This was classed as a hard walk but the hardest thing was finding it.    

We had many helpers: the GPS woman (very kind and polite); shop owners (polite but ‘what about asking the tourist office’); people on the zebra crossing “maaaate, what are you doing; people in parked cars – thought I was booking them – that’s prior to meds; forcing a car off the road – (nah, but thought about it) and the ‘Info Office’ – not open when you want it; oh, and the girl in her house minding her own business – ‘up around the corner’ … and there it was!

It was a little hard… but beautifully hard. There were newsworthy winds today and they were in a great hurry to take us along in case we changed our minds, and continued until we lost them on the other side of the mountain. On the way we climbed narrow paths, with lots of corners, I love corners. Around these corners were those colourful variegated rocks that you want in your feng shui garden; 2 metre high native grasses (which now has me worried about what I have planted in my small garden); large boulders and tea trees; mostly on steep terrain.

We were told it would rain at 2.00. We’re used to Sydney whose weather predictions are mostly accurate, but in South Australia, the jury has yet to return. What did arrive in its place was a sandstorm. It came up on one side along a mountain ridge and then the other side as we walked across rare open ground, now with our masks on. We don’t like sand or dust, it blocks most things Corrie has to block, and I put mine on when I see anything that looks remotely like smoke after my cardiologist said my heart was fibrillating.

After three hours it was time for a long drive to our new home at Port Pirie. We drove through beautiful countryside, it was rather like a luxurious walk as we were carried through Heysen country or Eucalypt land. By the way, it was the first time we had spent so much time on the Heysen trail, making it extra special. This brings me to another goal we now have, which is to cover half the distance of this trail in our 30 days of hill walks, and that is: 600 kms. (20kms a day just doesn’t sound the same).

As we drove and ‘the wonder of colourful corners’ gave way to ‘too much flat and straight’, the rains we were expecting on our walk arrived on one side of us, and the dust on the other, until the dust appeared to rock the car, with small bushes bouncing around, into, and over our car. We quickly grabbed our masks before realising that we were in a sealed (we hoped) car, and then slowly put them back as we wondered if we looked as silly as the other person did. 

A long discovery walk of Port Pirie ended the night along with a plate of prawns and noodles, and yes the info girl, Kylie, left tomorrow’s agenda in her mail box for us, which I now have and will peruse. And, I’ve changed my attitude to ‘Info Offices’, thanks to Kylie who has renewed my faith: ‘If you can’t make the time, make a phone call’.

Thanks for your emails and comments which I will get back to after I have looked at Kylie’s bushwalks.