Report from the road, day 1:

We made it through Adelaide to stay in Crystal Brook overnight. Our free camp spot was right next to the train line, so we got to experience the soothing tones of both the Ghan & the Indian Pacific trains as we slept 😂

Today we are aiming for a stop in Port Augusta, then through to Coober Pedy.

Mum had a very excited moment yesterday when we drove through a 'Fresh Air Field'. We also got to check out the Pink Lake, always super cool!

Dinner was NY style pizza in Adelaide, and we also picked up a D&D Starter Kit, so we can begin a campaign on the road.

This is at the Pink Lake on the way to Adelaide.

Report from the road, day 2

We have gone from coastal to arid today - starting out the morning with a stop off in Port Augusta and ending at Coober Pedy.

Coober Pedy is an opal mining town - The campground we are staying at has UNDERGROUND campsites. We are above ground, because we are in the van, but I will be investigating their underground rooms tomorrow! We arrived too late in the evening for much investigation tonight, but stay tuned for more tomorrow.

The trucks out here are mammoths (up to 50m long!!), the sunsets are divine, the salt lakes are cool AND there are road side Emus!! It's ace!

The Serbian Church which was an amazing underground church. Quick stop at the boarder between SA & NT

Report from the Road - Recap of Day 3:

We stayed in Coober Pedy for the day to do some exploring.

After checking out the underground camping facilities at Rina's, we swapped caravan parks on the promise of a pool at the new park - the temperature reached 34, but that wasn't enough to take the icy edge off the water at the indoor pool... We dipped our toes in and that was about as far as we could get it.

Because it gets SO hot here, a good portion of the town live in 'Dug Outs', underground houses! If you're ever in Coober Pedy, I 100% vouch for the tour of 'Faye's House & Mine' - it was hand dug by 3 women and their story is awesome!

Whenever you need a shelf in a dug out, you simply carve one into the wall - Faye added a wine cellar, walk in wardrobe and sleeping nook for her 3 Kelpies, so they could sleep in her room.. I love her priorities!

We also saw an Underground Serbian Church (where the statues are literally carved into the walls), spotted a pink bus dubbed 'Priscilla Queen of the Desert', went opal shopping, checked out the local museum, before starting out our first D&D campaign in the evening.

Report from the Road - Day 4 recap.

Yesterday was a driving day - 750+km from Coober Pedy to Yulara in the Northern Territory (home of Uluru and the Kata Tjutas).

I have photographic evidence that mum even allowed me to drive the van for a few hundred of those km!

I drove in SA, so no 130 speed limit for me - Mark got to test the van out... she can handle it, but much prefers to sit around 120.

There was an emu sanctuary at one of our stops and our campground in Yulara has some resident bunnies.

More excitement over the next few days as we spend them exploring the area!

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• trip