Well, that’s Mount Gambier over for another year. The trip was interesting, to say the least. There was a fatal car smash at the dreaded junction of the Inter-state Highway and the Copper Coast Highway, with the rescue helicopter called in. The traffic was backed up for miles in all three directions. The elderly female driver died at the scene with the husband air lifted out by the Rescue Helicopter. He died a few hours later in the Royal Adelaide Hospital. This is a dangerous intersection and I have had a couple of near misses myself with drivers coming off the Copper Coast Highway and either not seeing or ignoring the give way signs. The Inter-state has “right of way”. The State Government and Federal Government have allocated funds to try and fix the problem but there seems to be no sense of urgency and the construction wont start until
“sometime” in 2020. Still, as it’s not in Adelaide, no one worries much. Between the detours and the delay, I was about two hours down. Generally, I shop off for a break at Port Wakefield, but considering the volume of traffic going through because of the accident, delays and diversions, I decided against stopping and carried on to Adelaide. Thursday was not too bad with regard to the weather. I was able to get some shopping done in town and at the Central Market.
At about 10:30 I started to get a bit weary so to bed I went, only to be rudely wakened at 3am with thumping, banging and loud, continuous screaming. Next thing I saw the flashing blue and red reflection on the window blind (police car) – more banging- bit more screaming – a female screaming like a banshee, lots of voices, some sharing their innermost thoughts, then quiet. By then I was wide awake and although I sort of dozed off in fits and starts, I never really got to sleep again. It was either a domestic thing or a sex thing. Don’t know and never asked. At 6am I was showered, dressed and booked out. By 6:30 I was on the road again – and it was raining.
The drive on the freeway to Tailem Bend was not one of the best drives I have had recently – it didn’t just rain, it poured, with the windscreen wipers sometimes having difficulty in coping. Fortunately, there was not a lot of traffic on the freeway at that time in the morning, which was just as well, considering the conditions. First time I have ever driven in the daytime with headlights on. By the time I reached Tailem Bend the rain has eased off – not stopped, just eased off. I did, however, get my usual photograph of the River Murray. The Murray is looking ok,
but the dull overcast conditions gives you some idea of what the weather was like. More rain on the way to Mt. G. but at least it was a lot lighter than on the freeway. Mount Gambier was not so great this trip. The cold and the rain caused a few electrical failures in Mt. Gambier, one of which was the heating in the hotel. Second concern I have had here, one last year and not another one this year. Perhaps time for a new hotel. One of our members is in Hospital and is not expected to survive. It is really a waiting period. All of his family are there, and no visitors are allowed, other than family. It has been a week since I returned from Mt. G. and I really expected to be called down to Adelaide.
Fires continue to rage out of control in New South Wales and Queensland with five lives being lost. Here in South Australia we had a bush fire in the bottom area of the peninsula outside Port Lincoln which was bad enough to put Port Lincoln under threat. Fortunately, that one was brought under control and extinguished reasonably quickly.
The weather here at home has been cool to cold but that is about to change as the forecast is a rapid climb in temperature to 43c on Thursday. Joy!!!
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