Tête en bas

I don’t want to make things go faster. I just want the life in the van to find its own pace. We’re not in an emergency, and I don’t want to try to make everyone move quickly. Instead, I preferred to take it easy. The day starts in joy and happiness, and a lot of crepes.

The beginning of the day is not really different of the day before. Landscape is still the same, monotone. It’s nice to drive a lot.

Adelaide is quickly behind us. It was not planed to stop there, and driving threw just confirm me that there was no real reason to do so anyway.

When leaving the city, we follow the ocean for a little while. But we all know that he’ll soon disappear. After Port Augusta, we’ll turn right, on Stuart Highway. Ocean will then be only a souvenir. For a very long time. We decide to stop a last time on the shore, just the time to say bye to the ocean, et to try to put a toe in the water. Way to cold !

We continue with an other detour, to see a gorge Ben strongly suggest. We understand when we arrive there. The mountain is amazing. We take the time for a small walk that make every body happy. We even include a little climbing time, to have a better view from the height.

Back to the van, we take sometime to talk about the end of the day. Port Augusta is the last real point to buy food. After that, we’ll be in the middle of nowhere. Next town will be Coober Pedy. And it’s small. And it’s far. We have to buy all the food we’ll need in the next few days. In order to make it simple, I suggest that we split the different lunch and diner. One or two people will take care of them. Grocery and cooking. Quite efficient. Not so fast… A team start buying food, while I go behind the grocery with Cassie, to check the bin.

I heard after dumpster diving a little while ago, and tried for the first time with Bernt in Hobart. I was quite surprise by the quality of the food we found. This time, we get out of the bin with lots and lots of breads, a dozen of crescents, and a few bananas. Bread is just perfect, as we all agree that the option “sandwich while driving” was the perfect lunch.

Grocery stop take more time that I though, and I start feeling impatient. But we’ve been definitely saving on money. The day before, I was a little bit worried when I discovered that a full tank of gaz lasted for only 400 km. I think that the tank was not completely full. But to be sure, I started driving slower. Driving 85/95 instead of 100/110. Despite a not stop rising of the diesel price ($1.50 at the beginning, $1,96 at the end) we end up (including reloc saving) aping $75 each. Quite proud of me, as I’ve never seen a ride share between Melbourne and Alice Springs for less than $150. And the food? $45 each. For 5 days. We can all be quite proud of that to!

Grocery finally done, everybody back in the van, we go back on the road. To start the Stuart Highway. A road sign. A right curve. And the pleasure of hearing the GPS saying “in 1,212 km, turn left”.

Night has started for a little while. We want to enjoy as much landscape as we can. We keep on driing for an hour, before stoping on a rest area. Van is quickly in night mode, and we still have some time to talk quietly, before going all to bed, as the wise children we all are.