Today was another long day of driving and the scenery between Barclay Homestead and Renner Springs was very dry and monotonous, even for me. The mileage signs that separated towns and roadhouses were the only indication that we were gaining any distance as the landscape blurred together into one very arid picture.
It was at Renner Springs that we stopped for lunch and sat eating our sandwiches under the only tree available. The heat was intense so after stocking “Willow” with a bag of ice we were back in the comfort of the car and continued driving north.
The driving was hard for most of the day as we encountered headwinds not too dissimilar to the ones we met on the same highway when we headed to Coober Pedy. In fact, if the two journeys had been connected together it would have been hard to tell where one stopped and the other one started.
By the time we reached Elliott, clouds had been amassing in the distance before us. Their menacing darkness and the lightning show that sparked around it were hardly enticing but with no other option than to go through it we braced ourselves and headed forward.
It wasn’t long before we were right in the middle of this horrid tempest and the rain drops, which felt like golf balls, were falling so rapidly that visibility was almost reduced to a few feet in front of us. Hoping that every other driver was taking as much care we slowed down to a snail’s pace and crawled through the rain.
Then, as quickly as it hit us, it stopped again and we were soon on the side of the storm licking our wounds and counting our blessings. Yet it wasn’t all bad for the temperature outside had now dropped 5-10° which made the day far more pleasant.
As the sun began its descent in the western sky we pulled into Daly Waters, first stopping at the roadhouse to check out their rates for the night before continuing on to the historic pub. We were so glad that we opted for the pub instead as it was one of those bush pubs with more character than Don Chipp’s face. Every internal wall was covered with something; bras, knickers, jocks, id photographs, international currency, flags etc and the theme continued into the beer garden with thongs, hats, road signs and a plethora of rusty tools and implements.
Once set up we cooked dinner before heading over to the pool for a refreshing dip. Then we joined the throng of other tourists in the beer garden for a cool ale and lemon drinks for the kids.
We hoped that the storm we encountered earlier in the day would weave its way and cool down the van overnight but instead it kept its distance and due to the heat sleep became a distant friend.
