After leaving Wycheproof we headed west to Wyperfeld National Park. Our last week in Wyche was cool and windy, giving us confidence as we set off into the mallee (and a small tear in the fly of the big tent).
Our first warning was to watch the bees. There are lots of feral bees and wasps in the park, and when it's hot they want water to cool the hives. They'll collect the sweat off your skin if you let them. Fortunately, we recorded only one sting, and it was minor.
The first two days were scorchers. We hiked in the mornings, and sweated in the shade in the afternoons. Much like the local roos. Given how little rainfall it gets, the mallee supports an enormous amount of vegetation.
We met up with another camper, and agreed to convoy to the north end of the park with him. The rangers advised that it was sandy and corrugated, but readily passible in a 4WD. There was only one dune that caused us any bother, and we got over that on the fourth attempt. Our (unladen) companion got over it first go.
We reached the northern end of the park just as a change rolled in. As the water accumulated on the road, so did the roos. They were not about to pass up a drink even to make room for a passing 4WD.
The north of the park is host to some tall dunes, and lakes that see water once every hundred years or so. It is also home to large numbers of Major Mitchell Cockatoos.
From there we went due north over more sand (and a highway) to the Pink Lakes in Murray Sunset National Park. Each lake had a little water in it, but that was probably from the storms accompanying the recent change.
The lakes owe their colour to beta carotene, produced by a bacteria that can tolerate the salt. The plants that grow at the edge are also particularly salt tolerant. The goats don't give a shit - they eat anything. There are too many feral animals in this great land.
At the pink lakes we met an Italian couple. They were in a rented Maui 4WD camper conversion. The tyres on the thing were downright dangerous. Difficult to believe that a tour company would send tourists off into the desert so poorly equiped.
From there it was off to Mt Crozier (another big dune), and after a quick hike, back to the highway. After lunch in the park at Murrayville, our plans were interrupted by an opportunity for work. After spending 4 hours removing viruses, we decided to camp the night in town.
A little behind schedule we arrived in Clayton SA, and camped on the banks of Lake Alexandrina near where the Murray river usually empties into the ocean. (Local readers will probably be aware that our greatest river has a silted over mouth at the moment due to drought conditions and excessive use of water upstream.) After a quick paddle at the northern edge of the Coorong Wetlands (more introduced carp spawning) we headed off to Adelaide.
A few days of visiting dentists, doctors, mechanics, shops, etc kept us busy. In between all that we managed to land a job, and find time for one essential big city indulgence, Yum Cha. Since we were so close to a big airport, Helen's mum flew in for a couple of days to say "hi". We managed to pull out of town just before Bill Clinton arrived for the World Congress on IT.