Category: 2021 Road Trip

Ahh, second time lucky. Passed over the border with barely a stop at the quarantine checkpoint. Our Police pass was accepted this time and old mate quarantine officer did a cursory inspection of our vehicle for contraband of the vegetable and fruit variety. Being honest people we had ditched all our goodies at Victoria River Roadhouse camp yesterday morning so had to do a full vegetable shop at Coles in Kununurra to replace the missing food. A quick refuel and it was back on the road again for a trip down memory lane also known as the Great Nortrhern Highway to set up camp early (for us, in any case) at the Muluk Rest Area Freecamp where we have stayed on previous occasions (on the traditional lands of the Kira people).

The vehicle is still playing up spasmodically. Every now and then the sensor error shuts off the cruise control but it is still drivable. Originally, I had to use the Diagnostic Scanner to clear the faults to get up and running again but on two occasions now it has reset itself after the ignition has been turned off. This afternoon it did over 200kms without any problems so maybe my luck has changed and the system is settling down.

Beautiful night under the stars, balmy breeze and the occasional shooting star. We were startled in the early hours of the morning by a pack of dingoes that came into the camp and started howling. Exciting but scarey at the same time.

We woke to a lovely cool morning and after a leisurely breakfast, set off for the border. We stopped at Pine Creek to refuel just to make sure we had plenty of fuel to get to Kununurra then decided to head straight to the border.

There was a long queue at the quarantine checkpoint which was a mystery to us – surely you have your approved pass so it should be “Howz it going, come on through”. Oh silly us. After waiting for 45 minutes and despite having our border pass approved to go through today, the police at the checkpoint can’t admit anyone into Western Australia until they have finished fifteen days in the Northern Territory (they don’t count the first day at all) meaning if we had our details entered they would cancel our pass and we would have to apply all over again. Even the constable on duty said its ridiculous that, after nearly two years, the powers that be have not fixed the system so that people like us, who have done the right thing, aren’t turned around. In any case we had to return to the NT and can enter WA at one minute past midnight if we so desire.

We decided to return to Timber Creek and spend the night at the Caravan Park there on Nungali/Ngaliwuru traditional lands. As a consolation its sausages and eggs for dinner (I’m easily distracted) to accompany the chorus of the fruit bats camped down by the crocodile pond. The other side of this is that, because it is taking so long to get across the border, nearly all westbound travellers are staying at least one night in Kununurra which means we will have to do our shopping tomorrow then move on (there is no room at the Inn. Thank goodness Jenny’s not pregnant or it would be Christmas all over again)

We anticipated a quick turn around from our mechanical woes but alas it was not to be. After an extraordinarily unlucky moment when I pulled to the side of the road to let traffic pass, a sharp stone was thrown up and hit the sensor lead from the Left Rear Wheel Speed Sensor. As with all great technology, it’s great while it works. Unfortunately, with no rear wheel sensor the vehicle refuses to get out of first gear. We took it to the legends at Pine Creek Auto Repairs who were unavailable until after lunch. Fortunately, after the last sensor issue earlier in the year, I had bought a Diagnostic Scanner for the Sprinter and was able to ascertain that the sensor lead had a short on the positive wire. Not so fortunately, the spare wheel sensor I bought was the wrong one, meaning a repair was the only option. The brothers at Pine Creek Auto isolated the fault and were able to solder the bashed wires back together and, after a reset of the system we were on our way again. We ended up stopping at the Victoria River Roadhouse Caravan Park (Wardaman traditional lands) and enjoying a chicken schnitzel at their restaurant. Off to WA in the morning.

We left the happy family at Bellamack, refuelled and headed south. It’s been a fun week in Darwin, being the social butterflies that we are. The youngsters took us to a few of their favourite haunts and we recuperated from our Mataranka mosquito bites. Our plan was to head south of Katherine tonight but a slight mechanical hiccup has seen us camp at Pine Creek (traditional lands of the Wagiman) until the mechanical services open up tomorrow (today is a public holiday). Hopefully we will still be at Timber Creek tomorrow afternoon.

Radio silence broken 😃. We arrived at Renae and Blake’s residence in Bellamack on Monday and received the usual warm welcome from number one granddaughter who took us on a flying tour of the neighbourhood where she teaches and lives. She and Blake are moving to Mooloolaba at the start of next month so we were lucky to get this opportunity to visit them before they left. Sharon and Paul arrived yesterday (Wednesday) afternoon and were surprised to see us in situ so it was a great night of catch-ups in the Darwin humidity.

