Back on the Dirt
17th to 20th September
Road trains
We didn't meet as many of these as we thought we would, but when they came it stopped us in our tracks!! They thunder past creating a complete white-out with their dust and visibility drops to zero! Best thing to do is pull over, do the windows up, turn air con to internal circulation and wait for the dust to clear!!
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| Road train dust storm! |
Middleton Hotel and Geocaching
Having read about this tiny town we decided to drop in for a
drink and a chat. Middleton used to be a stop on the Cobb & Co. mail run
back in the day and had a population in double figure, now it’s just made up of
2 people! The hotel is very rustic and the toilets are authentic outback style!
The proprietor Leister Cain and his wife were good for a yarn, and the boys did
their first Geocache at the Middleton Hilton Hotel!
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| Middleton - Population 2 people (and 1 dog) |
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| This is the affordable version of the Hilton sans facilities! |
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| Original mail coach |
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| Geocache was a good way to keep the boys on their toes! |
Boulia
We skipped though Boulia, which is famous for the MinMin
light. This ghostly glowing orb of light is the towns supernatural claim to
fame, and provided a good stimulus for a bit of story telling in the car!
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| Lookout on the Plenty Hwy |
Back on the Dirt Again!
After Boulia the plenty Highway took its true form, a
corrugated dirt road! It wasn’t anywhere nearly as bad as some other outback
roads we had driven on so that was a pleasant surprise! We camped at a great
spot on the Georgina River
and were literally miles from anywhere or anyone. The stars were awesome and
created a spectacular dome from horizon to horizon in every direction. Wow,
bush camping at its best!
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| Classic outback view |
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Fire building never lost its fascination - this was a new
technique tepee inside temple which proved the most successful! |
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| Lots of flies at this camp |
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| Complete isolation |
Too Close for Comfort
After an extremely long day of driving in harsh conditions
we had a very close encounter with a floodway sign. I asked Simon a question
about the odometer at just the wrong moment and a glance at the reading as we
hit a bend took us into a skid. With the trailer up on two wheels everyone’s
heart rate doubled but Simon, calm under pressure, got all wheels back on the
ground with only a little damage to the tyres…although the same cant be said
for his jocks!! With a sense of relief we decided to make camp that night ASAP
and headed for the gem fields fossicking area for a free camp about
100km east
of
Alice.
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| Fossicking campsite |
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| Sunset on the gem fields |
Alice Springs
Treating ourselves to a Big4 campsite and enjoying unlimited
hot water and the use of the washing machines we re-stocked in Alice
Springs. The centre of Alice
is has a high level of security around the purchase and consumption of alcohol,
so we had to time our bottle stock-up within those limits. We did not see any
sights in the town itself, but utilised their excellent visitor information
centre to plan the next part of our trip into the red centre.
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