Camooweal - What a night! Hot as hell, and by the looks of the surrounding area, obviously not far from the devil's lair either.
The border is real close, something like about 15 k's away so I fuel up and head off. Not sure what I'm expecting as I roll out of the forecourt.
A few minutes later, this is it. Really? This is it? Well, as underwhelmed as I was, I did have a reception party waiting in the car park and he wasn't all that pleased that my bike had woken him from a deep sleep.
I roll out of the carpark and the first thing I see is....
130kph - Seeing the sign makes me feel compelled to comply and away I go. Not too long after leaving this area and heading into the NT proper, I start to get buffeted by a crosswind over the left side of the bike. Strong, gusting winds, and then about 30 k's further on, a sign advising "Caution - strong crosswinds ahead". I was busy thinking a bit late for that, but then the winds get worse. This continues for many miles.
260 k's later I finally arrive at the Barkley Homestead, fuel up, devour a peppered steak pie, and wash it down with a coffee. Between Camooweal and here there is virtually nothing (except a few rest stops and a police station).
There is no power station within cooee so they have an ingenious method for street lighting...
A toilet stop and a tour of the humongous car park and junk yard before heading for three-ways.
It's not too long down the road, pumping along at 130, and the boredom of long straight roads and little changing scenery (the height of the vegetation varies occasionally) begins to set in.
The sides of the road are littered with thousands of termite mounds and sometimes they even pop up out of the edge of the bitumen (determined little buggers) and obviously I'm not the only bored tourist as many of these termite mounds are decorated with varying items of clothing (most commonly t-shirts) and sometimes with a good sense of humor.
And so endeth the day in a very, very warm Tennant Creek where I retire to a caravan for the evening.
Even though I've only traveled about 470k's I'm totally knackered from heat exhaustion and don't bother to venture outside the comfort of the (somewhat noisy) air-conditioning.
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| Today's route. (looks much the same from th ground as it does from the air) |
