We left Thursday morning at 9 o’clock from Bolivar.  Herma and George, Jenny and Ian, Paul, Brigitte and I.  We stopped for a morning tea break at Red Hill.  Then drove on to Port Augusta where George took us on a scenic tour.  He was looking for a Woolies service station, which he did not find.  So it was back to the main road and filled up at a Shell.  About 25 Km north of Port Augusta we stopped for lunch.  Our next stop was at a roadside rest area, which had a good view over Island Lagoon.  Then went past Woomera, bypassed Roxby Downs and arrived at our campsite near Andamooka by late afternoon.  After setting up camp, one caravan, one camper trailer, one tent and one Mitsubishi camper van, we sat down in the setting sun and enjoyed a well-earned drink.  Dinner was next and then we had an early night.

           On Friday after breakfast we went back to Andamooka to see our friend Beverley.  At lunchtime six more vehicles from our club arrived.  These were the ones who could not leave Adelaide before late on Thursday.  After they all had set up and had lunch we went out to Lake Torrens and inspected the “UFO and landing site.”  On our way back we collected firewood, which is fairly scarce in this area.  Later this night we all went in to Andamooka where a community BBQ was organised.  We had a good feed and a few drinks and headed back to the camp in the dark.  It so happened that two of our club members decided to take the law into their own hands and set up a RBT station.  This turned out to be very successful because everybody took it for real, which of course was the biggest laugh of the night.

Saturday, after an early breakfast, we all left for Roxby Downs where an Olympic Dam mining tour was organised.  Our tour guide, Debbi, took us on a 20-seater bus through the whole Olympic Dam Plant with a good commentary and a good sense of humour.

After the tour we had a snack at Roxby and then made our way back to our campsite.  The afternoon was a lazy one.  Later we went to Steve’s Tuckerbox for dinner.  The food was good and plenty as usual.  The rest of the evening we sat around a campfire with a drink and had a bit of a yarn.

Sunday morning we had Easter Bunnies jumping all over the place dropping eggs everywhere.  Lunchtime it was off to White Dam where a BBQ was held at Uncle Bill’s Pub.  After a steak sandwich and a drink we went into an open cut which was dug out like a small flat to live in.  Our club electrician, Kim (Tim), was very impressed about the “overhead powerlines.”

Our next stop was a ‘walk in’ mine which had been worked through and then abandoned.  To make this day a complete success a friend of ours took us to his mine where we had to climb into a big bucket, 8 people at a time, and then were lowered 80 feet to the bottom of this mine.  The mineshaft was so big they drove a bobcat inside to move the dirt.  It seemed everybody enjoyed the ride in the bucket.

Some people showed some interest in the cemetery, so we visited the old one and the new one.  Then we headed out towards the old airstrip, but I missed one turn off and so we ended up at the new airstrip.  To finish off this Easter Sunday on a good note, we were invited to our friend Beverley’s Place for afternoon tea or coffee and yet another BBQ.  Some members had a browse through Beverley’s opal showroom.  Some blokes spoiled their wives and bought some opal jewellery.  After a nice BBQ and a few drinks everybody made their way back to camp.  The next morning was the start of the second part of this trip, from Andamooka to the Flinders Ranges.

Monday morning, everybody was packed and ready to roll.  We wished them a safe trip and away they went.  We spent another day with our friends in Andamooka and left Tuesday morning for Adelaide.  Thanks to everyone who took part in this weekend.

Written by Dieter and Brigitte