Day 218 – 6 Oct 2015
Left camp at 7.00am and headed towards Alice Springs via the Tanami Track. Joining the Tanami will complete the Garry Junction Road. We are also still on track to make Brisbane by 10 Oct to allow us to rest up for Christine’s birthday.
The road since the NT Border has been terrible. This morning it is still sandy and corrugated, but wider.
The mountain ranges to the southeast are amazing. These mountains would be the Amunguranga Ranges, and believe we are seeing glimpses of Mt Ziel the highest peak in NT at 1531m.
The road between Papunya and Tanami Rd pretty rough and corrugated. Going through Papunya we had internet so picked up emails and messages.
9.00am temp was 31.2 degrees, mainly due to driving into sun, and keeping windows closed because of dust from oncoming traffic
9.15am reached end of Gary Junction Rd at the intersection with the Tanami Rd. Being back on bitumen we aired up by 10 or so psi for the run into Alice.
We reached the Stuart hwy intersection at 11.00am
Today we saw the first clouds in sky since Exmouth. It is a strange feeling.
Entering Alice Spring we found a weigh bridge and found our weight is 5880kg
Went to Coles and topped up with food and drinks and took on extra fuel.
Leaving Alice at 1.00pm and decided to take advantage of the weighbridge once more. This time we were 6100kg.
Heading north again we started the gravel of the Plenty Highway around 3.00pm. Here we decided to eat lunch and air down the tyres for the gravel ahead.
389km to border 4.44pm passed about 6 bright red McCormick XTractors heading to Alice.
On dusk we stopped for a quiet dinner at the termite mound before we decided to drive through the night. Focused the Spot Lights, which made spotting the roos easier.
Sign near where the Planty Highway turns into the Donohue Hwy isays 4WD only. The Plenty Highway is in horrible condition and we shudder to think what is ahead of us.
We crossed the Queensland border at 9.32pm and are welcomed with a road in wonderful condition. Certainly not 4WD only and in much better condition than the Plenty.
Arrived at Georgina River Bush Camp 12.05am
