Not much tarmac

The road west from Boulia is variously called the Outback Way and the Plenty Highway.  It’s not clear exactly what’s plentiful on this track, unless it dust.  We found plenty of that.  Bulldust pits in the road, dust on the car, dust in the car, dust covering just about everything, including us.  We’ve experienced dust before of course but it never ceases to amaze me how the stuff manages to penetrate every tiny crack and crevice.  And of course, as the humidity is very low, static builds up and the red stuff sticks to every piece of plastic.

Setting out from Boulia we quickly ran out of tarmac.  It was to be about 400 kilometres of dirt road before we found it again. 

Then we ran out of Queensland.  It had taken five days but finally we reached the border, crossing into the Northern Territory.  Queensland is a very large State.

We came across small pods of cattle, a few sheep, various species of birds and that was about it.  A few other travellers and a couple of road trains could be identified early by their dust clouds but apart from that, we had the road to ourselves.

Breaks are necessary and we’re getting petty efficient with the coffee breaks.  The new cupboard makes use of some dead space above the cooker.  It seems to work well, even when it’s me making the brew.

There’s not a lot more to add.  The scenery changed little.  Scrubby eucalypts, spinifex grass, the occasional bush, a few cows, half a dozen sheep, a couple of birds and that was it.

Where the road surface was good, and outback dirt roads can be very smooth, we made rapid progress, averaging about 75 kpm.  Bulldust pits dropped the speed to about 30kpm, and long stretches of rough meant we varied from slow to about 60kpm.  Concentration is required the whole time.  It’s very easy to become mesmerised and miss danger points.

Miles of road works slowed progress.  Sometimes, minor diversion tracks had been created by a grader while new bridges were built over what would be rivers in the wet season.  Sometimes the works went on and on and on, and we wondered why it was necessary to create upheaval on such a grand scale.

The Australian outback is a strange place.  Sometimes it seems as though it never changes, then all of a sudden, something quite different appears.  The land is ancient, hundreds of millions of years old.  Time has served to create weird and wondrous shapes.  Sometimes there’s a whole collection of natural formations, sometimes, quite incongruously, just a single shape, apparently there for no logical reason.

After something in excess of 400 kilometres we reached tarmac again.  The Stuart Highway which runs from Darwin in the north to Adelaide in the south.  We turned left and, in an hour, arrived in Alice Springs.

Kim wanted to stock up on provisions and as it was Sunday, we headed straight for the supermarket.  Upon returning to the vehicle I spotted an ominous puddle of black oil underneath.  “Oh dash bother” or words to that effect.  We have problems.  Closer inspection revealed that engine oil was being forced out under pressure from near the filter.  Tightening made no difference so it was evidently a workshop job.  With the greatest of luck and after a few false starts, we found a superb engineer who diagnosed a worn ‘O’ ring in the system.  We carry quite a collection of spare parts and as luck would have it, had one of the correct size.  A huge thank you to Ghan Road Mechanics (and a recommendation to use them if you ever find yourself in strife in the Alice). 

We spent an enjoyable day exploring Alice Springs and by mid evening we were once again ready for the road.  Just as well, we have of lot of remote travelling ahead.