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Outback Diary
with D. Bowka Part 3

It was late afternoon before we left Adelaide, so we didn’t get as far as Port Pirie the first day.

We were delayed by a detour through the Barossa Valley.

The Barossa Valley provided a nostalgia trip for Lyndon, since in 1955 Lyndon and his mother and sister attended a day tour to the famous wine district while waiting for a connecting ship to Pakistan.

We headed to Sepplefield’s which turned out to be one of the original wineries in the area. The trunk of the 100 year old vine stock grown to the girth of a small tree.

We savored our hoard of Sepplefield’s vintage wine for many weeks to come as we rolled north towards Ayers Rock or Uluru. I recommend a more leisurely wine tasting tour because our fleeting trip was an exercise in frustration.

Strategic planning is necessary in order to arrive somewhere before dark to erect your tent.

Two o’clock is the ideal time because you get the pick of the best camp spots i.e. closest to the kitchen or toilet. In the more popular tourist destinations four o’clock on, made Lyndon very edgy.

The race was on to set up our portable domicile, connecting gas cooker, gas light ,erecting tent, making beds, cooking meal and eating before the inky shadows hid all our treasures.

We had a gas lantern with a gas bottle that provided sufficient light inside but outside in the huge , black emptiness the night gobbled up the light hungrily, spitting out spooky, flickering silhouettes.

I never got used to going to bed at 8 PM because it was so dark.

(c) To be continued soon...