Northern South Australia

Leaving Menindee, we headed towards Broken Hill along a road that could best be described as a rollercoaster. We drove through Broken Hill without stopping and took a break for lunch at Manna Hill before continuing on to Peterborough. The day brought a slight headwind, and I was surprised when I checked my fuel consumption; we had only used 22 litres per 100 kilometres.
 
We are now camped at a new RV stop in Peterborough that wasn't available on our last visit. It's located on the western edge of town, about a 15-minute walk away, and allows a maximum stay of 5 days. The only facilities are rubbish bins and a bottle collection site, with proceeds going to the local youth centre. It's for fully self-contained vans, but during our stay, we've seen slide-outs and camper trailers using the site, as well as people disregarding rules by dropping their water on the ground.
 
If this continues, this site will close, just like many others have, because people simply cannot follow the rules. We visited all the attractions during our stay and found the steam train exhibit outstanding. Colin, our tour guide, worked for South Australian Railways for 25 years, and he was full of knowledge, even having been involved in some of the exhibits during his career.

We've been having trouble adding AdBlue to our Chevrolet, and the small amounts we pour in do not show up on the vehicle's display. We have a device that fits over the nozzle for use at garages, but it can only dispense a few litres at a time. One day, we drove to Jamestown to pick up a 15-litre container of AdBlue to take with us.

 

The days here are becoming busier, and tonight there will be about thirty vans. Temperatures have also started to drop, with our coldest being -0.3°C and daytime temperatures around 13°C, although the wind chill makes it feel about half that.

 

During our stay, we had two lunches at the Junction Hotel, recommended by Greg, who owns a Bushtracker and we met in Menindee. The meals are large and very reasonably priced. On our first visit, I thoroughly enjoyed my squid schnitzel, and Ros liked her chicken schnitzel. On the second visit, the seafood basket I ordered was enormous, and Ros enjoyed her spinach fettuccine.

Next Tuesday marks the start of the Big Red Bash at Birdsville, and traffic has increased significantly during our stay. 

We are also heading north as the traffic builds, but will only drive about 160 km to camp behind the Craddock Hotel for the night. There is a gin distillery at Quorn that produces four different flavours, and we know the pub here offers tastings and sells the gin, so we plan to enjoy dinner there.

Flinders Gin comes in four flavours: Butterfly Pea Flower, Outback Lemon-Lime, Farriers, and Quandong Gin. If they are to our liking, and they were, we purchased a lemon-lime and quandong.

We both ordered and enjoyed the chicken schnitzel, which was quite hearty.

We travelled further north from Cradock, stopping in Hawker to buy fuel at $2.50 per litre before continuing further north. We usually drive into a headwind, but for the past two days after leaving Peterborough, we've experienced a very slight tailwind, which is quite pleasant for a change.
 
We stopped briefly at Parachilna for a photo and noticed that camping is no longer available across from the pub before heading to Leigh Creek and taking a quick drive around the town.
 
It was then just 25 km north to Farina, where we stayed for the next two evenings. The bakery was back in full swing after being closed for the past week due to COVID. On our way in, we bought two sausage rolls for lunch and a loaf of bread before heading to the camping area. The fee is $10 per person per night, and they offer showers and toilets, but as usual, we prefer to use our own.

Lovely, clear days can only mean one thing, and yes, the following morning, it was just 0.8 degrees outside and 2.3 degrees inside the van, until we turned on the diesel heater. We stayed in bed until the interior reached a comfortable level before getting up and changing.

We had another lunch the following day with hearty meat pies from the bakery and enjoyed a beer alongside. 

This trip has coincided with the Big Red Bash, so we are avoiding the crowds as they travel to and from the Bash.