11/5/2022 – Wednesday – 749km

Around 7.45am just as it got light we departed Pevensey and continued across the Hay Plain in light rain through Balranald and crossed the Murray River at Euston before continuing to Mildura and refuelling. After crossing the South Australian border we were stopped at Yamba for a quarantine inspection for fruit with our car & caravan both being searched. We heard of some fellow travellers who thought they had binned all their fruit & were fined $400 when two lemons were found. A short while later we stopped at Renmark for lunch. There are a large number of grape vineyards & citrus farms on both sides of the road between Mildura & Renmark.  Not long after Renmark we turned off the main highway to Adelaide towards Mount Morgan then Burra. Once in the Flinders Ranges we passed forests of wind turbines, all busily spinning & providing power for South Australia, there are hundreds of these machines lining the tops of the ranges. We continued to Melrose at the foot of the Remarkable Ranges, our camp for the next week. Melrose is the oldest town in the Flinders Ranges, established in 1848. 

The Melrose Showground is packed with around 70 Kimberley Karavans and we arrive around 5pm & drove past a large gathering around a big fire having a few drinks & nibbles. A scary sight to see so many people as we have been avoiding large groups for months now, or is it years, because of the Covid and Tereza especially being vulnerable to picking up the virus. We head off to find a spot for us to set up. It is dark by the time we are finished, so time for a shower, a bite to eat then bed, so tired after nearly 10 hours of driving nearly 750 kilometres. It didn’t take long to nod off.