The sunrise this morning went by without any celebration of colour and the scene was the same as yesterday with a mass exodus from the park by 9.00am. The only difference, this time we were one of them after bidding farewell to our friendly neighbours who were headed south, we too hit the road at about 9.00am.
While we stopped off to take a few shots of the bush, we saw our first termite mounds. Just a little one this one with much larger versions to come.
The livestock on the roads are a bit of a concern, hitting one would definitely end your trip, but this dude appeared content to watch us moooove on our way.
We stopped off for a quick break at Cadney Homestead but when it looked as though we were going to be blocked in we moved off again - without photos. The rest of the trip was pretty unremarkable with the exception of the beauty of the desert with its ever changing plant life and the warmth that was coming through the windscreen necessitating the use of the air conditioner. And that sky - barely saw a cloud in sight.
Our destination for tonight was Marla - the last stop before the Northern Territory border. Our plan was to stay a night here, move on to Erlunda and then free camp the following night before getting to Yulara. Unfortunately one of the other campers at Marla mentioned in conversation that Erlunda was completely booked out for powered sites. We are a little unsure if we can manage two nights free camping with our big freezer drawing a fair amount of power on battery, so rather than a freezer full of thawed food, we decided to stay 2 nights in Marla - miss Erlunda and then on the Yulara. Fingers crossed.
"Marla - Travellers Rest" lived up to its name today. As we arrived at the roadhouse there were dozens and dozens of all sorts of vehicles - from caravans to motor homes to campers and trailers, and a few road trains thrown in for good measure. This popular 24 hour stopover makes the most of its fuel sales obviously with diesel being the most expensive we've seen so far at $1.76 per litre.
The Marla camp ground had a few campers in when we arrived at about 1.30pm, but around 4.00pm in rolled the masses and by dusk it was packed solid. It was quite a contrast to our last stop here 3 years ago where there were only a minimal amount of people, but then it also poured rain the whole time we were here too so I'm happy for that to prove in contrast as well.
I must admit that one of the things I really dislike is "entitled people". One of our next door neighbours rolled in and proceeded to hook up his van to a tap that was used to water the grass (yes there is grass!). I mentioned to him that it was bore water to which he replied he didn't care. I then said, I don't think we're supposed to use that water for vans - to which he replied "we'll see about that". That's fine Mr Entitled..... you hook up your hose - that way no one else can even get a bucket of water if they need it.... Don't you worry about us! In the course of phoning the office to check that it would be OK for us to stay an extra night I enquired about the water supply and was told in no uncertain terms that the water was completely unsuitable for caravans and that it would likely damage tanks, pumps etc. I highly doubted there was any point sharing this info..... karma wins again.
While passing the afternoon, we did a couple of quick loads of washing - holy cow that stuff adds up! And just relaxed enjoying the balmy 21 degrees and gorgeous sunshine before taking a walk to photograph the sunset. As I sit writing this, it's 8.30pm and we still have the door open. It's such a lovely change from the cold winter weather we left behind.
234 km
Total - 2,201 km
Top today 21°c - expecting overnight 9°c
Top today 21°c - expecting overnight 9°c
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