Day 367 – Just Passing through

• Glenelg – Ouyen
• 383kms
• 20°c

Goodbye Adelaide, we're hitting the road. Well not before we attend to a few housekeeping matters! Whilst Steve was waiting in queue I noticed a big fifth wheeler type van across from us and being curious I had to hop out and take a look. It was The Queensland School for travelling show children aka Carny folk, how awesome is that, just goes to show that school is not limited to a place or a time! I had a bit of a sticky and was busted by a student peering out the window and a teacher who was more than happy to answer my questions.

We crossed into Victoria, but we all knew it was only a transient visit as we cut across the corner into NSW.

Ouyen Caravan Park, $39 a night, power, water, amenities

Day 366 - Happy 1 Year Anniversary Karma Bus!

• Glenelg
• 16°c

12 months on the road for The Karma Bus and what an experience it has been! We have travelled over 41,595kms and seen so many amazing places and met so many fantastic people. It has been an absolutely awesome adventure and one we are so glad we've embarked upon.

Oscar and Ella chose The Sushi Train as our lunch spot in the heart of Adelaide today and it was thoroughly enjoyed by all.

In Adelaide we checked out Rundle Mall and were quite surprised at how big the city actually is! We haven't been in the big smoke for quite some time now. Then it was back home and a chance for one last play before we pack up and move on tomorrow. Steve went out for dinner with Freshy and had a great time catching up, many a yarn and a laugh I bet! Ella, Occy & I had pancakes for dinner as a treat and I managed to improve on the best pancake ever by making them even healthier!

Day 365 - Wow 365 days!

• Glenelg
• 22°c

It was another cool day in Adelaide today, we spent our 365th day just chilling at camp, with a spot of shopping thrown in.

Day 364 - Trust your intuition!

• Glenelg
• 25°c

It was nice to not have to get up and move today, after being on the move for so many days in a row.

We had an easy day around camp, I made milk! Now when that little voice called intuition tells you to "put the lid on the blender" before putting it on the base, listen to it! The switch must've been knocked on and as a result we had oatmeal from one end of the van to the other! So the cup of tea I was hanging for had to wait another hour till I cleaned up my mess and made more milk.

Ella & Oscar wanted to go in the pool to play with some friends they'd made, after about ten minutes of cold water they decided to get dry and regroup at the jumping pillow. Steve was happy watching the footy outside and I  managed to get the TV cover sewn up and even put a remote control pocket on the back. Now if we could only find the remote... we'd never lose it again!

Day 363 -Nearly back to where we started

• Bolivar - Glenelg
• 28kms
• 19°c

It was a very short drive today, we had stayed on the outskirts last night as it was just around the corner from Ringa & Michelles. But seeing as we're going to stay a few days in Adelaide we decided to stay at the Big 4 again as Ella & Oscar enjoyed it and we thought they were probably in need of a playground!

I found a Spotlight woohoo and took full advantage as it's been a long time between stores! 

We found our Rock Collection (in Ella's Bag?) that we were given by the gentleman that lived in the underground house in Coober Pedy! There is Jasper, Moonrock and the big one at the front is over a million years old, it's a fossil of a sea animal. We saw one almost identical in an opal store and the price tag was shocking, I felt that we should give it back to the man!

Adelaide Shores Big 4, $64 a night, power, water, pool, jumping pillow

Day 362 - What are you wearing?!

• Port Pirie - Bolivar
• 532kms
• 16°c

They're called shoes dear! Yes, that's right we are wearing shoes again, oh my and jeans and jackets too! It just doesn't feel right.

We spent a lovely evening catching up with Ringa, Michelle, Georgia & Aiden. It's hard to believe it's been almost a year to the day that we were here last! 

Highway 1 Caravan Tourist Park, $46 a night, power, water 

Day 361 - Crabs and Fish, Oh bugger

• Port Augusta - Port Pirie
• 161kms
• 22°c

Our destination today was Point Lowly, just east of Whyalla, we had been there last December and met up with our Grey Nomad friends Gary & Shell. About 20kms in Steve decided that perhaps we'd try Port Germein or Port Pirie as they're supposed to be great for crabbing too and we haven't been there yet. Well needless to say we pulled up in Port Germein and kept driving, we stopped in Port Pirie and someone was kicking themself that we had turned around and not kept going to Point Lowly!

