Going East.1

Going East.1

Posted on 10 Jan, 2009 3 comments

After some hic-ups we sold our place in Darwin. The last two days were so hectic, I couldn’t even think for myself. I had to clean the whole place, Paul did the shed and the pool. We also washed the car and got the trailer ready.
We camped in our house, slept on the airmattras, which was freezing. The dogs were confused. When finally the last morning arrived and we packed our bags, cases and even the vacuum cleaner, little Cully sat there looking sad in front of our bedroom until I said:” Yes, you can come too”, she was so happy and ran to the car, the little darling.



So, at 11.07 am on the 29th of June with a temperature of 26C we took off.
We bought another tarpaulin to cover the trailer better, had a strechnet over it, and so we could drive without a worry. We drove at 120 k’s, ( limit of 130km’s ) and without a hitch we arrived before dark at Mataranka. We had covered our first lap of 388 kms! On the way in Kathrine we could check if our settlement had gone through and the money was in the bank, as this was the first place with mobile coverage. And yes, it had! So we felt free. I also had a message from Laurette, who had just safely landed at Auckland airport, commencing her snowboarding holiday of 3 months!
You can imagine the size of the place when the only other mobile coverage before the Queensland coast was at Mt. Isa. Here I got another message and talked to Evy.
From Mataranka, where it was freezing ( no heater, no reverse cycle airco, only 1 blanket ) we left at 8.30 am whilst the temperature was no higher than 10C. We do have a compass and outside temp gauge in the car. The weather was fine, clear blue skies. At Daly Waters we had some coffee and let the dogs out. Driving all the time in southerly direction, the temp gradually rose. At 11 am it was 21C, topping at the hottest part of the day at 26C. The road is excellent and you can make good headway. We alternate the driving and take notice of boards saying: Stop, Revive, Survive and the likes. The landscape was varying, savannah, scrub, treed, all the time with this red centre dirt, with lovely anthills, which alternate in colour, according to the soil and food the ants eat. They are true sculptures and uniquely northern Australian.


At 3 pm we arrived at the Threeways Roadhouse and got petrol, water etc. This was as far South as we would go, we turned left here, to head due East.


Now entering the desert, very uninteresting and flat countryside, endless and often boring roads. At the end of the afternoon at 5.15 pm. we arrived at the Barkley Homestead Roadhouse, something from a wild west movie. We had covered 727 km’s that second day. It was still 26 degrees, but soon dropped and we had yet another cold night to get through. The cabin was something unbelievable, just a donga, a bed, bedside table, two windows, and ensuite with a tiny washbasin, fit for a canary! Leaking taps, toilet cistern filling up slowly, etc. There is no electricity, so a huge lighting plant runs day and night. There was a landline phone in the restaurant, but my money kept coming back, when I tried to ring Evy, lol. We had locked the dogs in our cabin ( highly illegal, haha ) and had dinner in the restaurant. This was a truly wild west experience, yet we were in the middle of Australia. But who cares? We had a strip heater on the wall, which was a luxury, so together with our dogs in the cabin we were snug and fell asleep without any trouble.

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