We are enjoying these slow starts, clear skies and warmer weather makes for a great start to the day. We note and discuss the mare-tail (Cirrus) clouds, a few allegedly signifies fine weather many suggest bad weather, but, how many is too many.

We leave Mt Finke and its perfumed shrubland and travel northwards through rocky country, more dunes, dry lakes, desert oak country. The soil around the lake was really soft, felt like mud but it had a dry crust and powdery very soft sand underneath. We finally appear at the intersection of the Indian Pacific railway line, dog fence and the east track to Tarcoola.

Tarcoola is almost a ghost town, perhaps two occupied homes amongst a collection of abandoned service buidings, shops and homes, the Tarcoola mine still seems operational.

We have seen fields of Desert Sturt Peas, a vibrant red ground hugging plant also South Australia’s floral emblem. We see plenty of Shingle-back lizards basking on the road and occasional dragon lizard.

We stop at Kingoonya for a quick lunch and pitstop. There is a fabulous rest area and campsite just to west of the town complete with recycling bins (to support local community) and a facility to purchase drinking water if you need it.

We reach the Stuart highway at Glendambo, there is still plenty of water lying around this area. We passed through here in May 2022 and there was a lot water still lying around then and evidence of water damage. This area was the focus of some pretty nasty flooding in February. Lake Hart is also still full, it i`s fabulous to see.

The wind is now roaring, large numbers of small cumulus clouds are heading east.

We reach Woomera to set up camp before an approaching storm, Woomera Traveller’s Village and Caravan Park caretakers allow us to choose a safe location in the grounds to shelter from the wind, gusting at 70kmph and there is light rain too.

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