Day 108 – Sunday 21st April 2024

I appear to be developing a habit of awaking before the alarm of late! Same again this morning where I was waiting for the alarm to sound.

All packed away and loaded up, I left the motel at 07:30 after the usual multiple checks to see if I’d forgotten anything. A stop off in Tennant Creek to fill up with fuel, and then onto the road.

Well, I did talk something up yesterday; just out of Tennant Creek I found myself behind a Road Train on a twisty bit of road. I wasn’t in too much of a hurry to pass anyway because just a few kilometres out of town is an area called The Pebbles that I planned to visit before leaving the area. The turning arrived, but it looked like a sand road that my car isn’t suited to, so I stayed on the Stuart Highway, and passed the Road Train at the first opportunity. This wouldn’t be the last notable Road Train event of the day.

Onwards heading north on the Stuart Highway, I had a brief stop at Renner Springs for comfort, and another at Elliot for coffee. While I was waiting for the coffee, the owner was saying that he was running short on some things as his delivery had been blown over by the wind.

I thought nothing of this, until 15 minutes later I saw blue and red flashing lights ahead. I slowed, and a four trailer Road Train sat there with the third trailer on its side. The road behind was a mass of rocks, and I could see where it had careened first to one side of the road and then the other before going over. I’d noted several road trains coming the other way with a bit of a snake on as the wind took effect, so guess that’s what had happened to this one …… I was just glad that I wasn’t there when it happened as there would have been nowhere to go.

The road north from Tennant Creek was in a far worse state than the rest of the road across the red centre; frequently there was surface damage, usually with a warning sign right next to it so you don’t have a chance to react before you’re upon it. It’s worst when it’s on a corner as the damaged road surface totally destabilised the car.

The first planned stop today was at a place called Daly Waters; it’s quite famous, although why eludes me. The pub is well known for the items that visitors tend to leave; there was a wall of bras behind the bar, a clothesline packed with caps, shirts, bank notes from across the globe (including a £1 note which bought back memories) and a large collection of thongs (the local term for what we know as flipflops to avoid any unfortunate confusion!).

I decided that after a long drive (I arrived at 11:30), a longer break was probably in order, so I had lunch here before hitting the road once again. Another thing I’d noticed today was a change in the colour palate of the countryside. I’d left the browns and sparse trees around Tennant Creek for the verdant greens and a woodland almost encroaching onto the road. The exception was the red gravestone like termite mounds, some of which were decorated as I suggested yesterday. Some with T-shirts, others had hats plonked on top, and there was one with the body of a front-loading washing machine placed over it. However, the one that made me laugh was the one with either a strappy top or ladies swimming costume coloured bright pink! It’s unfortunate that there was nowhere to stop to gather a photographic gallery (for those of you who remember Vision On, there’s your earworm for the day!)

Next stop was in Mataranka for the second refuel of the day; the range number in the car was 10km less than the distance to go and I didn’t fancy another game of fuel roulette! The onwards to Katherine where I checked into my accommodation at just before 15:00. For the next two nights it’s a little basic as I have a cabin with no internal bathroom, but a dedicated facility just for me around the corner …. I just hope that I don’t get caught short in the night!

The Wi-Fi is a little temperamental here with it connecting but with no internet at times, so I’m having to try to time getting stuff live; apologies if updates are sporadic while I’m here ….. I may need to head over to the bar to get a better signal! Dinner of a very nice beef cheek dish, then back to the room ….. I’ve booked a two-gorge boat trip in Katherine Gorge tomorrow, so that’s something to look forward to.

I’ve now done the two longest distance drives of the trip with one slightly shorter to come from Halls Creek to Broome in a couple of weeks; it’s odd that was the only one that came up with a warning rather then the two longer ones!