Five Months in a Car

Top of the morning to us all!

All hail twisty trees!

The first day at the new spot is nice and sunny, but later in the afternoon some light clouds begin to appear. After a day's work, I decide to explore the surroundings and see what's out there. The map says that there's quite a big salt lake nearby; perhaps I should go there?

Ants welcome you.

Desert vibes.

As I walk there, the ground elevates slowly. I climb on top of the dune to see the lake in the distance, but I decide not to go all the way down there and stick around instead. Plenty of shots here, anyway!

More desert vibes!

A sunpainting.

Another version.

And one more!

And yet another!

And now in horizontal!

Emu's tracks.

Finally, I turn around and make my way back to the camp. I take a slightly different path and discover a big washout in the ground – or, perhaps, it's a small rock quarry that is no longer used. It also gives me an opportunity to play around with compositions and the rapidly setting sun.

Not bad for a sunset.

Not bad either!

Holes in the ground, fire in the sky!

The sunset is over.

Well, almost.

Back at the camp, I suddenly decide to make a campfire. There's plenty of firewood around, so why not? It's actually the first time I do a campfire while travelling solo, because to me it had always seemed to be a kind of a social thing, so it always felt a bit extraneous to do it just for myself. But it turns out to be quite alright and relaxing. The myalls' branches burn long and hot, and they leave a pile of beautiful embers afterwards.

Next day, later in the afternoon, I walk around some more to explore the area and see some more of these twisty myalls, of which there's surely no shortage here. As the sun sets, I make another campfire, and this time I do try and capture it on camera. The results are not too bad, I think.

No such thing as too many twisted trees!

Or pictures of those.

The day is almost over.

Another campfire? Why not!

Looking into the embers.

Always hypnotising.

My own little Orodruin.

Making campfires quickly becomes my evening tradition. Next day, a little spider makes a home for himself in the lumps of firewood that I brought, and I use him to snap a few more photos against the setting sun. Shortly after, the moon (almost full by now) climbs out of the horizon and gives me some fantastic shots that come out even better than I hoped they would. Some gentle cloud cover also helps with that.

Straddling the sun.

Work on, merry spider!

In the meantime, it's time for another campfire.

Ain't it pretty?

Clouds change up.

The trees anticipate.

Romantic as.

More glowing embers.

Getting rid of a board that someone's left behind.

BURN!!

In the meantime, I think about what to do this weekend, wondering if I should travel to Lake Eyre, now that it has some water in it for a change. It's a bit of a drive (about four hours one-way), but it should be worth it. It's not like I have anything better to do with my time, anyway. As I think some more, I decide to make it a scenic flight instead of a drive: it's $440 for an hour-and-a-half flight, but I think I can afford it. Pondering all that, I make another campfire and play around with it and the rising moon some more.

Another night, another campfire.

Another take on the earlier composition.

And finally, as the Saturday morning breaks, I pack up my stuff and head off towards Marree, which is where my Lake Eyre flight is supposed to take place. It's a bit sad to leave such a beautiful camp, but I can always go back tomorrow, right? I also realise that today is exactly one month that I have spent on the road as a digital hobo without even noticing. Time flies indeed when you're having fun!

There are two roads that I can take to get to Marree: one is shorter but unsealed, and the other is longer but follows a proper highway. I decide to use the latter to stop by Port Augusta again, where I pay a visit to the local laundromat and also steal another shower (my first in a week, yikes!). After that, I promptly head northwards, where my impromptu aeronautical adventure is waiting.

As I reach Lyndhurst, I expect the bitumen to end there as it did a year ago; but, to my surprise, the entire stretch of road between Lyndhurst and Marree is now sealed. Win! However, I still have to do a quick cable-tie repair because one of my mudguards fell off again (as it did two years ago). It's interesting to realise how far I've come since then in terms of preparation and experience.

For the night, I camp right next to the Marree Hotel, which kindly lets visitors to use a patch of dirt nearby for free. The place also has showers, but I don't use them: partly because I had one this morning, but mostly because the local water is so hard that it takes forever to rinse the soap off. Instead, I grab a quick bite and then fall asleep, wondering what tomorrow's flight is going to be like.