We have left the state!

We are officially in the Northern Territory and write this from a tent site out the back of Barkly Station enjoying some down time after all the driving while the road trains rattle past on the highway.

We had a bumpy start to our day today along dirt roads and were thankful to get back to the highway. All the rattling in the car is causing some havoc and a few bush mechanic skills were required when the roof racks shook themselves loose and collapsed under the weight of the roof basket. We were very lucky to find that the screws that shook out of the rack stayed on top of the car until we had noticed.

We also had our first river crossing today! This was a real river! Well two river crossings actually. The Gregory river and the O’Shannasy Rivers. Rob drove the first one and I drove the second. It was a bit scary but fun too!

We still have no mobile reception so apologies for anyone we seem to be ignoring.

Today we saw the most expensive fuel yet coming in at $1.95 per litre. Thankfully, we didn’t have to buy any!

I discovered today that after many years of driving a bomby car and never being able to overtake has left me with zilch overtaking skills or confidence! Today in a 130km/ph zone I frustrated Rob when I sat behind a truck doing 90km/ph for about an hour as I was too chicken to pass! I guess road trains that are over 55m long are not the best way to be learning to overtake! Eek! This is a skill I definitely must improve on.

 

So some stats so far…

1 punctured tire

3498.6km’s driven

2 states

only a few arguments and

still eating like royalty

 

Next stop, Tennant Creek to get the punctured tire fixed.