We stocked up in Broken Hill – fuel, food and water – as today we are heading into the real outback and need to be totally self-sufficient (no more pub dinners!) We passed through eastern and central time zones. Our mobile phones changed time automatically even though we have no phone or internet service. How does that work? Timely enough, we drove through Telephone Creek (no water out here) but on the sign, people had glued mobile phones and other telephones. We came across a big lump in the road which turned out to be emu roadkill. Dave dragged it off the road by its feet and received a friendly wave from another driver for his efforts.
Today we drove through gibber country and saw a lot of paddy melons (an invasive plant with fruits the size of grape fruit) and we walked right through the middle of a willy willy*!
We ate spicy tuna and camembert sandwiches at Packsaddle NSW and saw a wedge-tailed eagle being harassed mid-air by two smaller birds.
Before dusk, we drove onto a sandy track and set up camp at Lake Cobham, south of Milparinka. It was lovely to see water in the middle of the outback. While Dan cooked steak and vegetables, Dave watched the setting sun while nursing a beer and I started knitting a stubby cooler in outback-orange while sipping on a vodka with apricot nectar. This is the life!
By the light of the campfire, I read aloud Dorothea Mackellar’s My Country, Dave recited by heart The Man From Snowy River and Dan sang his version of Tom Kruse the Outback Mailman.
And I wrote these haikus:
Small fingernail moon
There’s a white Sparkling star trail
Three fire poets.
Orange burning coals
Can the pilots see the stars?
Milky Way so bright.
*A dust storm that looks like a mini tornado.
