Port Augusta Good or bad?

1973: we pull into Port Augusta excited by the prospect of finally being able to go 'Out Back'. Lots of accumulated washing to do, provisions to buy, cooking to do with the last chance of being hooked up to electricity (stew, hard boiled eggs, chicken pieces etc. and jelly for the kids. In two days we head on to The Wilderness. There we have to be self sufficient.
Port Augusta is a run down rather dirty hub of activity. The Caravan Park is very basic but this is a 'working stop over '. Somewhere to stock up and hurry through.

These are the memories that I have carried with me for forty years. Whenever anyone said they were going there I'd say, 'Hurry on through, it's the pits of a town.'

We arrive to a neat, cared for looking town with good roads and all facilities. We go straight into the town centre and buy bread etc. at Coles. I want to go to the library but Alan is tired and doesn't want to try and find it. While Alan is filling the car up with petrol I get out my ipad, connect to the internet via the pocket wifi (which I'm using now) that Paul set up for us, go online and find where the Port Augusta library is and the hours. I then type the address into Alan's Tomtom GPS and 'wallah'... it is just around the corner from where we are parked.
The librarian is friendly and supportive and I leave having donated a copy of Pickle to Pie to the library and they insisted on buying ten copies for their book clubs. When we get to The Acacia Ridge Motel I crank up the laptop, connect to the internet and email them an invoice. Totally amazing technology not even thought about in 1973.
The motel is generous and comfortable and we have an excellent cooked breakfast. We arrived at 7.30 am  and the guy got up from reading his paper and poached fresh eggs for us to go with all the other goodies offered. What a great start to the day. The motel had gone up $20 since I'd booked.
Driving out of town we took a quick look around and I was amazed at the parks and gardens plus how they have upgraded the town and yet managed to keep the best of it's architecture and distinctive character. The façade of an old building has been left and we drove through an old brick archway into a modern car-park and Coles supermarket. It's a place I would like to revisit and spend time.