The end of a strange day, but safe and sound and settled back in to camp albeit without the koala in the nearby tree. He has moved on and waits to be found in some other gum tree in this huge expanse of trees.
For the past fortnight, the steering on the land cruiser has seemed a bit strange, groaning as we wound our way out of the park each morning. This morning we called into a garage at Blackwood, where the problem was simply diagnosed by the master mechanic; the power steering pump had packed up. I actually had no idea that they had pumps on steering systems but there you are. Replacement of these, even a reconditioned one, costs a mere $650, not in the least budgeted for, but necessary, so we left the vehicle in the safe hands of Alan at Blackwood Dyno Tune & Service, walked back to Glenalta Station and caught the train into Adelaide Central.
Today we wandered around the CBD, in and out of malls and alleys that had escaped our attention on previous trips, listened and watched the street entertainment, some repeats of what we had caught last trip up Rundle Mall, and some fresh to our ears and eyes. We found an excellent second hand bookshop in Hindley Street, McConnell Bookshop, the best of its kind we have visited in our travels so far, and added five books to the weight of the back pack, already loaded with our full Tupperware sandwich savers and a bottle of water.
We walked north on King William Street, across the Torrens River and enjoyed a different aspect of this river that has otherwise appeared to be unworthy of the name “river”. It was almost lake like and did not exude the reek we had encountered on passing it further downstream as we travelled up the coastal suburbs yesterday. Today there was much business on Elder Park in readiness for the Carols by Candlelight to be staged there on 18th of the month. Beyond the river is parkland all around the Oval and off to one side through the stately trees, St Stephens Cathedral. We sought approval from an official worker and entered the stadium to gaze around at the stands and the oval itself. Chris would like to do a tour of the grounds; to do so we will have to be in early in the morning to take part. It has yet to be deleted from the to-do list.
Anxious to take advantage of the senior travel rate, we walked briskly back to the station and just caught the 2.40 pm to Belair, nanoseconds before the guard blew his whistle and the doors closed. The carriages were packed with people and seats were scarce, however a few minutes after pulling out from the station, I spotted a couple of seats toward the back. On sitting, I immediately recognised our new neighbours from the caravan park, so we spent twenty minutes getting acquainted before we alighted at Blackwood, to pick some bread up at Coles, and then walk down to the garage in the hope the repair would be complete.
Paul and Gay are probably about my age, maybe a little younger, and like us on the road for about five years or so. Unlike us however, they are spending more of their time working in a variety of exciting jobs never undertaken before. Also unlike us, but like most of the other campers in this park, they do have a dog with them. Paul built their caravan himself, as we had already suspected since there was an absence of manufacturers labelling. How clever he must be! They seem to be very nice people, however we did not pick up our conversation again on return to camp; they as us do need some privacy and that is one of the downsides of camping right next to someone.
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