The day of our departure from Coober Pedy again dawned hot. We were keen to get away early on the 250 kms leg to Glendambo.
Roadside notices warn of the movement of mine machinery along this section of the highway, but this was not quite what we had expected. Opal mining produces its own unique style of mechanical infrastructure.
Again we were confronted with a landscape which is awesome in its emptiness. Having travelled through this country we are now at a loss to understand why it is that the Hay Plains has the reputation it does.
An hour or so into our journey for this day, as we pulled into a roadside rest area, we came across a real surprise. We were sharing the facilities with the crew of one of the Darwin to Adelaide solar challenge vehicles.
The American Stanford University group were fine tuning their vehicle on a run from south to north and had obviously pulled in for a pit stop like us. The things one sees on the road!
As we made our way into Glendambo, the country changed yet again. The open plains gave way to much thicker grass and scrubby trees and shrubs. With its ever changing vistas, we find it quite odd that many have commented on how boring travel up and down 'The Track' is. It did have its moments for us too, but by and large it is a fascinating experience.
I am more than relieved that by now, my early expectations that every caravan park site should be green and shady, are well and truly behind me. If an arrival into the park at Glendambo had been one of my initial caravanning experiences, I suspect I may have given up on the spot. But now I was happy because we had shade...well a bit, for some of the day at least. How one's perceptions and expectations alter with experience when realism replaces idealism!
The view from our site back towards the entrance roadway, the facilities block and the rear of the bar and restaurant buildings was equally bleak, but at least the surface was gravel and everything worked in 'heads'. Not pretty, but functional.
After tucking up for the hottest part of the day, air conditioner flat out for poor old Max (and us!) we sortied out just before dusk to check out the bar and other facilities on offer. As we made our way across the park, we passed a removalist truck on which this sign was too much for me to resist. The driver had a sense of humour to match we later discovered.
I made amends for not having photographed the Glendambo complex as we arrived by doing so now, in the fading light of the late afternoon.
Unlike Marla, Glendambo does not boast a supermarket, but its bar and restaurant are of a
significantly higher standard and infinitely more inviting, well from our point of view at least.
Liz was more than happy to spend the late afternoon with a refreshing glass of white in the Glendambo bar
before moving to complete the task at hand in front of the splendid lounge fireplace. It was hard for us to imagine this place getting cold on the day we were there, but we know it does. Whilst the smoke staining suggests that perhaps fires here do not draw as well as they might, we could just picture how easy it would be to spend a more than convivial evening in front of this hearth on a cold evening.
I couldn't resist another sunset shot. In fact I was pretty pleased with this one as the dying sun brought the windmill and scrub into silhouette.
In fact one could say this is a typical isolated outback scene, until I moved back a few metres and took it again, just to bring things back to reality!
We really enjoyed our stay in Glendambo. It is an overnight resting point we can highly recommend with the one proviso....make sure you are carrying your own water because like all parks on this section of the Stuart Highway, the Glendambo park sites provide power but no water.
Next stop Port Germein and a couple of days with an old CIB mate of mine who, with his wife, now runs the park in this tiny Spencer Gulf town.
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