Our Trip

Day Nineteen

Well, day eighteen ended with us

camped at the Tjukayirla Roadhouse

in very cold conditions.

As you can see in the above and below photos,

we finally got the ICE we had been hearing

about along the way!

It was FREEZING!!

But, we needed to make an early start,

so there was no time to linger in our beds. 

As, I climbed up on top of the cruiser

to fold up the roof top tent, the ice

 was flaking off and sending little snowflakes 

down onto the ground below. 

Cold. Cold. Cold. 

My feet were so cold, my toes were going numb. 

As per usual, when we started up 

our old girl, she blew her pretty blue smoke.

And as I believe in looking for an opportunity in 

every difficulty, I chose to take photos. 

I mean, if your cruiser blows smoke,

then, pull out the camera and take creative photos! 

We ate our breakfast of peanut butter 

and jam sandwiches (made the night before),

on the road as we left around 7am. Our friends 

taking the lead and leaving us in their dust. 

I had both my warm jackets on this morning

and was gonna need them for a while. 

After a couple of hours, we made

it to Warburton Roadhouse, where we

caught up with our friends once more. 

We managed to get a hot cup of pod machine

coffee made with UHT milk (yuck), but it was 

warm nonetheless and we treated ourselves to a burger,

which turned out not such a treat, but the local dogs

liked eating our leftovers. 

On leaving the roadhouse, 

just across the road, we saw a mob of camels. 

And then further down the road,

we saw another mob, which crossed

in front of us, one of which nearly collected Emilee's

ute as it darted across in front of her.

Of course, we had our share 

of corrugates once more. 

Beautiful scenery once again 

with amazing reds and browns

and mountains off in the distance 

looking like a mirage in the desert. 

Pretty soon, we came to Warakurna Roadhouse

where we bought some cold drinks. 

Coming up to the Northern Territory

Border sign, we pulled around in front 

of Emilee and she noticed that 

something was missing off the back of the cruiser.

Yes, somehow, on the rough corrugated road

we had totally lost one of our spare tyres,

complete with tyre rack, pin, post and all!

We hadn't seen it fly off, and thankfully

Emilee and the girls were not travelling behind

us, or they might have copped it! 

The Lord is good.

Well, because we had no idea where

in the last 100kms we had lost it, 

we carried on without going back to look 

for it. So, somewhere out there is a very

happy person, with one very large 33"

Mickey T on their outback 4WD! 

Around 4pm, we made it to 

our camp for the night. Docker River

Campground (no river in sight and just

a lot of burnt out country, but still pretty)

Our friends had continued on to Uluru,

as they needed to be back in Katherine before 

we did. 

Strangely enough, we found that 

we had phone reception! This of course made

Emilee very happy, being able to text Laine.

The girls even were able to play some games

on their phone. We actually received a random

phone call from a friend in Queensland!

Throughout the night, 

we heard dingoes calling,

but all was quiet from the other campers 

that were some distance away. 

Another day had passed, and we 

enjoyed a nice campfire and a sleep

in, in the morning. We were back on NT

time now, so our body clocks had to readjust once more. 

And as usual, as the sun slowly descended

over the far horizon, we were treated to 

the amazing oranges and reds and yellows

that only God knows how to create on His

master canvas. 

To be continued...……

(yes, we're not home yet, so there is more!)