Forgotten Moments in South Australia

Travelling is fantastic anyway you look at it!  You have incredible experiences that you cant wait to share with your friends and family.  Mostly, people share the most amazing parts of the journey and leave out all the boring stuff… like… driiiiivvvviiinnnnggg for nine hours to Coober Pedy and how there’s no radio.

It happens.  It’s apart of the adventure and is mostly overshadowed and forgotten by bigger and better things.

Here’s a little reflection to celebrate those forgotten moments.

So, your car’s steering is going – and your tire starts to thump on the road.  Sounds like a flat tire and that’s what I heard when I got out of the car.  Yep.  There’s nothing fun about it, but it’s a necessary evil in road tripping. What made it scary was, my co-pilot purchased an $8 burger at a local (super seedy) road-house in the middle of nowhere.  The locals eyed us up, and it look over 30 minutes to cook the burger (it wasn’t even on the grill for the first 20 minutes) .  We now joke asking the question “Was my life worth an $8 burger” and you can read about that super incredibly scary experience here.  

Hostels can range from the best, most amazing place you’ve ever stayed (Port Lincoln YHA)… to the worst, dingiest place you’ll never want to be ever again.  But you cant forget those somewhere in-between.  Staying in Coober Pedy is an experience in itself especially when one of your hostel mates is having some sport of spastic fit down the hall.  But, don’t get me wrong.  We loved the hostel in Coober Pedy, it was just one incident with vampires or werewolves that kinda ruined a good time. Luckily, we were able to lock ourselves behind a closed door and emerge in the morning – alive.

The worst item we carried with us on the whole trip would have to be the dreaded red bag.

It was always in the way… it was too heavy to move… and it was too big to move around it.  When traveling on epic road trips – if you wish to keep your relationship and a little bit of sanity, leave your red bag at home.  There’s no need for it here.  You’re a backpacker who doesn’t shower for days on end.. living out of a tent eating at dodgy roadsides… If you don’t need it, don’t bring it… even if it fits in the car.

The most disappointing destination would have to be Kangaroo Island.  It’s made for the older generation meaning, they’ve gone out of their way for fantastic ad campaigns to get people in.. but when you get there (of if you’re backpacking like we were) you’ll get nickel and dimed everywhere you go.

The prices are high – even getting on the island (that should have served as a warning).  And KI is making an absolute fortune – and they deserve it. But don’t forget about the little people that keep the world ticking.

And the one place where I valued my life the most would have to be Iron Knob… It’s got a super small population that once all worked in the mines, and never left.  It’s a little town stuck in time.  I actually quite enjoyed it… but warning bells went off when I was offered ‘free tea or coffee and a six minute movie’  – what’s in that coffee or in the back shed?  Hummmmm…