Day 7

This morning started wet and bedraggled, as last nights storm had blown in. My first conscious thought of it was of joy as it blew fresh clean and most importantly cold air through the tent front. Id carefully positioned the front of the tent to maximize the air drafts coming in, so every ground level gust came directly in, cooling me nicely. A short while later, the rain started and I began to worry, my second conscious thought was of whether to evacuate to the car for the night. I was too lazy to move and before long I was back to sleep. A time later, I came to, and my third and final conscious thought was to turn my phone off. The water already pooling in my swag, and an electrical storm overhead meant that my phone might get fried, and then all the pictures I'd taken would be lost. When Doug roused me in the morning, it turns out I wasn't the only one to consider evacuating to the car - Doug's tent had been blown in half by the wind, the very same wind id been praising. he had to get out, out it down before anymore damage was done, and sheltered in the car until the wind had died down. He'd again not had a very good night of it, and I imagine was looking at the sway with envy until he saw me ring a litre of water out my tshirt which had been in the tent with me. Still, we packed up draping the waterlogged gear in the back. Hopefully the 38 degree temperature would dry it out. We topped off the fuel, - the price of petrol was extortionate, but the hot water and milk for my tea was free! We put just enough petrol in to get us to the highway, hoping the price would be better there. With the tyres re-inflated, we were off. Back out the same road we came in, not how we wanted to be doing it, but time was against us . 


The drive to Alice was a nervous one for Doug, not sure if the warning light would work and whether we run out on a barely used dirt track (this time with our tyre pressures correctly dropped). I was not in the least concerned, having frequently driven down till the mere possibility of vapour was keeping the engine alive, and anyway we were carrying jerry cans of petrol. He also had cows, horses and at one point camels to contend with, making him look back a little jealous of the small creatures I'd dealt with. Small but fast moving compared to large and cumbersome, I know what I'd rather have. We arrived back on the highway and discovered the astronomical price of fuel here to. Again we filled in enough to get us past Alice, and continued on our way. Arriving successfully in Alice, the petrol warning light still dark, we found the nearest McDonald's to assess the situation. Free WiFi was limited, but I had signal on my phone again and the search began for type places. Lunch completed we navigate our way to the top option. Helpful, but unable to get the exact type we needed and said repairing the current carcass wasn't worth it because of the state of the wall, the attendant pointed us to the next place. Here, we were given a range of prices of new ones, and a search began for a good quality second hand one. A few phone calls later we were pointed at the wreckers, as previous customers had had luck there recently. Another drive, and we were in luck. No second hand tyres but a new one at the cheapest price yet, fitted to the rim of the carcass. Success. We headed back to the tyre centre, and got them to install it. It would be a while, so while we were waiting they gave us a lift to town.

I was able to find a bank to withdraw enough cash to see me through to cairns, and discussed the possibility of getting a new card sent ahead of it. Not knowing exactly when we'd be where, this option was quickly discarded and id just have to live with the damage till I reached Sydney. a quick Internet search helped us plan the start of our route to Cairns, and we expected to be there on Monday, having only lost 1 day with the delay for the puncture. We picked the car back up, grabbed some shopping and we back on the road by 6.30. We were still working on Melbourne time, as it meant we were able to get up and start the day much earlier than if we changed clocks. We pit down nearly 300km that evening. Eventually choosing we'd travelled far enough, the sun was well and truly gone and it was properly dark. The map showed a caravan park, but when pulling into it seemed just to be a aboriginal bar/child's playground and so we swiftly turned and carried on. Shortly after this, headlights appeared behind us on the road - it took a while to realise headlights could be seen for a very long way! We eventually found a rest stop, and pulling in decided it was good enough. Shortly after, the car the headlights belonged to pulled past, and I gave a great sigh of relief -they hadn't been following us from the village to murder us. Doug wasn't hungry, but having learnt from yesterday how important it was to keep eating regularly, I cooked up some pasta in the picnic shelter. Our citronella lantern attracted all the best bugs instantly, possibly keeping away the mosses but beetles, ants, crickets and some small white bugs that tried to bury into my back somehow getting past my t-shirt. The extra protein and crunch they added to the pasta went down fine and it was time to settle for the night. Doug tucked up safe and sound on the soft sand while I lay out and watched the stars. So many shapes and colours, so many sounds in the night all just merging together. This was camping as I liked it. No streetlights or caravan night lights. No torches burning away night vision by every inconsiderate who used them, no toilet block to glare away all night ping or neon sign to say what campsite or caravan park we were at. Proper camping. Eventually I made it into bed, after some long ponders and a deep appreciation for mother nature.