Day 27 It's all part of the adventure too, in 'taking the scenic route to the beach!'

 The other day, when we were deciding which direction to head home, we decided to see if we could get a flight over Lake Eyre, to see it in all its fullness and awesomeness. Ian managed to find a flight for the 5 out of the 6 of us who were keen to go, leaving from Marree (which is why we detoured to the Flinder's Ranges and headed to Marree yesterday). This morning we got up early and watched the sunrise, in all its majesty and glowing warm rays, over the dawning day, as we waited in the cool morning breeze for our flight at the airport at Marree.

 We got on board the 14 seater Cessna and David scored a front seat ride with the pilot, while Matt and I had the back seats with extra leg room, but also the responsibility of opening the doors, if need be. We were all fitted up with inflatable life jackets before we went on the plane, as were flying over water. The plane was full too. We had a great pilot, who performed a very gentle and smooth take off, and we were soon up flying above the rugged terrain we had been driving through. The hills and mountains, no longer seemed so big, but rather flat. The green plants and grasses highlighted the water channels and passages the water had been flowing down, rather looking like blood vessels in a body. It was amazing. It also reminded me of google earth images.

As we headed closer to the southern part of Lake Eyre, we could see sandy plains and soon water. The sky quickly clouded over and Matt's side of the plain was all in cloud but my side was not. A little rain also began. As David had the head set on as he sat up the front, he was privy to hear the conversations between our pilot, and the pilot in the plane 10 minutes ahead and further north of us. But we would soon find out that the weather was very cloudy and raining up north and we were best not to go further, as no one would really see anything much. Sigh! We did see some of the bottom of Lake Eyre, and the sandy coloured waters, but no birdlife. The plane banked as we did a turn back, and although we could still see a lot, it was sad that we would not be seeing what we had come for and also missed out on flying over the mysterious Marree Man (the huge rock outline of a man on the ground that no one knows how it got to be there). It wasn't long before we were told we would soon be landing, and again the pilot did a very smooth landing. We were told that as we had paid for a scenic flight, and we didn't get that, we could either rebook or the company will work out some sort of refund. 

 So, as we didn't have more time to spare, we opted for the refund. We headed back to Marree township for that, and as we were parked up, an old Clipper club member came over to see us. Of all the places to see someone we hadn't seen for many years, here was this couple in remote South Australia! After chatting with them, we hit the road and headed back to Farina. Ian and Meredith continued to Hawker, while we went exploring with David and Brenda, via the bakery for more treats of course! We went and had a look at all the old remaining ruins and read up on the history of the amazing people that lived in such a hot and remote place, and how they lived and survived. we also saw some of the house's stone work being restored. 

We then met up with Ian and Meredith in Hawker, had lunch and Matt had to replace the fan belts, which fortunately he had brought them as spare with us, and we got back on the road to Peterborough and then to Yunta for fuel and found a good spot beside the road to park up by a creek bed, for the night. Matt and Ian found some good wood, and set up a delightful campfire for us to enjoy the evening chatting and to eat dinner around. A long day but a good one, despite the disappointment over the scenic flights. We were amazed at how green we have found this part of South Australia to be at the moment, though some is weeds, some is also grasses.This time last year, there was nothing at all on the ground for feed, and it looked so barren, so it's amazing to see this remarkable difference and turn around.