HOT, HOT, HOT

The heat up this way is quite remarkable, we are finally getting a bit used to it, but it is one of the reasons we have been heading south at such a pace. That and the fact that there is not a great deal to see out here. Hundreds upon hundreds of kilometres of uninhabitable country, red earth as far as the eye can see, the type of earth that gets into everything and is hard to get rid of. The land is not as flat as I imagined it would be, and the dry greenery that grows is more prolific than I thought the centre of Australia would be. I still wonder how people live around here, and we do regularly comment about the early explorers and how they managed to survive while exploring these deserted parts. Approaching Mt.Isa the huge chimney stack from the main mine could be seen from 30 kms. away, we were told it is 300 m tall. It is a huge erection. The kids had a great time at the library while I organised for the bus to have her head retensioned and temperature gauge checked. She is cruising along fairly well now, we are slowly ironing out a few of the teething problems, there always seems to be something else to do. The road temperatures are causing the engine to run quite hot so I am always keeping my eye on it and slow down when needs be. Most travelling days we leave early and are covering between 4-500 kms per day. Fuel supplies are about 250kms apart at different Roadhouses or Homesteads which consist of a restaurant, bar, petrol station and accommodation, camp sites or rooms with grossly inflated prices to cover their transport costs and the fact that you really don’t have any other options. Some are working stations and are a real melting pot of people. At Three Ways Roadhouse we met a couple who had rolled their 4wd and caravan on a dirt road 400kms from anywhere and were left with a written off vehicle and a squash top caravan, very lucky to survive. At Tennant Creek we spent the afternoon at the local swimming pool with the local indigenous population, full of energy and smiles, a welcome relief after a long day on the road. We passed the spot where the Peter Falconio mystery occurred and met Helen at the Barrow Creek Road house where Joanne Lees was taken by the truckies after the incident. She was a lovely lady who didn’t want to talk too much about it. After all she did to care for Joanne she seems very disappointed about the comments in various books and articles. Loads of journalists have been there to ask her about the whole affair and all they get is a “no comment”. Spoke to a couple of road train drivers on the UHF radio along the way, their 1.2km/litre fuel economy makes us feel better about our consumption. Their 3 trailers taking their length to 50 metres or so makes for interesting times when being overtaken, they seem to go on and on……..and on some more. We kept on passing the two trucks taking the big yellow mine carriages from Sydney to Karatha in W.A, about 80 tonnes of load between two of the furthest points in the country. We overtook them a couple of times, one was a wide load and the spotter car 1km ahead could give us the OK over the radio that it was safe to pass. The overtaking manoeuvre took at least a minute to get past them both. We finally made it to the fabulous Devil’s Marbles, arriving just after the sun set and spent a warm night with the many flies and other critters, accompanied by the howling of dingos and the awesome backdrop of the huge balls of stone, some precariously balanced on top of each other. Waking early for sunrise we watched as the light started to shine on this amazing landscape, made a fire and enjoyed some bacon and eggs for brekky before exploring through the red boulders. From there to “The Alice”. Alice Springs also not what was in my mind’s eye, Surrounded by rugged rocky hills, the MacDonnell Ranges which runs about 200kms east to west dominates the skyline. There are lots of indigenous people residing in Alice and they all seem to sit about the place under trees and just “be”. A huge dust storm blew up on our first night there and did not seem to bother the locals, we were all scurrying for cover while they remained in their shady spots. Caught up with Jonas and Maree, and their kids Angus and Merrick, we all get on so well and we are enjoying travelling with them again. We still do our own things but tend to see a lot of each other. We all went to Ellery Creek Big Hole, a lovely water hole situated in a gorge between two wicked rocky hills, an oasis in the desert. We floated on lilos and splashed about for the afternoon while dingos and ducks played around the rocky edges of this beautiful place. We need to watch our belongings at night as the dingos are quite fond of thongs, toys and grips on the handlebars of bicycles. They are a very interesting animal, very quiet and quick moving, an elegant beast. Jonas and Maree have air conditioning in their bus, something we are keen on installing while stopped in Vic over Christmas time. We have had some 42-45 degree days lately and it is quite uncomfortable in our metal house on wheels. The bloody ants keep popping up out of nowhere but I think we may finally be rid of them.