It’s Monday, the trip begins in ernest. Vehicles to be collected early a.m. from Hertz, crew to be  briefed by Captain Kirk ( aka Smurf), route planned – Kirk had this sorted about 4 months ago, comms tested ” breaker breaker”, “copy that”, “out” and other technical comms words to be learnt so we don’t cop the the wrath of Kirk. And other stuff I don’t know about will come up.

Today it’s Adelaide to Port Augusta via Moonta (a Cornish Pastie town I’m told) and Port Pirie.

Captain Kirk is skippering Nomad 1, and The Don is skipper of Nomad 2, both craft are hybrid Toyota Klugers and are part of the Starship  Enterprise fleet, but this mission has been given to Nomad 1 and Nomad 2. I feel we have seen a few Star Wars characters cross over, but we’ll have to wait and see who they are.

The morning is brisk but not the freezing rain with a wind blowing off the Southern Ocean like the last 2 days. The traffic is busy as we leave Adelaide, heading north.

Port Wakefield is a short excursion into the town but not really much to see. The next stop is Moonta – for Cornish pasties for lunch. The pasties are very good and the Moonta toilets are clean.

There is a little conflict in Nomad 2 between The Navigator (aka as “Chekhov” on Starship Enterprise), and Pauolo – however its  nothing a little family counselling won’t resolve. the problem arose out of a navigation error and Pauolo is feeling slightly down because he’s allowed Nomad 1 to take the lead and get to the cornish pasties first, The Don is afraid Smurf will eat all the pasties before he arrives. On a serious note, a bit of opp shopping is done but not much damage is done to the credit cards. We venture out to the coast and the newer houses and subdivisions, the water is much cleaner than in Adelaide. Some erosion of the water front cliffs might be giving property owners some stress. There are some big expensive houses out here.

Afternoon tea at a roadside rest stop beside the Flinders Ranges and Mt Remarkable National Park is tea and coffee and cake suitable for diabetics. I thought it was a joke (cake for diabetics that is) but clearly I was wrong. The fluid intake means Jenzy needs to find a large tree for a comfort break, but Harve embarrasses her by commenting the large puddle of water nearby. We know the truth but it looks like somebody else also needs some family counselling.

Two emus beside the road surprise The Don driving Nomad 2, and I’m guessing an underwear change is on the agenda for him in Port Augusta. The emu’s didn’t look surprised at all as we sailed past at warp speed (the legal limit in Galaxy SA I believe), probably a reflection on their limited brain capacity (emus, not South Aussies that is)

We undertake a property inspection of one of Smurf’s (aka Captain Kirk) clients, in the middle of wind farm alley. There is some Bond 007 technology involved in the solar mirror array, I recall something like that in a Bond movie, or was it a Mission Impossible show? Dunno, anyway it’s impressive.

We arrive in Port Augusta at a civilised hour, about 5pm. We’re staying at Crossroads Econolodge, nice rooms, and dinner is planned at the pub down the road. We mostly order the $18 seniors roast lamb & veg. There have to be some benefits to aging disgracefully. The Don and Wally run into their nephew in law at the pub, he’s there for a work thing from NSW central coast. Just as well he was behaving!

Today we’ve seen mostly tidy, clean, civilised towns, sandstone, distinctly SA buildings (refer to Midnight Oils “Diesel and Dust” album cover. Not much grunge is evident. I’ve been impressed.

Ciao from Port Augusta

Pauolo