We pulled into Port Augusta just before lunch time and re-stocked with fresh fruit and vegies after losing what little we had at the quarantine checkpoint in Ceduna the day before.
We decided to get out of Port Augusta to have lunch, so we pressed on up through the mountains 'till we reached Hawker. Hawker is a great little town and is the gateway to the Flinders Ranges - an area we explored a couple of years previously.
We stopped at Hawker and Pauline made some chicken sandwiches for lunch. It was an effort getting the sandwich into the mouth without a dozen flies adding to the cuisine.
After lunch, we were on the road again headed for Farina campground. We stopped along the way to look at some aboriginal rock art.
I was good to get out of the car and stretch. There was a small walk to get to the rock art - about a kilometre or so.
Once we were back on the road it was about making Farina before dark.
We stopped at Leigh Creek for some fuel and the temperature was getting notably warmer the further inland we drove.
Flinders Ranges in the distance
Leigh Creek was bigger than we expected and was nice and tidy. It's been built to house the workers in a nearby coal mine.
We stopped just before Leigh Creek to take a couple of snaps of a creek bed with a train bridge and got to see a coal train at the same time.
One of the fascinating things about the central Australia desert country is the lush river gums that line the creek systems. They make for good firewood and excellent shady camping spots.
On the way out of Leigh Creek we hit a creek crossing a little too fast and there happened to be a large wash out on the other side. Lucky the Tvan has such great suspension otherwise everything in the camper would have been smashed.The bitumen finished about 40 k's further up the road at Lyndhurst.
We would be driving on dirt roads in the desert for the next 700 k's to Oodnadatta and then back out to Coober Pedy.
We got to Farina late in the afternoon, set up the Tvan and lit up the firewood that I chain-sawed earlier in the day.
Farina would have to be one of my all time favourite over night camp spots.
It was once a thriving little town of 55 people. It had a pub, bakery and other bits and pieces. It's main reason for existing was because of it's railway station which was situated on the old Ghan rail line that used to run from Adelaide to Darwin. In fact all of the old town along the Oodnadatta Track were there to provide water for the old steam trains.
The camp area is part of a low lying area next to a creek which obviously has water not too far under the ground. The station owners have set the camp ground up with fire drums and picnic tables. There also a shower toilet with hot running water from a "donkey" hot water system. The donkey system is simply a 200 litre drum of water that you light a small fire under. Although we carry a shower and portaloo with us, the Farina facility was very handy after another long day on the road.
Donkey hot water system
We shared the camp site with two friendly young families that were travelling around oz for 12 months. We found ourselves bumping into one or both of these families for the next few days.
As we do on every opportunity we can, we took a drink to a small hill lookout to watch the sun set. Watching the sun set with a beer and wine is one of the highlights of our day when travelling the outback.
We cooked over the fire that night and rested for the next leg on the Oodnadatta Track.
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