I woke early, after a night’s sleep that I wouldn’t call amazing. The night before’s antics of the pub’s patrons still fresh in my annoyance.
When I woke it was still dark and it was still early.
I did try, and ultimately fail to roll over and get some more sleep. Trying for about 40 minutes or so to get back to sleep before deciding that sitting in bed wasn’t doing anything useful so I decided to leave.
I did pass one guy in a towel as I was leaving, so I wasn’t the only person to be up at that time.
Downstairs was kinda creepy, empty aside from one person who I only briefly glimpsed and then I had to look around calling ‘Hello?’ before I found a woman who appeared to be cleaning the floors.
Outside it was still dark. The moon was still out and the sun hadn’t risen.
Beginning my drive I left Morgan and had barely gotten down the road when the sun began to rise.
The drive was fairly simple for today.
Morgan-Renmark Road to Renmark, then continue along heading east for Mildura, then very simple. Turn right and continue south.
So basically today was driving across Victoria, and a little bit of South Australia. West to east (for a little bit) then north to south.
I actually felt remarkably good considering the night’s sleep I’d had.
Maybe it was the early start, maybe it was just leaving that pub and the town. But it was rather nice.
I only nearly hit one kangaroo in the early morning twilight.
During my drive south away from Mildura I passed a lot of police going north, it only occurred to me as I passed through Wycheproof that they were heading for Mildura for triple j’s One Night Stand concert. Previous to that I couldn’t fathom what all these police, including one towing a police horse float were doing.
Farm next to rest stop somewhere south of Nandaly
This drive was possibly the most boring. It’s all landscape I’ve seen before, gum trees mostly. Some farms, some towns. In a way I preferred the stark landscape of South Australia, the drive from Port Augusta to Woomera, it’s on first glance flat and featureless landscape was actually a stark landscape full of intricacies.
Returning to Melbourne of course I hit peak hour. That was one of the things I was intending to avoid by staying in Wycheproof so I could coast through Melbourne without needing to tangle with the peak hour mess.
Fortunately it wasn’t that bad, so aside from a little bit of a traffic mess going through Melbourne it was relatively painless.
Reflecting on my trip, South Australia surprised me. Surprised me in what I saw and how much I enjoyed the landscape. Its rich ruggedness in places and how quickly, going across the state its landscape can change.
Prior to this, Tasmania was the only state that really drew me back. I found when I was there that I went thinking that I would have plenty of time, and found I didn’t. The passage through its heart trickier and more fascinating with every stop.
South Australia also makes me want to return, there are more things I would like to discover in South Australia. Nothing so tedious as a winery or whatever, but the spaces in between. The space between the destinations.