The alarm went off at 5am..and we were on the road by 5.40 yesterday morning. The plan was to drive 1200km from Alice Springs to Mataranka. A very long drive...but just one straight highway with a 130km speed limit most of the way (not that we travel quite that fast with a heavily loaded car and trailer!).
Our first stop for breakfast was at a rundown ( at first we thought closed down) roadhouse. The burly, unfriendly woman behind the counter obviously didn't understand my need for a mocha, or she might have scooped some chocolate powder into the cappuccino. We were also hoping for some breakfast but the deep fried dim sims and chicken drumsticks just weren't looking very nutritious, so toasted sandwiches were the next best thing. Avoiding the mangy looking dogs, we headed off as quick as we could.
The rest of the day was spent looking at the same straight road, and mostly unchanging scenery...just under 12 hours all up. We did make one proper stop at a ghost-town called Newcastle Waters. We made some lunch and explored one of the buildings, the old store.
We left Alice Springs at 5.40am, temp 5 degrees.
We arrived Mataranka at 5.25pm, temp 30 degrees...hooray!
We were, of course, very tired. The boys had traveled so well, with very little complaining. We set up camp quickly and cooked up some dinner...then decided ( after much pleading) to have a quick look at the natural thermal pool. We wandered through the palm trees until we found the spectacular moon lit creek. The pools had been formed by widening the creek during ww2, and was originally for officers use only. Within minutes we were all floating under the palms and sparkling stars...in soothing warm water. On the way back we stopped for a drink and to listen to some live country music at the warm open air bar.
As we sat there together I completely forgot the long drive, and knew with absolute certainty, there is nothing. better. than. this.
Cazz x
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Location:Somewhere on the road, NT
No comments:
Post a Comment