Monday 29 August
Another grey and windy day. We got up and
Greg immediately started trying to fix the rest of the lights. He gave up but
got them connected without the plastic surrounds so we made do to protect it
with a zip lock bag and miles of tape. Then we showered in their showers to
save our water for Birdsville.
Said goodbye to our new found friends, made
a quick phone call on a public phone and were out of there.
The scenery like yesterday would change
from gibber rock plains with sparse vegetation to lightly wooded and every now
and again would be a wetland. Often with a mob of cattle around it, plump and
looking well fed.
It was after 1.30 well after lunch time
when we pulled up on the side of the road as there aren’t pull over areas
either – to make lunch.
Greg has been on a diet of fruit in the
morning and salad for lunch so I made him a salad – fiddly thing. He wanted
Tuna in it which he put in and started eating in the car.
Tuna STINKS!
It stinks when you eat it at work and it
stinks the car out when you eat it in the car. Greg is also the world’s slowest
eater – so it stank the car out for ages! I had to open the window and contain
myself for yelling at him ‘hurry up and eat that salad so I can get you to shut
the container and put the stink away’. But I didn’t and just sucked air out of
the open window.
Then came the interesting part. After the
stinking salad had been consumed, container closed and thankfully away - the road got a little interesting.
There were
low lying fields of water either side of the road – it didn’t take long before
the road became boggy. Not wet boggy at this stage. It had been extremely wet
and had been driven on creating deep tracks
and pushing the mud into little banks either side of the deep rut. There
it had somewhat dried and other people had made tracks through that so there
was a path – narrow enough for a 4wd and not quite wide enough for the caravan
so one had to be fairly precise about where the wheels on the car and van were
going. This was interesting and fun to begin with but after an hour, just
wanted it end!
By the hour and a half mark, there were no
places to pull over and change drivers plus by then I had a guy catch up to me
also towing a van but a DICK who tail gated through the mud. Followed by 2
mates in 4wd vehicles. All up my Gibson and putting pressure on me to go
faster. I was going as fast as I dared for the road. As well as following in
the tracks, there were dips and holes which needed to be slowed down for. If I
had needed to stop suddenly dopey on my tail would have run into me.
This continued for another hour. I was
getting really tired as the concentration was intense – so Greg found on our playlist
the ‘Convoy’ song to cheer us all up. It worked! Hilarious – middle of nowhere
going breakneck speed over lumpy dirt with 3 cars behind me.
Eventually and just before the Queensland
border the mud finished and the track was broad and smooth again. Dickheads 1
to 3 tore past me in a hurry showering us with stones, threatening to break the
windscreen.
Hope they have the most crap holiday EVER.
Hooray made it off the track in one piece –
bar the van electrics. Next thing is to find a camp along the Diamentina river.
The T intersection that leads off the track
ends at the racecourse. So at east we know where that is now.
Right near there is the dumping station.
This was very important also as our loo needed emptying.
There were a couple of guys with a pump
truck at the station when I rolled up with my cassette on wheels with our
toilet inside so I thought I would be hilarious and say to them – this is
another word for a ‘wee walk’!
Don’t think I will make it as a stand up
comedian just yet.
Dumped the loo and the guy asked if I had
chosen the short straw – I explained that my husband dry retches when he does
the loo emptying so I just do it. They were impressed.
Loo emptied – which was a concern as we
could not free camp with it being full, we found the free camps along the
river.
Now this was trickier than you may think as
we want a spot for a Gibson, 3 camper trailers and another caravan. Harder than
you think when the nice on the river campsites could only take a couple of
vehicles. However, after a run for me to sus out locations, a 2 way radio
conversation, we settled on a freshly graded site not far from the river but
one we would all fit with room for kids to play kind of and if it rained it
would not be hard to get out of.
Clever us.
We set up camp and relaxed with a coldie.
We have phone reception so could get in
touch with people again.
Unexpected Visitor
We barbecued some snags for dinner and were
sitting outside by our fire, when I noticed something in the corner of my left
eye – approaching us was a snake. Leaving dinner on the table we were quick to
hasten into the van – where Greg shone a light on the snake as it ventured
closer, curious, lingered and then slithered off into the night. I was
surprised at how close it got to the caravan and the fire. It was over 2.5
meters long and Greg identified it as a brown snake. I have never seen a snake
at night. This may be where he comes to get dinner and we were camping in his
path. It did give us a surprise and I wondered if it would be coming back –
wasn’t long after that we retired into the van for the night. Funny that!
Hopefully the traffic with cars, campers
and people everywhere building will scare the shakes out to quieter places.