After another very cold night we packed up and headed out to fill the car with petrol and our spare jerry can with another 20 ltrs. Just in case we had a problem along the way.
The scenery outside of Mt Isa is very hilly-rocks atop of small hills-all being mined-some of the rocks are like bricks and make ridges that make them look like walls. Soon the hills are gone and the landscape reverted to savannah plains very flat but quite bushy. We stopped at Camooweal for fuel and to have a break with and a sip of coffee and half a sandwich. Well that was my plan because as I was sitting on my stool by the trailer talking to Beatrice and about to take a bite of my sandwich a Kite Hawk swooped down and took it practically out of my mouth, I felt this swoosh and a sting on my fingers and then realised what had happened. With that I retreated back to the car to finish my coffee. We walked across the road to the local butcher to buy some steaks as this place is known for the meats and by chatting to the butcher he said that the birds are very active as yesterday people had been feeding them no doubt they will now be more aggressive.
We headed off; still cool today, clear blue sky but only 16.5 deg, very chilly for us! We crossed over the border into the Northern Territory, putting our clocks back half an hour. Here the roads became decidedly worse though much better than 7 years ago when we last drove this way; at least it is now all bitumen and no longer just a single track down the middle. The roads are being improved all the time and they are working on them none stop, it all being federally funded. Very flat, a pale yellow and not a tree in sight in all directions. Barkly Homestead 260 Klms ahead, not a house or anyone living anywhere as we looked round 360 degs. We continue to return the wave to everyone that passes us, cars pulling caravans, truckies, cars, utes, nearly everyone even motor cyclists manage to wave, I suppose it’s the only thing to do for mile after mile of absolutely nothing, not even much road kill here, just nothing, straight roads with the occasional bend and up , over and down the odd hills. Our only mishap on this leg was a flock of Galahs swooped across the front of the car and one misjudged it and struck our near side fender and we picked up another chip on our windscreen. We continued on and on checking our Camps 5 book decided that we would pull into an overnight stop by the side of the road at a place that goes by the name of 45 Mile Bore. It was just a pull off designated as an area that overnight travellers are permitted to stay at, it’s all free, however there are no facilities, no toilets, etc and only some tank water if you are desperate. We carry all our own water, cooking gas and the trailer lights are run by batteries so we were fine. We just had to make do with all the other problems as far as the toilet was concerned, as one of the other nomads said who had also stopped there said, there are plenty of bushes around. Thankfully it was a warmer night; with no stray lights from the city of other places the stars were absolutely brilliant and we spent some time in awe of them.
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