Jun 04, 2009

We headed off early again this morning as we had a fair trek in front of us and wanted to beat the heat of the day. The temperature when we started reminded us we're in the interior and it is basically a desert complete with very low overnight temperatures! We stopped soon after starting and added another layer to the clothing.

A fair bit of road kill evident early this morning. Many eagles large and small about. Norm came close to having an unwelcome encounter with one. There was a group off the side of the road beyond the fog line and as we approached several took to flight. Norm could see there was still a big one there standing his big fluffy leg ground and not planning on going anywhere soon so he had slowed and moved towards the middle white line. The eagle ultimately had second thoughts and started to take off in a very ungainly fashion gaining very little altitude (must have had a generous breakfast of road kill) and staggering out towards Norm who headed for the thankfully empty oncoming lane. The eagle finally got himself under control and started to wheel himself away from the road as Norm got there. What Norm saw with relief was the wings start to open up and move off to the side, his eyes were level with the eagles as he came alongside. Phew. The great view I got was the magnificent sight of the cream, tan and black plumage of the underbelly and underside of the wings and tail as it continued in an arc to climb away. The wings weren't even fully extended as it rose over Normie but had easily extended to 7 feet because it was more than twice the width of Norm sitting on his bike and the width of the handlebars. On reflection I'm also pretty relieved it didn't need to wheel back to gain height before I passed.



Nola south of Renner Springs heading south with a 'YES I'm enjoying this' salute.

Got some good pics south of Renner Springs today. On our way north we approached our first advisory speed sign after 3ways on a right hand corner with a tipping truck sign because the camber was a bit dodgy and as we rounded the corner were greeted by a WOW view of straight road disappearing into the distance and a rugged rocky out crop / butte on our right. Reminded us both of the old cowboy and indian movies we watched as kids which were filmed in the Sierra Nevada desert around the Sedona area which we saw on our 98 trip to the USA. Great memories everywhere!

We've had strong and punishing winds for long stretches throughout the day and as my neck has been screaming its of some consolation that I can also see the trees on the side of the road getting a beating so its not just me. One concern with this situation is the fact that the prospect of the helmet and occie strap to the handlebars innovation is starting to appear as if it may have some merit, even so I still won't be a test pilot.

Heading south towards 3ways today I saw the sign to the Barkly Stock Route and was reminded that on our way north we saw a cattle truck turn off onto it which is an un sealed road and the progress could be seen over the tree tops. It looked awesome and it reminded us both of the huge numbers of trucks and coaches we met on our original trip out to Mt Isa from the coast but especially from Alice Springs south on our way home in our car after leaving the van in Darwin on consignment to be sold. In those days we were guaranteed a better price selling the van there rather than dragging it home. To quote the people we bought it from when we rang them before heading off to Darwin 'It'll be worth around $600 more to you to sell it up there because it costs them a heap to ship them up there and no one will ever get the red dust out of it down here so it. Will be worth that much less if you bring it back'. He was right as it turned out. We shipped home everything we didn't need from Mt Isa before we headed for Darwin. Anyway from Darwin down we carried our gas primus burner and canned food and that was what we ate on the way most of the way. So to the dust. Whenever we saw great clouds of red dust approaching we would either pack up quick and get on the road to beat the road trains or coaches, or if we didn't have time we'd sit and wave if it was a coach or if it was a road train jump into the car before we choked.

We regretted not getting a photo of the rolling plumes of dust on the way up. The things we take for granted!



The devil and his marbles (sorry freudian slip there) Norm on top of some of the Devils Marbles. Kids in front.

We enjoyed revisiting the Devils Marbles which are magnificent. The highway no longer winds through them which is probably just as well but they are only a short distance off it.

For those who don't know Wycliffe Wells is apparently the UFO capital of Australia and who am I to disagree?

That's it for today other than to note there is no phone service so this will be sent when I get some tomorrow.