Port Augusta Part 1

First things first, the Shoreline Caravan Park has the BEST showers I have enjoyed in ages. Very hot, great pressure and big waterfall shower heads. Super happy me :)

We ended up spending 8 days at Port Augusta, which wasn't originally part of the plan. There was nothing wrong with it, as such, just not our plan. We thought Port Augusta would be a lot bigger (shopping wise) than it is. There are 3 supermarkets, a Big W, a small Target, 2 cheap shops and a handful of other shops. There were a number of items we wanted to buy in preparation for the big trek “up the centre” but the limited shopping options made some of it impossible. We had hoped to be able to buy a dual screen DVD player for the car to entertain the kids on the longer drives coming up. In the end we had one choice from Big W. We also hoped to stock up on non-perishable stuff, which is perfectly fine but I guess I was hoping for an Aldi. If we had known the shopping limitations of Port Augusta we would have done our shopping at Mount Barker (when we were staying at Strathalbyn).

The views from the caravan park were stunning. It is adjacent to Spencer Gulf and there are beautiful views of the western side of the southern Flinders Ranges. The view every day was just beautiful. To the west of the caravan park is a big, long red cliff that edges the Gulf. This too is stunning to see and I thoroughly enjoyed gazing at it whenever I got the opportunity. Across the water is a major train line and yard. The trains are very noisy but also pretty amazing. I tried counting carriages a couple of times and got upwards of 50 before getting interrupted or losing count. Some of them were double decker shipping containers! I can't even begin to imagine just how much stuff is being shipped on these trains every single day. They run throughout the night as well and took a bit of getting used to but I didn't mind them. Rory loved it.

 Views from the caravan park (above and below)

Train for Rory

We arrived on the Sunday and on Tuesday took the caravan to get serviced. It turned out it needed new hubs and brakes (or something like that, I really probably should pay attention to those things in case I need to know, but I'm just not interested) so they needed to keep it for the night. The kids were so incredibly excited to stay in a cabin at the caravan park..... because it had bunks! Seriously! I mean, they sleep in bunks every night for goodness sake. I think Rory also enjoyed the novelty of having a bit more space as he ran from room to room (all of about 10 steps in total). It turned out the necessary caravan part didn't get shipped the first day and so they had to keep the caravan a second day, much to the kids delight, as we got a second night in the cabin.

I find it hard to describe Port Augusta. I found it quite sad. Both caravan parks have 8-10' high fences around them, topped with barbed wire. I don't know if this is an indication of problems in the past or if it is simply anticipation of problems. Most of the shops are shuttered with metal shutters when they are closed too and there is permanent CCTV in the main streets. I took the kids to a couple of playgrounds and just felt really sad at the state of the (perceived? anticipated?) crime and how hard it must be to raise your family in a place like that. There have been efforts to clean up and “gentrify” the foreshore area and there is a lot of potential there, but the shuttered buildings and uncomfortable vibe created by the locals loitering certainly detracts from it.