29 August, Magnetic Island, off Townsville, Qland

Since my last post we have been mostly on bitumen. We spent 2 days out of Alice in the MacDonnell Ranges (lovely) and had to access a few gorges via dirt;I went into instant decline as everything rattled and shook again! I admire Peter and Di for pressing on with the dirt. They are the ones who will be able to say they did it all. John said he had reached the stage where he was needing red wine by 0900 hrs! Just as we reached Alice we discovered that one of the 2 bolts holding the 2nd spare wheel on the front roo bar had sheared through, shortly to be followed by the other one at Mt Isa. We had spares, but it humbling when these things happen and you think of the risks...

Rain! At our last bush camp before Alice we camped on a flood plain, evidence of cattle and camels, plenty of shade and open space, Major Mitchell cockatoos, etc. We joked about what we would do if it rained in the night....At 0300 hrs we were all awakened by loud large raindrops on our roofs and we all leapt out of bed. Peter was all for driving out immediately, but to where? it is just more dirt. I was all for kicking back, wait for it to pass, dry and and then continue, having enjoyed a day or 2 of R and R. The others were somewhere in between. In the event, it came to nothing and we all went back to bed. Next day we heard that there had been 7 mms at Giles Weather Station, right in the middle of Oz ( and put there because of the Cold War) and where we had been only a few days before.

We spent 2 nights in the MacDonnells, somewhere I have long wanted to visit, and saw Alice for the modern city that it is. We managed to avoid several Aussie iconic events by leaving town on Weds - the Variety Club Bash (fund-raising) 200 vehicles were due in town in time for a John Williamson (folk singer songwriter) and new chum Leo Sayer concert on the Friday and then the legendary Henley-on-Todd dry river Regatta (only one in the world) on Saturday. We can't stand crowds. However we can say we saw the preparations and enjoyed several beers in the wonderful Bojangles Saloon. Also we had hit the heatwave, a record-breaking 36degC, in winter mind you. It's hard enough walking in a dry river bed, let alone run in it, and in a heat wave.
We spent our last evening having a bbq at the lovely Telegraph Station Reserve, a slice of history, the reason for Alice's very existence - a telegraph line between Adelaide, Darwin and the rest of the world. Our guide was an Aboriginal man who had grown up there when the station had reverted to a children's home; he was fascinating and loved his job.

We left town heading north for Tennant Creek, then East for Mount Isa, a renowned copper and lead/silver mining town. We side tracked to GemTree to see if we could be tempted by the Plenty Highway shortcut (600 kms of bad dirt) but peoples warnings convinced us it was not worth it.

Northern Territory has "fasten seat belt " signs as you leave every single town or car park or layby, amazing. 50% of roads deaths are related to no seat belts. The drivers are something else on that Stuart Highway! Also we believe firmly that the kilometers are longer in NT. We had to swap drivers every hour on this particular long leg of the trip, to reduce boredom and get some exercise, 10 times round the van.

We arrived in Mt Isa in time for Sat. night at the rugby league club, to see the rugby union international between Oz and NZ. The club looked after us very well, but we still lost. What with the cricket as well...not good.

We keep meeting the same people as we travel, many French people, families too, all having a great experience. It all gets quite pally. We find ourselves camped today next door to our neighbours from Mt Isa. Our other neighbours are from WA and also did the Outback Way, but in a matter of days, not 3 weeks like us!

One of the good things about being back on bitumen is that there are more chances to wash your hands. One gets very entertained at the mingled smells of wood ash, smoke, various foods and toiletries all on one pair of hands.

We have had some great walks, Uluru, Olgas, Kings Canyon, etc and the process for getting ready for these walks is something else. Thick sock, hiking boots, backpack with valuables (camera, GPS, binoculars, 2 way radio, can't leave them in the car) 1st aid, snake bite pack, several litres of water per person, hat sunnies, sunscreen, long sleeved shirt, long pants (spinifex and snakes), gaiters, then have a lie down to recover from all of that before setting off.

I have mentioned that we haven't seen as much wildlife as we expexted. The benefit of this is no road kill! Its always sad to see dead roos, and the huge wedgetailed eagles come to eat them and are then at risk of road death.

There have been many dingoes, and we have learned to keep our shoes in the van at night because they will run off with them if they can. (Not that they fit them mind you!). We had some caravan parks which were so wild and spread out that you needed a compass to get back from the loo at night.

Rita's aircon gave up before Alice and we have had to learn to manage with wet flannels and spray water bottle. It was ok but glad I don;t have to do it again. No point fixing it now as we would pay top dollar, risk being ripped off and anyway, it is getting cooler.

We have 3 buckets, red, yellow and blue, which we use respectively for sink drainage, rubbish and fire tools. I decided we needed another for handwashing water, but it had to be identical in order to fit neatly beneath the bed. Imagine my joy when one night in a bush camp on the way to Mt Isa I found an identical green bucket discarded just for me. Johm said "you don't know where it's been" but we have it anyway. Rule...the fossicker is always rewarded.

The road from Alice to Charters Towers was so long and boring we decided we had used all our existing tricks, such as highway cricket (score runs for how many fingers people wave at you) and needed a new one. So we each put on a purple washing up glove and waved our respective gloved hands out of the windows to oncoming travellers. These waves are usually cheerfully returned but....this time we went too far! We can only think that people thought "watch out for those sandgropers with WA rego plates, they are a worry!"

We had 3 rough bush camp nights in Qland, they don't want you to do it, once in amazing cobbled river bed, worse than any dirt road, then between a railway and highway. 8 trains came through while we were in bed and it seemed like they were coming thru the van! And then there was the night by the truck fuel stop. they never stopped refuelling all night.

We arrived in Townsville after 4 weeks exactly, enjoyed the lovely Strand promenade, are now on Magnetic Island for 3 days and feel we have died and gone to heaven; 28degC, balmy breezes, warm sea water, snorkelling, relaxing, wildlife everywhere, possums, parrots, wallabies, goannas and so on. Bryony knows what I mean

Time to call another halt. Please remember to register , it helps me