Our reverie was again interrupted this morning, by a knocking on the door at the ever so unsociable hour of 8:00AM. This time, it was one of the park employees, enquiring as to whether we were indeed intending on checking out this morning. Apparently there were vans lining up, out onto the street, all playing caravan park lottery, and hoping to win a much vaunted plot here. I assured our otherwise unwelcome guest that we would be on our way at some point in time during the morning, before quickly snuggling back beneath the blankets in a vain attempt to get a final 20 minutes of shut eye before the alarm screeched out its wake up siren. Further slumber was not to be found however, as the early morning park noises stymied any chance I may have had.

Instead, we just got up and sluggishly, rather than swiftly set about getting the van in order for a day of travel. It was nice to be able to take our time, rather than make a mad dash at getting ready, before scooting out of the park 10 or 15 minutes late as we have become accustomed to. In fact, even with the necessary wrangling of getting the van out of the way too small a site, then driving a huge arcing loop of the park as there was no way to turn around on the tight access paths (they were too diminutive to even be considered access roads), we still managed to hit the road running, with 10 minutes to spare before the 10:00AM dead line. If nothing else, that’s another 10 minutes earlier that we’ll be returning home.

On the road again, our plan for the day was just to drive. That said, it’s only a small day today, of around 250KM, to reach our planned roadside stop. So, off we motored, with the compass flitting between the cardinals of south and west, our onward journey continued.

One of the rocky outcrops.

It was again through scenery that could have been lifted from a calendar of landscape photographs that we were travelling. Each and every bend in the road, opened up as if you were unwrapping a Christmas gift, the present in this case being the never ending vistas with which we were confronted. What looked like rolling hills, caused the horizon to take on the appearance of a roller coaster, while closer examination of the same hills as we passed them by, showed them in their true form. Looking like mounds of waste from a long extinct and giant mining operation, they appeared to the naked eye to be created from piles of truck and car sized boulders, carelessly strewn about the landscape like long forgotten toys of mother nature. The bright red dirt has also gone for the time being, replaced with a vivid orange hued variety that looks more like river sand than red silty dust.

It wasn’t even 1:00PM when our day on the road was brought to a halt by our arrival at the camp ground. I had two picked out, the second hardly 10 minutes further on down the road, but every indication I had, suggested this first one to be the pick. It seemed lucky therefore, that we timed our arrival for quite early in the day, because even though it is a well proportioned rest area, split into two large main camping areas, available spots were already few and far between. It may have something to do with this being the nearest free camp to the Bungle Bungles, and many of the vans seem to be sitting forlornly without an accompanying tow vehicle, indicating that many of the campers are using the area as a base camp while they go off exploring further afield. I could indeed see the allure of spending more than just one night at this idyllic spot, perched on the banks of a meandering stream, in the middle of no where, miles from anywhere. Although, on further scrutiny, maybe not in the middle of nowhere. Interestingly we are close enough to civilisation that we have mobile phone and Internet coverage.

We nestled our rig between two soaring trees, which thrust a dark shadow of shade across the van, in the futile hope that it would help maintain a relatively cool temperature within. It was a good theory, but it didn’t make much of a difference, as the heat quickly invaded the van.

Far from being discouraged after our last free camp and the fireworks fiasco, we plan to continue making use of the freebies where and whenever they suit us. Tonight is to be one of those nights, as we strike camp about 100KM out of Halls Creek, leaving a quick hop into town in the morning. We could easily have made the distance to Halls Creek today, but it would have seen us arriving mid-afternoon, with no guarantee of getting a site at the towns only caravan park, not to mention paying whatever the nightly tariff is for the convenience of sitting in the van and doing nothing. Why bother, when we can do that right here, for the princely sum of nothing. That said, I am not about to go and leave our van sitting here alone, especially with the dogs locked within, in the heat of the day, to go off to the Bungle Bungles.

Plans had been afoot, for us to take in these marvelous rock formations, but being within the boundaries of a national park, Alvin and Bethany weren’t able to join us anyway. Then there was the not so insignificant fact that the 50KM trek in is estimated to take about 2 hours, such is the condition of the access road, upon which only 4X4 vehicles are allowed. That would have been about 2 hours too much for Bec to handle, so we waved the white flag of surrender on this one, vowing to return another time perhaps.

We did however chat to a couple of backpackers who had driven along the 50KM four wheel drive track in their unquestionably 2 wheel drive only combie-van, only to be turned back by the ranger at the park entrance gate, with a stern talking too. Although, I did later comment to Bec, when we saw the same back packer, walking about the camp ground by the light of a nice bright head torch, getting her self disoriented, that even with a head light on she could hardly be considered that bright.

Bethany has her eye on something.

Possibly the ruddy great bull that sidled through the camp.

We were left with a good many hours this afternoon and this evening, in which to do nothing more than relax in the shade of the van, while waiting for the cooler nighttime hours to bring about a sense of relief to the interior temperatures again. It was quite pleasant however, kicking back with a cold beverage, chatting to other campers about their travels, and wondering, with no small amount of smugness, what everyone is doing back home, while at the same time, composing this, in the bizarre knowledge that I will be able to post it, at a reasonable hour, on the right date and from right here in the middle of the nowhere. It hardly seems right to call it the outback when we have all the mod cons of home does it?

Until next time, stay safe, have fun and don’t forget to write.