We’re back in the desert again; the soil was redder the further north we travelled and the plants became sparser; there were stretches today where the only plants to be seen were grasses. There were also a lot of grids along the road. There were a few salt lakes along the way, tomorrow when we head south we’ll stop and take some photos.

We won’t stay long in this area, it’s really the wrong time of year to be here, it’s too hot, but we thought while we’re travelling we’d shoot up here and say hi to Scottie and have a look at the region.

We stopped at a roadhouse at Pinda and refuelled before continuing on to Roxby Downs. The trip from Port Augusta to here is just over 250km.

We rode through the city centre of Roxby Downs; it’s a lot like Tom Price, a fairly modern town, providing many facilities such as a good shopping centre, a hospital, swimming pool, sports centre and a golf course. I’m not sure when the city was established, but there seems to be no old buildings at all.

We rang Scottie to get his address, we had it but we’d saved it on the computer. Then we went into the visitors info centre to get a map to find the way.

We had a nice visit with Scottie, his wife, Helene and their daughter Madison. Tony burnt a copy of a lot of the photos I’d taken at the HOG Rally and we got a copy of a CD that Scottie had with photos on it. They suggested that we take a ride to Andamooka; they said it was a bit like Coober Pedy.

After getting a few groceries we headed towards Andamooka which is 29km north east of Roxby Downs.

The heat was scorching; I think it was even hotter at Andamooka than Roxby Downs. The air seemed to burn your lungs as you breathed it.

Andamooka is an Opal mining town and there are diggings everywhere, the hills of dirt that have been sifted through for opals are right up to the rear of the houses. Several houses have been built into the side of hills to provide some relief from the heat. There are signs everywhere about opals for sale.

I stopped and took a few photos but the heat was unbearable once we stopped riding, when we keep the bike moving the air rushes past and cools us. While we were stopped we noticed how quiet it was, no birds chirping, no insects buzzing, nothing, it’s too hot. (One good thing was no annoying flies!)

When we arrived back at Roxby Downs we went to the club and enjoyed the air conditioned comfort. We put away a couple of jugs of lemon squash and had a meal. It was after 7pm when we headed back to the caravan park.

The wind whipped up wildly and Tony awoke as the back part of the tent fell on him. We went outside and secured the tent as it started to rain.

The rain continued throughout the night, so did someone talking, we were both kept awake by the sound of him.

First thing to do today after packing up was to go to the post office and collect our mail. Benjamin had forwarded it on care of the post office. While I went in and got the mail Tony talked to a couple who had started touring Australia and got to Roxby Downs and not continued any further. They were interested in the bike and trailer.

The rain had finished by the time we were leaving and it was starting to warm up. We’d past a few things on our way to Roxby Downs that we thought we’d photograph on our way out.

Following the road most of the way from Port Augusta to Roxby Downs are power pylons, a water pipe and train line. Someone has erected a Christmas tree inside one of the pylons close to the road. We took a couple of photos and continued on.

Next stop was at the ruins of Phillip Ponds Homestead to take some more pics. This is just one of the many ruins of stone cottages seem to be everywhere in South Australia.

Just a bit further on is the town of Woomera. We rode into Woomera to see Missile Park, a collection of rockets and missiles from Woomera’s past. Woomera has been the launching place for British experimental rockets and a NASA deep space tracking station and is still administered by the Australian Department of Defence.

Before 1982 access to the town was restricted but now it is open to the public and has a caravan park, camping facilities and backpacker accommodation. There weren’t too many people around when we were there, it was very quiet.

Our last stop for photos was a salt lake. This is quite a vast lake and has a red hill rising from it like an island. The red of the hill is in stark contrast to the white of the salt. We’ve seen a lot of salt lakes as we’ve travelled through the wheat belt of Western Australia and also in South Australia.

One thing we’ve noticed is that as you are approaching the lake you’d swear that there is water off in the distance, you can even see the reflection of the trees on the banks, but as you get nearer you realise that there is no water, it’s just a mirage.

The weather was deteriorating as we continued on our way, it had gotten fairly warm before lunch and was now very overcast. We rode past the southern Flinders Ranges and they were cloaked in ominous grey clouds. As we rode down the Yorke Peninsula the wind was belting us about. The first tank of petrol for the day got us 248km before we got to reserve and the second tank only took us 160km, the wind made that much difference.