Jun 05, 2009

Yesterdays PS:
When we called in to 3ways for lunch yesterday we spotted a couple of BMW bikes and big square panniers complete with tousle headed riders and helmet cams covered in red dust and straight away thought. 'Could this in fact be Ewan McGregor and Charlie Boorman of a long way round and a long way down fame?' Well as it turns out no it wasn't, just a couple of adventurers from Melbourne on a 12 week adventure up the east coast, across the gulf and now heading to Darwin and having a ball and uncertain if they should be taking home filmed evidence of their disasters and mishaps for their wives to see! We so regret we didn't take a pic and send it to everyone and say 'you'll never believe who we saw at 3ways today!' Anyway we all had an enjoyable chat comparing notes of our travels.

Today:
The day has been cloudy from start to finish with the main variation being the density of cloud from heavy and threatening to light and white with patches of blue....mainly in the distance. We have had an occasional welcome splash of sunshine which has made for greater comfort albeit briefly. Needless to say we were layered up well and even donned the waterproof pants to guard against the chill factor and left them on till a late lunch in Alice Springs.

Have enjoyed the view as we’ve ridden to the Alice through many red craggy bluffs and little mountains and canyons surrounded by grassy plains occasionally scrubby but increasingly well grassed. The mountain side of things has diminished somewhat south of Alice Springs being more distant but spectacularly blue with the humidity in the area. Particularly love the large white trunk gums which remind me of the area especially around any watercourses.

The road has been in good condition overall. The surface pretty smooth for the most part and good grade and camber. Quite an eye opener to see some of the old creek crossings in the distance considering they were in fact sealed when we travelled in 72, they really were pretty rudimentary. There has also been an almost total absence of road trains south of 3ways other than livestock and fuel. Their absence is made up by heaps of car and caravan combinations and a few cars and campers and a handful of 5th wheelers and assorted campers and Winnebago type arrangements. Clearly we are 2 of the very few people heading south!

As they say there is a fine line between pleasure and pain and I've found also between enjoyment and endurance. The cold today has made hard work of it for me. I was grateful of the heated hand grip warmers. Once we left Alice Springs we left the waterproof pants off as the temperature was comfortable (don't know what it was but 23 was forecast). As we headed south of Stuarts Well we could see a magnificent rain storm off to the east complete with some lightening as well as the continuing showers to the west as we had tracked for most of the afternoon. We (thankfully) were heading for blue sky but got some unwelcome rain on the way. We stopped and compared notes once re do we don the waterproofs or not and decided no. Thankfully we only got a couple of lightish showers with our gear drying pretty much straight away and thankfully rode into the sun. YES! God it felt good but I still haven't warmed up and have my long sleeve T on as well as my cotton jacket and have left my draggin jeans and bike boots on for warmth rather than getting into shorts and T shirt like all the holiday makers. Norm on the other hand is in a T shirt. I read somewhere years ago that women can withstand hunger better than men but men can withstand cold better. My personal research (between the two of us) supports the theory.



Alice Springs Council offices.

We called in to take a picture of the old Overland Telegraph Station at Barrow Creek this morning and then headed for the Road house / Hotel / Caravan Park which was an experience to say the least! The only reason we could tell which part of the derelict yard was the caravan park was because there was a camper parked there. The building looked like an abandoned old dump and the apron around the pumps was a combination of sand, pot holes and crumbling concrete and rocky lumps. There were a couple of locals wandering about and the accumulation of 'stuff' about was awesome to behold, but Norm really wanted to visit the little boys room if there was one so he went to investigate. I sat on my bike enjoying the heat of my exhaust pipe until he summoned me in. He'd found a hot coffee and once I moved I decided I should seek out the little girls room as well. It was quite a contract to get in.

After getting a key which finally worked I had a choice of 1 functioning loo of 4 but it did work. The coffee was hot and we warmed our fingers as we wandered around the pub which was full of notes of varying currency and countries of origin with greetings on all of them pasted to the wall as well as all manner of clothing autographed and left hanging. The publican complained that the fire brigade would 'likely be through again to say they're a fire hazard and they'll all have to come down again'. There were also inscriptions and names and verses on just about every visible surface including the pressed tin ceiling in the bar (must have been late night additions those ones). The classic (one of tonight's pics) was a T shirt with the quote 'Its tourist season why can't I shoot one?' Appealed to me! See below.



The Barrow Creek T shirt.

Another quirky visit was our lunch spot in Alice Springs. We parked the bikes in front of the Council Offices (another pic) and headed across the road to Bojangles Saloon. The decor was great. Lots of corrugated iron, cow hide seats with the hair still on and timber slab tables. They were playing great music from the 60's to the 90s and the staff were a crack up with great senses of humour and the more we looked around the more quirky bits we found. There were heaps of boots of varying sizes, styles and colours stuck to the ceiling by their soles but the loos topped the lot. The main entrance doors had a pull handle on the hinge side for a door which had to be pushed open. The toilet seats were the clear resin type and we're full of barbed wire in the ladies and razor blades in the men's. The taps turned on water in an adjoining basin rather than the one it should have and the hand dryer switch turned on the neighbouring dryer rather than the one with the switch. Should make for some funny sights late at night! Definitely worth a look if you are passing through.

We are staying at the Erldunda Roadhouse tonight south of Alice Springs which is a thriving concern and a relief after some of the places we have encountered today. Not sure if we are continuing south tomorrow or heading for the rock. Will depend a bit on the weather.

Talk to you tomorrow.



A fair dinkum NT road train. I had planned to take it more from front on so the perspective and size would be more impressive but as I headed out the driver finished his check, jumped in and started to drive off so this is it!