We checked out of the youth hostel and bundled our gear into the car. We returned to the cyber cafe for a final session which we hoped would be pretty quick. It was already burning hot outside by 10:00.
We both managed to complete our journals and send more e-mails and faff with our digital images. Today has been the first time since leaving home that I have found an application in a cyber cafe that allows me to resize and save my pictures!
We left the cyber cafe at 14:00 and settled for a McDonalds for lunch before rushing to the YHA car park to retrieve the car. By then it was 41 degrees and blisteringly hot. You could feel sweat pouring off of you when exposed to sunlight for only a few seconds. On returning to the car we discovered that some pillock has scratched the immaculate paintwork of two of the car doors which instantly upset me. It could only be the work of ignorant idiots. Do you think they ever engage their brains before opening their car doors? The car had been sitting in direct sunlight since sunrise and I burned my hands getting into it let alone engaging gear and steering the car into a shady spot from where I could blast cool air from the air conditioning around the interior. The heat of the seat upholstery travelled quickly through my clothes too!
We left Adelaide, passing by the oval where the England versus Australia match was well underway in the staggering heat, and drove straight onto the A1 for 347 kilometres all the way to Quorn. On the way we witnessed a few sand tornadoes whereby the tornadoes had collected red dust from the dry land and thrown it into the air where it seemed to just remain. We also saw some extremely long carriages of freight pass by on the railway track, hundreds of carriages with containers piled on top of each other.
The sad news of the devastating effect the bushfires are having on Canberra and Thredbo Village, in the Kosciuszko National Park. was being relayed to us on ABC radio throughout our journey. These fires have now been burning out of control for ten days and now homes and lives and businesses are being destroyed. It's odd to think that we were in Canberra less than a fortnight ago and in Thredbo Village the night that the fires were ignited by lightning. It is said to be one of the most destructive bush fires in Australia's history and one of the biggest national disasters for many years.
We stopped for a photograph of the scrub scattered across the plains mid afternoon and I nearly melted when I stepped out of the car, which we had maintained at a constant at 20 degrees, and immediately warmed to a 41 degrees climate. I took the opportunity to drop my camera and both lenses on the hard floor from a 1 metre height. How clever of me.
On arriving in Quorn we checked in to the hostel and took the advice to go for a swim in the local pool. It was an outdoor pool which was very inviting and it opened 2 hours early because it was over 32 degrees. The water was considerably cooler than the air, which was still 37 degreees as we frolicked in the swimming pool, which was very pleasant. I sustained a graze injury to my elbow in the pool, which wasn't too surprising given the amount of excited young people present. When we got out and dried off we noticed it was still stinking hot and rushed straight to the pub for a cold beer which was lovely. Dinner was a very hot pizza which was more due to lack of options than anything else and the pizza man was very friendly and recommended the Wilpena Pound scenic flight which, at AUD 45 each, we have already decided to do tomorrow.
Even as we ate pizza at 21:30 it was still hot, well above 30 degrees.
Copyright 2003 Helen Fuller. All rights reserved.