Day 73: 31st August. No charge. Erldunda again.

For all the trip, we have had the comfort of a powered site. This means, when we arrive, we plug the van into the campsite, and we have normal 240v power which primarily boils Linda’s kettle. We do also run two fridges off it, and the toaster, a thermomix, and to power up the laptops – not a great deal, but a few items require the 240v power instead of the 12v. When in-transit, solar powers the food fridge and the beer fridge is powered in the car as we drive. We hadn’t stayed anywhere without the backup of the powered site.

Our return visit to Erldunda has coincided with a large travelling group called “Rollin’ Solo” who have booked all the powered sites, so we don’t plug in for the first time. As we know the place has a good camp kitchen to boil the kettle and a good pub to feed and water us, it isn’t a big deal, but was pleasing to see the battery coped with the food fridge overnight without an issue. We did have some little hiccups with it in Darwin and it was good to get a little bit of practice free wheeling it.

The “Rollers” are an interesting group, and we had met some members at a few other stop overs. They are group of women who do trips together, and don’t they have a ball. A lot of them have lost partners (not on the trip, but to more impactful reasons) and they still like to camp. It is a way to build confidence on their own, or some just go on their own without men getting in the way. Fair call. Some inspiring stories from ladies who have just worked out how to continue to do what they love, even when their circumstances change so much. Long drives, heavy equipment and just some things are hard to do by yourself, so having a group organised together with a common interest is excellent. The laughter and chatter from them was nice to hear.