With Mike on board, the first stop was to see the Lord Mayor of Adelaide...

Are you sure this is the correct way?

Wandering around some tracks on a headland on the SA coast.

... Met early one morning on the main road through Darwin and told to "pop in when down south", it was now time to take up the offer of a welcome coffee with Michael Harbison, the Lord Mayor of Adelaide. A fitting send-off for the journey east-west across Australia.

There are some very long and very straight roads out here. Viewed from the roof of the truck, it looked as if the steering wheel could finally be traded in for another box of Australian wine.

It's an interesting thing about this place. Although there are sealed (tarmaced) roads all over this country, the fun only starts when you leave them behind and hit the unsealed roads.

Fortunately, the South Australian gravel stayed at ground level and left the windscreen alone. Queensland gravel is not so well trained.

You know what it's like. You see some family relations only at Christmas, weddings and major anniversaries. You get older, people move area: some even change continents. You finally loose touch completely.

Well, trips like this allow time- and distance-gaps to be bridged.

Chris, Linda, Hayley and Ryan (pictured right) played host to the truck's gearbox oil leak for a night in Whyalla before it set off for South Australia's spectacular coast. A fantastic night - pity we had to head off the next day.