Iron Knob to Kimba

For anyone who cares we didn’t come very far today, but the wind was very strong and was forecast to continue for the rest of the day. It wasn’t sensible to keep struggling with it. The featured photo is of the facilities at Iron Kob.

We had a look at our drain pipe this morning, even stuck a couple of things up it, without being able to release the blockage. Stephen made a couple of phone calls and found someone in Kimba willing to look at it. We decided to leave the tap open as we drove so as not to cause a flood when someone was working on the problem.

As usual, we loved the scenery on our drive, and with the wind there were interesting cloudscapes. We went to Ailen’s Cafe for lunch, ordered soup and coffee and chai latte, and realised it wasn’t the right time to be there. The place was swamped with young mums and kids, it was pickup time. They forgot our hot drinks, but we were still able to enjoy the excellent soup. We reminded them about our hot drinks and asked for them to be in takeaway containers.

Our repairman was just around the corner. He and Stephen noted that there was no water dripping from the pipe (we had a light dripping, just no flow). The mechanic said that the first thing he would dry was blowing air up the pipe, so we put plugs in plug holes and clothes over that. We then ran water through all of the outlets and it came through with no problems. We are not sure if travelling with the drain open had dislodged the blockage or whether the compressed air had done the trick. He asked for $20 which we happily paid, and we went out to the recreation reserve where we stayed on our way east to refill with water.

By this time the wind was really fierce, and we decided to stay the night here. We parked near some caravans with the hope of having some protection from the gusts and making sure our fridge was on the leeward. We have had a restful afternoon, mostly staying in the van. There are good toilets here, potable water, and one shower at $1 for 2 minutes. Stephen has already had a shower, but I like to wait until before bed. We saw the cleaners here this afternoon and everything is really clean and fresh.

Of course we have our own toilet, but we mostly use it at night, and don’t do No. 2s in it unless absolutely necessary. We also like to shower in a bit larger bathroom when we can. It’s always nice to know we can fill up on fresh water in the morning and we have a dump point close by.

I’ve requested a couple of nights at Streaky Bay, a slight diversion from our route home. There is a new caravan park on the beach a little out of town (with a courtesy car to town if needed), and it will be a chance to do some washing. We are relieved that our latest water problem has been resolved without affecting our planned return date of about the 28th August.

I’m cooking some chicken mince and veggies which will give us a couple of evening meals.