Farm) were my March favs.
G: Swimming with the dolphins and seal lions is definitely up there, along with the Laura Community Caravan Park, enjoying rain for the first time in a while, exploring Burra and Clare and returning to Korinya. Oh and getting my car back – fixed!
M: The community day at Wudinna, Laura and surrounds, CocoLaura, Kimba, going back to Korinya, Moonta, Memorial Park parkrun, swimming with seal lions and dolphins and seeing Isabelle and Karah again (twice!)
E: Apex Park at Wudinna, picking up crabs at Baird Bay, the water park and Cornish pasties at Moonta, Big Big Emergy at Murphy’s haystacks, going back to Korinya, camping at Kimba, running my first full ParkRun at Port Pirie, seeing Isabelle and Karah, CocoLaura and of course… swimming with seal lions and dolphins
Lowlights
Bloody warranties (Warning – Hayley on a rant here!) – honestly, I know there are some shit people out there that have probably ruined it for the rest of us, but I’ve had enough of companies getting out of warranties! Nothing drives me mad more than offering a really good warranty only to have enough loopholes to get you out of actually replacing an item. Thermos Australia are currently on my 
I’ll reserve my rant on the other brand until we’re done dealing with that one…
Lessons learnt
Don’t trust bloody warranties
More seriously, like last month, we were reminded that customer service can make all the difference. We cannot thank Michael and the Spencer Motors Port Pirie staff, enough for all they did for us. Their customer service was second to none!
We must have rung at least half of the Mitsubishi dealers in SA trying to get help with the car and the service ranged from disinterest to downright disrespectful (there was the odd good one but overall, this is how we were treated). But from the moment we spoke to Michael, we knew that the trek back to Pirie would be worth it.
We were right and they went out of their way to make sure we were looked after and back on the road much faster than first expected. We cannot thank them enough!
Best buys
Buckets and spade (and molds) from Hyde and Seek and sand free brush from Sande Kids – game changers for beach and sandy days! I honestly thought the girls were done with buckets and spades but they missed them on this trip – not only for the beach but when collecting treasures in different locations. We splashed out on two sand-free brushes on the recommendation of another travelling family. So glad we did! One lives under the passenger seat in the car – which means all sandy feet get cleaned off before we jump on (and Dads happy!). The other hangs outside the van for those straight-from-the-sand-to-the-van moments
P.S Locky – this is for you 🙂
Knee Deep Travels 