Australian RV

Alice Springs to Casterton.

near the NT/SA borderTravelling near the NT/SA border.

Casterton.

Sunday, 4th March, 2012

We left Alice Springs on Tuesday morning. No rain, but as we proceeded south we were driving through ground that had recently had a lot of rain. The side of the road was sodden and the drains were full of water.

We stopped near the border to take a picture. Lucky we did since once we were through the border the scenery was back to a real desolate desert.


Dead cow near MarlaDead cow near Marla.

Near Marla we saw this dead cow. It must have been hit by a truck during the night.

We camped the night in a rest area off the side of the road. No one else pulled in during the night, but it did start to rain before we went to bed, and continued on-and-off all night.

We topped up the diesel in Coober Pedy, and also bought breakfast at the service station. It was not very good though.

The rain continued all day, and so did the wind. It was blowing very strongly, and mostly a head wind for us. There were not many rest breaks with the wet outside, so we made good progress.

Twice before we had been to Woomera, but never went inside the rocket museum. This time we called in ready to have a look, but it was closed. While we were well inside their opening hours, it seems the rain had made them not open. Oh well, maybe next time.

Since it was quite early, we decided to continue on through Port Augusta. Once we were underway, it became obvious that we had been using much more fuel than normal due to the strong winds. About 100Km from Port Augusta our fuel was getting pretty low, and seemed to be dropping rapidly. We'd had this problem before as our gravity fed secondary fuel tank is lower than the main with the slope of the road's camber meaning a good amount of fuel stays in the secondary tank. The usual solution is to find an opposite slope and park there for a while while the fuel drains into the main tank. This time, the side of the road were so wet it was not safe to try it. Instead we pulled into the Range View rest area, 70km from Port Augusta, with the "low fuel" light well and truly on.

In the wind and rain we proceeded to get a clean bucket from the van and started to drain the diesel from the secondary tank through the sump plug. Then we poured the fuel into the main tank with a small plastic cup. It took a while, trying to keep the water out of the bucket and other blown junk from getting into the main tank. After 4 buckets we had at least 25 litres of fuel transferred, and the gauge was reading one third full. Plenty to get us into Port Augusta.

We stopped in town to meet with some friends we had originally met in Darwin, and then started on the way to Adelaide. We finally stopped, tired, at a roadside bay near Port Germain for the night.


Overnight near NarracourteOvernight near Naracourte.

Next morning we went straight through Adelaide, stopping at Murray Bridge for provisions and then stopping for the night between Padthaway and Naracourte. It was another very windy night.


Site at CastertonSite at Casterton.

It was only a short run into Casterton next morning, Friday. We set up on a site overlooking the bowling club, and when the caretaker arrived later in the afternoon he told us that next weekend they were fully booked as there was a vintage car club get-together over the long weekend. We would have to move as the site we were on was booked.


Second site at CastertonSecond site at Casterton.

We arranged a site with him in the overflow area alongside the swimming pool and moved there the next day. It's inside the showground/football ground area and gives us plenty of room.

Zebbie actually travelled very well. In fact it was the best trip we have had with her.

Can't say the same about the weather though. It been wet, windy and cold since we have been here. Just have to hope it improves soon.

. . .