Port Pirie Caravan Park, $48 a night, power, water

Day 360 – Port Augusta again

• Coober Pedy – Port Augusta
• 532kms
• 37°c

It was another long day on the road, I still can't believe we camped at the OpShop caravan park and I didn't get to go in and check it out on account of the fact we were heading out early and it didn't open until 10am.

Although we only stayed one night, I'm so glad we stopped in, it was really interesting and worthwhile.

Port Augusta Big4 Holiday Park, $42 a night, power, water, pool, playground, night watchman

Day 359 – Coober Pedy

• Marla - Coober Pedy
• 237kms
• 35°c

I think today topped the scoreboard in the "spot the burnt out car" game with a score of at least 15!

We were looking forward to Coober Pedy, there is something intriguing about a town that is 80% underground.

It became quickly apparent that we were nearing the town by the piles of dirt & rocks that lined the roadside, filling in the holes is not required.

I have to say the highlight for us all was definitely the visit to "Faye's House", we were given a tour by a lovely gentleman, the current tenant. This was the first underground building in Coober Pedy and was originally the garage for the postie when he came through town.

Faye dug out the house over a period of ten years, all by hand and with the help of 2 other women that decided they would like to live underground too. It was amazing the size of it, he explained that the further underground you go the larger the rooms could be, the house is around 25 degrees all year round.

Faye was employed by the Mine as a cook for the miners, but was soon fired as she refused to cook "green meat". The miners stopped her from leaving town and helped her get set up in a cafe where she then went on to provide accommodation and tours of the area. It is said she is responsible for bringing tourism to the area.

The house was amazing and Ella & Occy loved that if the furniture didn't fit, they just dug out around it to make it fit! The same went for if they needed a shelf, just dig one out wherever you like, as Faye did in her bedroom for her dogs as she was sick of them getting on her bed. 

We then headed out to the Town mine fields for a spot of "noodling", it was hot and the flies were determined to be annoying even though we were wearing our uber cool flynets. After about 45 minutes of digging in the rocks and a few sparkly bits that were either ponch or gypsum we decided to call it a day.

Ella & Occy tried out their didgeridoos and made a noise of sorts, I think a bit more practice is needed! We found a vintage store in town and scored 11 awesome books for our library, even better is that Ella is absolutely engrossed in "Dead Famous - Queen Victoria" history books sure have come a long way!

Some travellers we had met in Ayers Rock put us on to this camp spot and happened to be there today, so the kiddos thought they would do some mining in their own spot.

The Clothes Barn Op Shop Caravan Park, $15 a night, power, water, dump point

Day 358 – Crossing the Border

• Kings Canyon - Marla
• 523kms
• 35°c

Today was another long day of driving, which usually means an ice cream stop somewhere along the way!

Ella & Occy had much delight doing a bit of time travelling across the state lines, that was until Steve reminded us that the time line goes East West, not North South!

Goodbye Northern Territory, Hello South Australia!

Marla Travellers Rest Caravan Park, $36 a night, power, no water, amenities, pool

Day 100 - WOW! 100 days on the road

• Coorong -Warnambool 
• 427kms

It was a surprisingly quiet night being camped at a Roadhouse.

In the morning light we inspected the site of the incident and were pleased that it was only a small mark!

A must stop was Larry The Big Lobster in Kingston, it had been a while since we'd come across a "big".

We were on the look out along the South Australian Coast for a Lobster pot for Mama but unfortunately we only came across one and it was tucked securely behind glass and not for sale :(

Robe was a cuppa stop and looked like a nice little town but we didn't really get to see much as we were just passing through.

The Blue Lake in Mount Gambier is an absolutely amazing sight to behold! The lake is located in an extinct volcanic crater which in itself is pretty cool. The colour is the most fabulous blue, the pics don't really do it justice, would've so loved to have gone for a swim in it!

We're back in town! this moment was almost missed, thanks to the missing big welcome sign we were expecting! Thankfully eagle eyes spotted it and we did the dash back to the empty frame for this photo, if you look closely you can see the van down the road.

Our 100th sleepover with Australia was spent at a great spot just out of Warnambool at Killarney Beach. The camp sites are located around the edge of an sports oval and it is just over the dunes to a great beach.  Ella & Oscar were delighted with the playground and were out of the car and making friends with some other small campers before we'd even unlocked the van.  We remarked how much they have changed since we set off and confidence is definitely something they both have more of.

Killarney Beach Camping Reserve $26, power, water to some sites, amenities block, free laundry!