This morning was boring enough that I didn’t even turn the satellite tracker on – just running around Adelaide sorting out personal admin before pressing on.
New rear tyre (the old one didn’t like all the extra weight I’m carrying!)
Plus buying a new laptop to allow me to keep blogging, mailing the old one back to myself so I can try and fix it when I get home, etc etc.
Finally, after lunch I was able to hit the road, and after battling the city traffic out to the north, I was back on the open road.
I was headed north through the Clare Valley, towards the Flinders Ranges. Originally I had planned to follow the coast to Port Augusta then turn straight to the west and hit the Nullabor Plain immediately – this was another deviation out of my original plan, but hey, it’s not adventure if it goes to plan!
The Clare Valley is another of SA’s many wine districts.
What really surprised me on this leg was the vast palette of colours in this landscape. What might otherwise have been vast and dull farmlands, was instead a source of constant interest.
There were the well-watered green fields:
The ever-present brown grassland, that looks to be on the edge of survival but is actually quite fertile:
The ochre red earth underneath (highlighted by the farmers burning off the wheat stubble to prepare for the next sowing)
Then the golden yellow long grass, weaving visual patterns as the breeze played across it:
All framed by a sky that couldn’t decide if it wanted to be grey or blue:
The route I was passing on was the RM Williams Way, named for the famous bootmaker, who lived and worked in this area.
I stopped for the night at a rest area in the middle of nowhere, around 100 kilometers short of Wilpena Pound, which I will explore in the morning tomorrow, before heading towards the start of the Nullabor Plain.
