On the road again... time to get everything ready!

I can hardly believe how quickly time has been flying by since we have returned home from our big adventure.  Two years ago we were kicking around the Red Centre, marvelling at Uluru in all its glory.  Life has moved on, the kids continue to grow like weeds, and things have settled back down to a new normal.

Or have they...

Over the past few months I have been finding myself increasingly torn between hitting the road again, or staying put.  Even devoting energies into a new blog (https://rockfarming.com/) hasn't been enough to convince me that home is where it will be at for ever.  Indeed the feet are growing itchy again.  Just as well that a new adventure is on the horizon.

The  Simpson Desert

It is an iconic trip that isn't to be taken lightly.  When I think back to our first foray into 4WD touring, it seemed a remote, distant possibility.  Now with a little bit of experience under our belts, we  think we are ready to give it a go.

This will also be our first extended trip without our trusty Aussie Swag camper trailer (Matilda).  Whilst camper trailers are not banned in the Simpson Desert (yet), all my research suggests they are a silly idea.  We decided that towing through the desert will entail too greater risk of stretching our chassis, or worst still, friendships. 

The site supervisor tests the extra height 

Whilst our camping configuration will be very different, there are no real changes for Rocky other than a 60 litre water tank installed under the tray. This took a friend and I the best part of a short school day to get fitted.  I opted for a simple caravan tank and standard fittings, with a gravity feed on the tap.  It works a treat!

Mount Gambier to Cape Jervis via the Coorong

We left our camp at Dry Creek in record time, and headed directly for Mount Gambier.  The objective was to walk around Blue Lake before it became too hot, and we caught some great vistas on our 3.7km jaunt.

Blue Lake

Blue Lake is an old volcanic crater, and is fed by ground water from the Mount Gambia basin in the limestone bedrock.  

Mount Gamber is one of the few towns in Australia that feeds its storm water not into rivers or creeks, but rather into sinkholes or drainage bores.  

It also draws its watersupply from the Blue Lake - its level determined by the ground water.  The third largest freshwater storage in South Australia, a little part of me wonders how long it took them to realise what went down the drains eventually filtered into their water supply!