Today I got up very early, the earliest since I started this trip. The reason? The group of people I was hanging out with, is a bunch of go-getters and they start the day early (not like me). Anyway, I am not complaining, that's a good thing.
Early I also got an SMS from Mary celebrating our anniversary (not really an anniversary; this we celebrate every month, the 17 is the day we started as a couple). Hopefully we'll never stop celebrating this every month.
I find cats everywhere, after a discussion with the attendant at the Roadhouse, I find that there are so many ferals cats that they are killing all the local fauna. They have even called the ARMY to kill them. Makes you wonder how well organised the cats really are!
In the beginning there was a price of $10 dollars for anyone that killed a cat, all you had to do is bring the tail. There was so much money given away that they had to reduce it to $5.
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| The team, just before leaving Barkly |
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| ...and the fairest of all, deserves a picture by himself. |
We started the day buying petrol at $2.11 a litre; then headed to Threeways with no obstacles, in fact no trees, no hills, no even curves ont he road. About 1/2 after leaving Barkly, we encountered the first 'dangerous curve ahead' sign. In fact it was barely perceptible and I wouldn't class it as a 'curve', but I can understand why they put this sign; after having the steering wheel (handlebar, in my case) locked in the same position for 1/2 hour, it is possible you might miss it and keep going straight.
The trip would have been inconsequencial if it hadn't been for one of the bikes breaking down. I was the last one on the group and I saw the bike in front of me (a Beemer) slowing down. It developed a grinding noise withint he shaft drive (grinding noises inside a mechanical device is not a good thing, take it from me). So we struggled to Threeways and there we called road service and organised a tow to Darwin. Poor Kevin had to spend the last 1000kms in the cab of a truck.
Threeways, in case you wonder, is the junction of the Stuart Highway (the road between Darwin and Adelaide, half point is Alice Spring) and the Barkly Highway (the one we were in).
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| Arrived at Threeways |
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| The Threeways roadhouse |
At Threeways we refuelled, had a coffee and said our farewells, as I planned to go south to Devils Marbles, whereas the rest of the team would go north to Darwin.
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| I didn't say it, it is written on the sign. Anyway, now you know where it is |
My plan was to spend the rest of the day at Devils Marbles and then see the sunset and the sunrise there, before heading back to meet the team somewhere else near Darwin.
I left them and I went pass Tennat Creek, which is a town where the majority of the population are aborigines. anyway, nothing special about this town, so I just went through it.
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| The entrance to the Devils Marbles National park |
Devils Marbles is an incredible place, it's just about 130km south of Threeways and nex to the small town of Wauchope (I couldn't even find this town in the GPS, but it does exist, I saw it).
Devils Marbles is a place with giant boulders that are precariously piled on top of each other. I had a lot of expectations about spending a lot of time in this place.
When I arrived, my jaw just dropped. they were fascinating. They did not appear natural, but the creation of some crazy excentric multi-millionaire; but not, they are actually created by some weird natural processes.
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| Our first Marble, they lend themselves to a lot of funny caricatures |
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| There! that's what they look inside |
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| Where did I put my hat? Ah, there it is! |
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| Lets put this one over...here! |
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| Hi Mum! Look what I did! |
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| Look Mum! another one! Ain't I smart! |
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| Ooops! I think I broke one! |
I might have been impressed, but after about 1 hour of walking aroung I got a bit tired of them and I couldn't imagine spending the rest of the day there, so I grabbed my map and looked at the time I had left. A crazy idea crossed my mind 'How about I make it to Uluru and the Kings Canyon?' This was not part of the trip because is spot on in the middle of the continent, but with such good roads and the lack of roadkill in the NT, I went for it!
So i left at about 1PM and planned to reach Alice Springs just about 1hr after sunset. this is a calculated risk, as driving at night on in Australia is a bit suicidal. however, on the way here I noticed that there were no roadkill, wich suggests that there are not so many animals and also because I had a very expensive set of LED floodlights that I purchased just for occasions like this. So I went.
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| Beautiful, but time to leave |
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| From there, this is what the road to Alice Springs looks like the whole way, just flat as far as the eye can see |
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| What did I say... |
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| Welcome to the dark side... |
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| A little rest, flat, flat, flat... |
The road to Alice Spring is just magnificent. I havent seen roads like this neither in Queensland or NSW. It had a limit of 130km/h and it was definitely designed for speed. Just a few years ago there was no speed limit on this road. It is straight, smooth and the curves are long, and soft, almost sensual. I loved it! so I proceeded to program my cruise control at 130 and I set for a relaxing trip and exhilarating trip (and legal).
However, the firs time I had to refuel, I made the numbers and I realised that I had spent about 25% more fuel than when going at 110. I tried again a few more kilometres and a made the calulation again, to make sure, and the value came the same, I was getting a lot less mileage per litre; so I bit the bullet and (biting my lips) reprogrammed the cruise control at 110kmh. One of the factors helping this decision was that at every fuelling stop, petrol is at about $2.10 to $2.20 a litre.
On the way I stopped a the 'centre of Australia' marker, as placed by the explorer Stuart. Interesting, and lots, lots of flies, but I expected this, so I had my akubra with a net around it. It worked like a beauty.
On the way I stopped at Tea Tree and called a few camping sites in Alice Springs, the prices varied from $38/hr to $12/hr. Lucky I called first and I found the cheapest one.
I arrived in Alice Springs at about 8PM. No incidents, other than lots of cows on the sides of the road and some of them killed by trucks. I wonder... if they spent so much money on such a good road, why didn't they put the icing on the cake by placing some fencing on the sides of the road? Go figure. Einstein said once that there are only 2 infinite things, the universe and human stupidity, and he wasn't so sure about the universe (or something like this). This just makes the road dangerous, when it would have been so easy to make it safe.
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| Here is where I am right, the point where the centre of gravity would be, if there was one for a continent |
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| Half way from 3ways to Alice |
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| This is the monolith marking the centre of Australia, according to Stuart |
I know the hat with the net looks stupid, but if you saw how many flies there are here, you'd do the same.
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| This is where Alice Spring is. This is where I am right now. |
Tomorrow, I'll get early and go to Uluru (Used to be called Ayers Rock). I am not sure if there will be interne there.
