Page 201 - Mit dem Wohnwagen durch Australien 2

We get ourselves equipped. The directions say that we should put some Peanut butter as bait, which we do not
have. Beat implores me to buy a jar, which I refuse. I have the slight suspicion, that he uses our furry guest to further
his own intentions. Not so! We use cheese and breakfast cereals. Maybe, that is why we are not successful in the
first night. Beat sees his Peanut butter ascending on the horizon.

Mousile is still with us. It apparently does not like cheese and cereals, even though it should be very healthy for you.
Beat suggests Peanut butter. How blatantly obvious! We are way out in the sticks 120 km to the next shop. Even if
I wanted to buy some, there is none to be had. I also wonder why Mousile has not left us, seeing that there are no
acceptable foodstuffs in our cupboards for it. Maybe, just maybe, it ventures outside during the day to eat out and
then comes back at night for the warmth and cosiness of the Caravan? Then Beat jumps at me with a broad smile
on his face and a little jar in his hand. “Guess what I found?” I guess that it is mustard. Beat has conjured out of the
depth of his cooking utensils a jar of ..yes, Peanut butter! Now he remembers why it was buried deep under more
desirable condiments. He tried it and did not like it. Ok, so now we prepare a feast for Mousile and hope it likes it.
Well Mousie was not in any hurry. It showed a penchant for my dry Instant Porridge. We felt it prudent to clean all
foodstuffs out of the caravan and keep them in the car for a day or two. Now everything has its sunny side, after all
they say if you are given a lemon, make lemonade! We found some sorely missed package of base for Yorkshire
Puddings in the depth of our storage room under my bed.

Of course, even in a crisis we would never forget our good manners as hosts. Even unasked and unwelcome
guests overstaying their welcome can always count on a little feed. Knowing, that Mousie would certainly starve
without our help, we offered two different menus. One was Peanut butter and cheese, and the other those lovely
Nice Biscuits, you know the ones with the sugar on top, to which Mousile seemed to be partial during the last few
days.

Well, Mousile chose the biscuits. Good choice. It will keep Mousile in good fettle on its way to the land where milk
and cheese (Fondue?) flow. The next day we read in the paper about the Mouse Plague here. I am sure we could
give them a little tip or two. Tell you what. I almost miss our little co-habitant. The nights are so quiet now. It led Beat
to re-assess the pet question and he decided he would now host a little farm with live ants....! I ask you....

A SCREW LOOSE OR TWO
It seems that I now have two screws loose, at least one more than what some people have suspected all along. I
owe this rather surprising fact to some dental failure which could only be fixed in South Australia’s capital Adelaide.
From the Campground north of Adelaide we were able to take the O-Bahn into the City Centre. TheO-Bahn is a
unique very fast transport. In town it runs like any normal bus, but outside, it has a dedicated track, much like a
railway. The buses let out little wheels which guide it along the tracks and they shoot along at high speed. It took us
just 3 minutes what a normal bus would need 20 minutes for. Great! Then they have free tramways which we took
to the market. And there, joy over joy, we found a Swiss Bakery which offered real rye bread with a crusty outside
and a soft inside. It keeps fresh for a full week. Hurrah. Good bread is one of the very few things we miss in
Australia.
This stay gave us also the chance to re-visit a last year’s destination. Remember February 2010 when we were so
stunned about the almost dry Lake Alexandrina at the Murray Mouth? We even found a sailboat in the middle of a
meadow not looking as if it would go anywhere anytime soon. After all the floods in Queensland and Victoria the
water has reached LakeAlexandrina. The little protected former fisherman’s shacks which are now used as weekend
houses received a new lick of paint or an improved veranda in expectation of a good season. Imagine, we even
found the marooned sailboat again. It is still at the very same spot but is now floating in the water and ready to be
sailed at any moment.

THE FLINDERS RANGES
This is one of the few highlights which we had travelled to on our first tour in Australia in 1996 on a Harley and which
made such an impression, that we were eager to visit it again. Last year it was just too hot when we were ready to
go there, but this year it is winter and beautifully balmy; sunshine and crystal clear skies every day for a whole week.
We followed some Aboriginal tracks up to some ancient rock paintings and carvings. One brochure talked about an
easy one hour walk. When we came back from steep tracks uphill with stunning views and rocky inclines, we found,
that the sign at the start point, which we walked by quickly, showed that we just finished a two hours moderately
difficult hike. We were very proud of ourselves and also a bit sore in strategic places. Next day we were cleverer, we
took the shuttle bus part of the way into Wilpena Pound and even got a reduction in fare by being seniors. Our age