Aus Day 9 - Keep Going North Young Man

Tuesday 28th September Aus Day 9


Up late this morning, 07.30. The weather has turned cold and windy with a cloudy sky. Drafted an email after shower and breakfast and toddled off to the Internet access point to get it sent. Success. Got sorted and left the site at 09.30 but called into town(Coober Pedy) for a bit of shopping and fuel, then hit the road by 09.50 hoping to make Kulgera some 410 Kms North.

The CP Opal fields extend to about 40 Kms north of the town and then the terrain settles into the usual variation of shrub and brush as far as the eye can see. Stopped at the Pootnoura rest area at 10.35 having covered 75 kms from CP: If you read the sign below you will find that I am now in desert country with the Great Victorian Desert on one side with the Simpson Desert on the other.

Desert Country

The road continued like an unbroken ribbon into the distance and about an hour later I arrived at Cadney Park having now covered some 150 Kms. Parked up was one of the notorious Road Trains so, couldn’t let the photo opportunity go begging. When these things pass you at 100 kms per hour, you need to be careful you don’t get blown off the road.

Cadney Park Roadhouse

Road Train Parked up at Cadney Park Roadhouse

12.35 saw me at Marla (237 Kms) and another 11 kms up the road I couldn’t resist taking this photo of the Ghan railway line which runs from Adelaide to Darwin and follows the Stuart Highway for much of the time.

What - No Trains?

The next stop along the way which should have revealed more about the Explorers, was the Marryat Rest Area but, unfortunately, Australia suffers from vandals as well, an all the information boards were missing. However, I was now some 358 Kms from CP.

Finally, at 14.45, I reached the South Australia/Northern Territory State Border as the following pictures prove.

Northern Territory State Border

JB About to Enter The Northern Territory

Over the Wall and Looking Back

It was interesting to note the subtle difference in road management having crossed the border, a sign proclaimed “The speed limit in the Northern Territory is 110 KPH unless signed otherwise” about 100 metres beyond this was a 130KPH speed limit sign. Mind you I didn’t really want to see if my little old camper van could actually achieve such a speed without falling apart so stayed at a more modest 100 KPH.

I reached my intended destination at the Kulgera Roadhouse by 15.30 and within 15 minutes had discovered that Internet access was available, but my mobile was a dead as a dodo. However, soon set up with camp chair and table outside the van in shorts and tee-shirt enjoying a beer.

It has been a good drive up, although not much variation in the landscape I had emerged into sunshine at about 11.15 and although starting to cloud over again it is still warm. Managed to sort myself out a bit of tea later although I have just found out that I haven’t been supplied with a can opener. How is a single guy supposed to manage without a can opener???

There is a wind getting up so retired to the roadhouse bar with the laptop in order to draft yesterday’s Blog although I have not been able to post it yet. The text isn’t too much of a problem but posting the pictures takes a considerable time and I may have to consider limiting them in the future. Anyway, completed the draft and was then ejected from the roadhouse at 9.30 pm because they were closing. So, back to the van and a game or three of Majong then once again, “and so to bed,” said Zebedee