In 1991 Glendambo Resort had a swimming pool, Fauna Park, excellent camping facilities and cabins and won a Tourism Award for an Outback Resort. The photo below sums it up for us now.
We were on the road by 9:00 and called in at the Lake Hart Rest stop where several caravanners had obviously stayed overnight, it was difficult to tell whether there was water out on the lake or not. When the sun shines on the surface it’s very deceptive.
We were surprised by the number of Road Trains transporting hay north and have no idea where it would be coming from not where it was going. As far as I know there’s no drought been declared anywhere. They weren’t the only trains we saw, the railway line seemed very busy with each train hauling a long line of containers some stacked two high.
Despite our experience last year we stopped again at the Ranges View Rest Area and I was pleased to see that the facilities have been cleaned at some time. Toilets are composting ones, there were no locks on the doors, no toilet paper, no working tap but it was still a big improvement!
Driving in to Port Augusta was a shock, we were back in a city with lots of traffic! A new span is being added to the bridge and was suspended from a crane as we passed by. The Wind Turbines are always impressive for their sheer size.
Not far out of Port Augusta we turned onto the Horrocks Pass, it’s the same way we went last year but fortunately this time there was no accident up ahead of us. We’ve never seen the country as green as it is now.
We were aiming for Melrose, our planned stopping place for the night. At Wilmington, Alex was able to get a snack at “Rusty Kates”, a couple of locals were sitting outside and several others stopped to talk to them on their way along the street. It seemed a very friendly town. MANY motorbikes came into town and stopped at the Pub. There are small plaques at premises in the main street providing information on the places and we read a few before returning to the car and continuing on to Melrose.
We’ve stayed at Melrose before and are reasonably familiar with the layout so quickly found our way to the Caravan Park but we didn’t get beyond Reception. Apparently tomorrow is Fathers’ Day and the place was very busy. From the line up outside the little pub it looked to me as though several fathers were already enjoying their special weekend.
The Caravan Park only had one very small site with power available and it was in too awkward a position to be appealing. Both the managers recommended a “lovely Park at Laura” but we decided to return to Wilmington instead.
We’re happy with our site here though I was thrown for a nano-second when I booked in and the Manager said Alex had requested a site for a month!
The CP Manager also suggested that when we’d settled in we should drive out to Alligator Gorge and take a walk there. We tried to do that but only a little way along the road was the “No Dogs” sign so we decided on a walk up Mount Maria instead. It’s not really a mountain even by South Australian standards but, for some, has the advantage of a Golf Course near the base.
While we waited for our Pizza and Garlic ‘n Parmesan Bread to be prepared we walked about the “town centre”. Tomorrow we should be home!
2macstracks 
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