Another typical day, up at 6.00am, on the road at 7.45am etc etc etc.
But before we go there, let us look at last night AFTER we posted the blog. For the first time since owning the motorhome, we connected mains water to “see how it worked”. No problems, heaps of water under good pressure and with the grey tank connected to a drain, no need to skimp on water for dish washing. “She” also had a shower in the van without any issues and probably for a little longer than usual. We also found out that our grandson was not well and this resulted in a video call back home. We were surprised at the reaction of our grandson when he saw our faces on the computer screen and this shows the importance for us in technology that allows communication from most parts of Australia. Fortunately the sickness will be cured with medication and some TLC.
Prior to departing Mt Isa, we paid a final visit to the lookout to take a few more photographs. Mt Isa is totally dominated by the mines.
The trip into the Northern Territory was uneventful. We had concerns over the quality of the road between Mt Isa and Camooweal and had been told of the need to actually pull off the road if a road train came in the other direction. THIS IS NOT THE CASE. There appears to have been a massive amount of work done on the replacement of the old road with a new road running adjacent to it. This caused our GPS to become confused on several occasions as it tried to “recalculate”.
We stopped for fuel in Camooweal ($1.98 per litre) as we felt it was wise to carry as much fuel as possible due to forecast strong winds and the unknown cost of fuel at Barkley Homestead.
The road deteriorated as we crossed into the Northern Territory becoming very narrow and bumpy. Fortunately this was only for a short distance and we did not pass any vehicles during this time heading in the opposite direction. We stopped for a snack at Avon Downs and on one other occasion to photograph termite mounds before arriving at our overnight stop at Barkley Homestead.
Once again, a decision to refuel early in the day paid off as diesel at Barkly Homestead was $2.24 per litre and we have more than sufficient fuel to travel to Tennant Creek where we understand fuel is about $1.85 per litre.
There were 3 Model T Fords in the camp ground undertaking a trip around Australia and raising money for the RFDS.
Tonight we will eat out and then watch a DVD as we have not been able to locate the Optus satellite (suspect it is due to the tree cover).