Giles-Mulga Park Road NT - Westward bound the adventure begins.

Wednesday 25th June, 2008
Giles-Mulga Park Road, NT
25 55 34.61 132 39 18.47

Well here we are in the desert at last. We’ve set up camp under a sheoke with soft deep red sand beneath our feet. The cars and trailers are covered in dust and we’re loving it. The sun has just set and there is a glow on the western horizon that is fading into hues of blue through to indigo. The trailers have held up and all appears to be well with them. Gaby has got the fire going. Life’s good.

I was up early and fitted the passengers side front mudflap back onto the car, then a reshuffle of all the contents in the vehicle. The washing had dried so was folded and packed. Scott and Gaby were still pfaffing so I headed up to town about 8:30 and rang Amanda from a phone box. Then a bit of breakfast and some odd jobs about town before meeting up with S & G at the caravan Park and hurrying them along. We were finally away by 10.15 thundering up the highway. The first 80 km were somewhat familiar. The Wedge-tailed Eagleswere in abundance settling onto the fresh road kill from the previous night, often sitting in the middle of the road. There’s plenty of grub for the raptors up this way.

It was an uneventful run up to Marla where fuel was an unbelievable $2.15 per litre. A forgettable burger for lunch and then on to the border reaching it at 3:45 p.m. It was only a kilometre to the Mulga Park Road where the adventure begins. The dirt beneath our tyres (now reduced from 44psi to 36 psi) we headed west past Victory downs. We’ve pulled in under the trees with a great view of a small range of hills off to the southwest. It’ll be another chilly night for sure.