We had a later start from Alice after packing up and filling with water then stopping at McDonald's for breakfast/lunch. We tried to get some beer but the bottle shops didn't open until 2pm and we weren't going to wait around until then.
We headed for yuendumu, an aboriginal community and supposed to be known for aboriginal art. The Tanami road was bitumen for the first 220km then once it got to the dirt it became really corrugated. We stopped and let the air pressure down to 30. Before doing this we were just bouncing around everywhere and making top speeds of about 40kmph. After reducing air pressure we could cruise between 70 and 90 comfortably.
We got to yuendumu and saw it was quite a run down aboriginal community. There were old cars and rubbish strewn around the run down houses. Definitely not a place you would want to park up for night! There was a sign at the entrance to town saying last fuel for 760km, next fuel at Halls Creek. We had fueled up at Alice before leaving but thought we'd better to up here as our calculations with 3 20lt jerry cans and two tanks gives us about 960km. However with reducing air pressure we were unsure of how much difference this would make.
We followed the signs through town for petrol and diesel and found a diesel bowser near what appeared to be a shop. Old shipping containers turned into offices and a sign out the front saying yuendumu mining. There was a note on the bowser saying the did not have the facilities to take plastic so could only take cash or a bank transfer. Lucky there is Telstra service in yuendumu so I could do a bank transfer from my phone.
The guy operating the shop and the people in the shipping container office were nice enough. There were a lot of local aboriginal just walking around and it did not feel safe. They just have out a wary vibe. As we left the town Gaz said, if we see a broken down car with a bunch of them around we're not stopping! You wouldn't believe it 75km out of town there was an old car with no number plates with the bonnet up and doors open. An aboriginal woman standing in the middle out the road waving its down with three other aboriginal men sitting on the side of the road and what appeared to be a wheel chair.
We didn't stop. We had been warned previously about groups of aboriginals doing this kind of thing to get alcohol and fuel. We could see they were fine and we would notify someone at the next town just in case they were genuine. The car looked like out could have been there for months and I don't think a wheel chair and 4 adults would have fitted in that size car.
We then kept driving trying to put as much distance between yuendumu and where we were going to camp fort the night. We ended up at Renahans Bore rest area. This is mentioned in both camps six and wiki camps. There were comments about burnt out cars and bottles and cans around. Sure enough There were burnt out cars and remnants of alcohol bottles/cans but it felt ok, far enough off the road and another camper had set up.
We set up out the back past the old windmill near one out the burnt out cars. The whole area looked like it had been burnt recently like a controlled burn out the rest area. We got a camp fire going and cooked up sausages and potatoes with carrots and cucumber on the side. The temp was quite warm still and we didn't even need to put a jacket on as it got darker.
Gaz boiled some water and we had a bucket wash before getting into bed early.
We woke up around 7:30am and had cereal for breakfast and a coffee. We packed up and were on the road by 8:30am. We have decided to make a bigger day and head straight to the campsite near the bungle bungle intersection. This is where we are meeting Frew,Candy,Malcolm and Cindy.
We were going to try for Wolfe creek but we have already seen a meteorite crater this trip so will not go out of our way this time. This way we can get beer at Halls Creek, get set up for a couple of days and get a nice dinner and shower set up for when the others arrive.
We've been warned that the corrugations get worse once you cross the WA border.
No comments:
Post a Comment