Creat Central Road Day 02

So last night I made it to Leonora. It was too far really. I had intended to stay the night in Menzies. Unfortunately when I arrived about 9-30pm the whole place was locked up. I was going to stay the night and and get fuel in the morning. Two things put me off this; the first was the fact that there were quite a few people roaming the streets looking, it would appear, for some form of amusement; robbing my truck seemed like it would be high on the list for entertainment. But perhaps I malign them. Then again the roadhouse was surrounded by a several metre high security fence topped with barbed wire!! Even the driveways were gated such that no-one could get in!! The second thing was that I got a call on the CB radio from the roadhouse proprietor informing me that they would not be open the following day. Fuel was available 120km away 24/7 in Leonora. No brainer really . . .

Leonora was much nicer, and parked outside the police station I wasn't bothered all night!

Fueled up next morning and off at about 7-30am.

The road goes to within about 10km of Laverton but seeing as I had worked out by then that I am averaging about 5km/l (or 20l/100km if you prefer or VERY roughly about 15mpg) and have a range between 1600 and 2000km and its only 1500km to Alice and about 300 to the next fuel I decided to keep straight on. I don't have particularly stimulating memories of Laverton from many years ago and I can't see it would have changed much. Subsequent conversations with others on the road since have borne this out.

So turning left I was confronted with . . .


















Not too bad . . . a bit rough in patches . . . a bit corrugated in patches . . . and quite smooth in others.
Then there was some of this . . .


















and this . . .


















but surprisingly only one of these!


















Who turned out to be


















who explained that THE ROAD WAS CLOSED DUE TO RAIN !!!
He was coming back . . . as you couldn't get past the roadhouse.
He explained that it only took 24-48 hours normally for the road to re-open as wind and evaporation dry everything very quickly around here.
It took me a few minutes to come to grips with that. Then I thought "I'm on holiday! I don't have to get to any place particularly at any time particularly, and as it's an awful long way to anywhere else from out here I may as well wait at the roadhouse for a day or so. I can always get down the bike and go for a ride. . .
So on we go . . .
Along the way I had surprised several families of eagles by the side of the road but they were always hidden behind some bushes until I arrived suddenly and by the time I got stopped they were long gone so I couldn't get photos. Finally there were a couple well ahead and I could roll up a bit closer. All but one took off and "he" flew a little way into a bush. What the heck . . . I would just walk up slowly until he took off. I managed to get to about 30 metres away, very unusual. I love these big guys although this one only had a wingspan of about 2 metres.



















On to Tjukayirla Roadhouse, the most isolated roadhouse in Australia, which probably puts it in a world class anyway.


















It's run by a white guy on behalf of the aboriginal (or whatever the PC term is these days) and is very well looked after. Some other travellers and truckies waiting for 9 tomorrow morning when it is expected the road will be re-opened. A few interesting conversations and set up for the night. Interestingly this is as far as you are allowed to take alcohol and tobacco into the native title lands. Completely banned in these communities.


















So far nothing dramatic has happened. A bracket holding the motorbike has come loose as some rivnuts have pulled out because of the sometimes AWFUL corrugations. Now I remember why it's not always a good idea to use rivnuts. Also the stove would not work. Seemed to be no gas flow although the hot water system is fine. I'll have to wait until I can phone the gas fitter or get to Alice Springs for a repair.

Gradually I'm getting the arranging worked out.
Not bad for day 2 . . .

Hopefully there will be some interesting sights to see further on ...