August 3^rd

The day dawned at -3.8 deg..a very chilly start to the day. The wet tea towel I pegged on the line last night had turned to a stiff rigid form for this morning’s dishes!

The road continues to be challenging for the two drivers especially for EC which is a tall vehicle and it catches on many bushes. The flowers were brighter today with some large patches of pink, white and yellow everlastings. The cassia were showing bright yellow in many places. Spinifex spreads across the dunes obviously very suited to the area.

Early afternoon we came to a sign correcting the spelling of Voke’s hill (as I have always spelt it) to Voake’s Hill because it was named after Bill Voake who was a member of an expedition in 1901. The correction has been officially accepted.

We have been checking eucalypts today, with the hope that we might find Eucalyptus Vokesensis. As yet we have had no luck but we did find another attractive tree with glaucous leaves and pretty buds ‘eucalyptus canescens sub species canescens'. They are so specialised to identify. It takes John ages to do this identification process.

Ann Beadell Highway showing overgrown trees & corrugations

Huge Mallee trees at Voake's Hill corner

This evening we have had a disappointing email about our tyres which are not expected to be in Ceduna by the end of the week. We will just carefully drive on without our spare.