Not a gum tree in sight

A travel day today, that is what is mostly left.

We traveled out of Coober Pedy in cloudy, cool (17C) conditions. Not a tree to be seen. We occasionally noted bushes that rose as high as the wing mirrors on the card. Even salt-bush was hard to find. Almost totally barren. Of course this was because we were running along the top of the Stuart Range. This has to be the most tired, dispirited, worn out mountain range ever. Essentially the only reason you know you are on it is that there is a bit of a slope off either side of you. It is a bit steeper around Coober Pedy and The Breakaways, but not much. Over 50km before we saw a sort of tree thing. Then it was essentially salt bush with the odd acacia/mulga and eventually into a mulga forest. Quite pretty.

I do not have any photos, I was not prepared to stop on the Stuart Highway with Road Trains zipping past, potentially whacking the car on the side. The wayside stops where it was safe, never seemed to be in places where the light, or view allowed for a good mulga forest shot.

No stopping, but I did manage to pass a couple of road trains. They just go on for ever. We also passed the 6666km mark on the holiday. Thought you would want to know that!

Eventually we got to some salt lakes. Lake Hart looked huge and like ice. When I looked it up it was not much smaller than Lake Corangamite in Western Victoria. It is one of the smaller lakes around here. From here the ground rose towards Pimba and it was as if someone said "No more trees". Suddenly like a moor, small bits grass and rock sloping valley views of other salt lake beds. Some salt lakes had little islands in them. Again no place to stop without risking a road train swipe. Weird place.

We came back down from moor and cossed another salt lake and the last 120-150k into Port Augusta was gorgeous mulga forest again. Straight road, and mulga forest....really straight, long, boring stretches of road, with mulga trees and a few other acacia varieties above mostly saltbush, but the odd bit of spinifex and other grasses. No eucalypts....... not few, not sparsely located, I mean NO eucalypts.

I had been looking for gum trees as I don't think there are many at all between Coober Pedy and Port Augusta. Apart from a few at the road houses, that are obviously planted. I think there may have been a couple of possibilities. A couple of what may have been mallees in some sand dune country and one possibility by the side of the road. In 500k two possible gum tree sightings. But from the time I started looking hard, absolutely none. Extraordinary.

We got to Port Augusta and decided to have a picnic by the water, with the Flinders in the background.  We did, but it was windy and chilly......awesome.....Marjan even wore a windcheater..... A lovely spot on the old wharves with nicely done up benches and grass etc......and behind us the loading bays for the supermarkets and stores. Apparently the council wants to keep the main street alive and hence has the stores facing it and its back turned to the nice parky waterfront. Everything in arid places is weird.

After checking in, we did a walk around, some nice spots, and some nice old buildings. It is only a wayside stop for us as we head into the southern Flinders for our last real sightseeing day tomorrow. After that two travel days to get back home; a cross-land trip to Mildura, and then the run back to Melbourne from there.