Day 5

An advantage of staying at a homestead overnight was the gas BBQ (aka outdoor cooker). This meant Bacon and eggs tor breakfast was much easier to cook, and there was no washing up to delay us. There was also a supply of hot water inside for the morning cup of tea, while we shopped for replenishments. We had already refilled the radiator coolant once, and this mornings fluid checks had shown we were low on oil and coolant again. Plus, Doug had run down the torch batteries so we needed to get new ones. Of our shopping list of things only the batteries were available, but as we left I spotted a payphone. Gathering the loose change, I thought to check in encased people started getting worried about us. The payphone tried to prevent that however, as it only accepted card payments, and with my card out of action, I was struck with a brilliant thought. As we'd eaten dinner last night, an ad had come on the tv for 1800 REVERSE sparking a conversation about what the phone number actually was. Remembering back I was able to connect a reverse charge call through to Maria, on her way to work, giving her my log in details for the blog so she'd be able to let everyone know we were still safe. Safety considerations out the way, we set off to explore the painted desert. Although the tracks were suitable for all vehicles currently, it was treacherous going and Doug finally engaged the 4wd. Suddenly able to grip and turn through the corners instead of having to slide round them, the terrain properly opened up to us. Every hill crest we went over seemed to change the road surface underneath us, sometimes gravel, sometime sand, sometimes hard packed sometime soft. Despite some navigation issues (the map and the roads not really linking together) we tracked our way round, keeping a close eye on the time at each stage. We eventually made it out to Arcaringa Hills - and decided to come off the road and talk one of the signed walks. It appeared to be the middle of nowhere, unsure of when the next guests might be through and judging the surroundings to be home to some possibly deadly creatures we dressed up accordingly. Doug swapped shorts and flipflops (thongs for you Aussies) for jeans and enclosed shoes, while I swapped boardies for more sensible shorts, long socks and after a bit of digging around the car - my boots. With the swiss army knife on one hip and a sig water bottle on the other, we applied suncream and were set to head off. As we finished our preparations - 2 more car loads of tourists started the drive along the entry road. We weren't going to be alone after all.

The hills were spectacular, and offered an unparalleled view over the valley. The other tourists who came out were friendly, and we stood around discussing other places to visit as they had come from Uluru direction. We finally dragged ourselves away, and had to get back to the main road for the next leg of the journey.

As any of you who know both Doug and I would have guessed, there have been a few good discussions over the last few days. One of the common topics of conversation has been relating to driving style. We discuss round and round, never concluding anything - especially as we have discovered that the perception from the drivers seat is very different to the perception from the passenger seat. When the driver gently lifts their foot off the accelerator by a few millimeters, the passenger feels like full braking lock has been achieved and all 4 wheels are locked and screaming. Both of us think we have a more appropriate method of driving. Driving back from the hills through the painted desert, we were finally able to directly compare, as the same road Doug had driven out, I was now driving back. As we had timed the sections for time management of when we'd need to head back we would see side by side how much of a difference there was. Unsurprisingly, both times matched exactly for the directly comparable leg. Despite our different styles in road position and cornering exuberance, it took the same amount of time to do a leg out as a leg back. We were also able to see the difference engaging the 4wd had on overall speed, as the first leg which Doug had driven mostly on 2wd took 10 minutes less when I drove it back in 4wd. Considering it took Doug 50 minutes, a reduction of 20% was welcome news.

Back on the highway, the comparisons stopped as we headed North. This section was going to be 5 hours of long driving, the only highlight was Doug taking us over the SA/NT Border, no where near where it was marked on the map and not advertised on the road at all. It was only after many signs appeared in the distance and many false hope moments we started checking the signs on the opposite side of the road after we had passed them that we could be sure we were into NT. Nice welcome!

Lunch today was at Marla, after topping up the petrol and persuading the disgruntled attendant to manually put through my card, he was even more displeased when Doug paid for the food shopping with me right next to him, using a fully working card!

Our refrigeration method out in the middle of nowhere was a large coolbox (esky) which we put all of our chillable items, into which we then put bags of ice bought at petrol stations (servos). The downside to this was that the ice quickly melted, leaving water in the box - which then waterlogged all of the chillable items such as open packs of sausages, chicken, cheese and carrots among other items. The pre-grated cheese packet which had a airlock seal on turns out to not be entirely airtight and so the cheese had been flooded. Meaning everytime we used cheese (as we need to today for cheese and tuna wraps) we had to do some crazy draining and then shove fingers into soggy cheese. Not a pleasant sensation. Check the picture section for the random cheese picture.

Still no oil or coolant, so we carried on to the next service station on the turn off toward Uluru (Ayers Rock). We spent a while deliberating over which type of oil we needed and decided spare coolant was in order as well, the temperatures now hitting the high 30's on a daily basis. Remembering our box of now cool water, we also paid for some ice - completely forgetting to pick the bag up as we left.

We were now in the official middle of Australia. There have been many different techniques applied to calculating the "middle" - all of them coming up with different spots. We'd already driven right through one of these spots, and looking at all the other middle points we were comfortable saying we're now in the middle area of the middle point - which surely must be the middle.

We rocked up to Curtain Springs, bang on time for a change. The friendly truckers from yesterday had estimated the time perfectly. We parked the car, apprehensive already as the ground was hard red dirt, full of stones and rocks. It was going to be an uncomfortable night. As we started cooking dinner, the sun has set and the light was fading. The gas powered camp cooker sparked into life and started boiling water, but for a few minutes only. We'd already used our spare, so had to change plans at the last moment as the rain had already started and use the fire to cook the food. Tonights fire, expertly lit by Doug (starting first time compared to my more naturally ignited 10 minutes of enticing) was put straight to work, holding off the gentle rain which had started while it slowly boiled water.

Spotting the licking flames in a campsite, 2 Danish guys travelling on their own came to join us - bringing some spare wood and beers, only to discover to their great embarrassment that we were still cooking dinner, and worse - were only going to sleeping as soon as dinner was done. Before long, the wandered off again, clearly disappointed to not be joining in at another fire.

The weather started to get worse and worse, so dinner was a rushed event. Due to the hard ground, Doug had been unable to peg his tent down - weighting the base with a box of beer had just caused it to tip in various different directions as the rain came down, and I was ready to be dampened by the swag. We had a horribly early start, and needed all the sleep we could. It started out badly for Doug, as soon as he got to his capsized tent, he discovered a river running through the middle of it from where the rain had been pooling and entering. Sat there cursing and muttering, with a running commentary of what was happening I felt very sorry for him. At least the swag didn't require pegging down, even if it did bring water in the most random of places for no apparent reason. It was going to be a long night for us both, as we planned to leave at 4am (ish) to make sure we would be at Uluru in plenty of time for the 6.04 sunrise (according to the website we'd researched before setting off in Melbourne).