Today will be a day of accompanying the McCrackens on a run around the city and suburbs as opposed to our chilling out over the last two days, reading and watching the olympics.

Other than the freight train driver deciding to wake all the campers at Bonney Wells by sounding the train horn repeatedly while passing by at some very early hour of the morning, it was a peaceful warm night. We watched the stars until bedtime before rising this morning to a beautiful, calm sunny morning. We decided after yesterdays long drive we would do a short trip to Newcastle Waters Freecamp, stopping at Tennant Creek for fuel and catchup phone calls, messages and the like. Unfortunately my emails didn’t update in time so we will have to wait until we reach Katherine (probably tomorrow morning).

Tennant Creek was quiet, not many local people about but heaps of tourists refilling their vehicles to head south. Last night it was Bethlehem at the Devil’s Marbles, today its like the Exodus. Heaps of vehicles and vans heading south with only a fraction of that number going north with us. Noticeably different to previous years.

I went to fit the new windscreen wiper blades that I purchased from Repco in Alice Springs only to discover he had given me the wrong size. Hopefully there is a Repco at Katherine that will let me exchange them (I’m definitely not going back to Alice Springs!)

The wind had largely died down today, only kicking backup just after lunch. It made for economical motoring, using 2.5 litres per 100 kms less today than yesterday. Now if only we can get a tailwind.

We left camp fairly early and made our way to Alice Springs. We only stopped for coffee and some minor shopping before hightailing it out of there. Very busy, dirty and no longer the quaint country city it once was. The wind was extremely strong all day and, on a whim, we headed to Devil’s Marbles not really expecting to get in and we were right – less room than Bethlehem at Christmas. We went on another 20 kms to Bonny Wells Freecamp where we knocked up a marinated roast pork fillet and sat out in the balmy weather watching the stars. It hit 31.5º during the day but cooled a bit. At least we had no wind in the evening

The morning started out with a few spits of rain but it was still warm enough for me to wear shorts and to cook breakfast outside. We packed everything up and girded our loins to take on the Northern Territory Border. It was strange heading out, not many travellers on the road and those that were were all heading south. When we reached the NT/SA Border there was no one in sight so we guessed they would be nearer to mobile reception.

As we approached Kulgera, mobile reception kicked in with a flurry of text messages and missed calls. Then the NT Police roadblock came into view and we were stopped by a courteous young constable who gathered our details and our permit numbers before doing some minor checking and waving us through. Much more friendly the the SA Police at Yamba!

We pulled into Kulgera to send some texts, check emails, update the blog and try some phone calls out (but they just wouldn’t work) so decided that we would move on to Desert Oaks Freecamp (one of our favourites, on the traditional lands of the Arrernte people), stop for lunch and set up an early camp. This will leave us another 170kms to Alice Springs for a bit of a shop around prior to moving on again tomorrow. Glorious sunshine from almost the time we crossed the border until now. A light breeze blowing just to keep everything hunky dory. Warmth has arrived.

We had a relaxing breakfast, not leaving until after morning tea for our short drive out to Kingoonya (on the traditional lands of the Kokatha people). Unfortunately it looks like the road from Glendambo to Kingoonya hasn’t been graded since the last time we were here five years ago, so the 41 kilometre trip took us about an hour and a quarter. Talking to one of the owners of the pub we discovered there is a much better track coming in from the north which will take us back to the highway toward Coober Pedy

We had a beer with lunch at the Kingoonya Hotel and watched as two freight trains passed by on the Trans Australian Railway line. We went up to the caravan park located 100 metres passed the hotel on the Wirrulla Road. $20 for a powered site for the night with rope barriers up to stop the wandering horses from getting in amongst the paying guests. It’s pizza night tonight at the pub so looks like it will be pizzas back at camp tonight.

Another windy night and then the rain moved in. Everything was a little damp this morning but we were still able to cook breakfast outside before breaking camp at 9.15 a.m. and travelling the approximately 200 kms to Glendambo Roadhouse in anticipation of the mixed grill at the Hotel (I had had one there about 5 years ago and it was massive so Bob was all ears)

When we arrived at the Glendambo “Resort”, the sign on the door said No Chef and No Meals, so we will have to make do with going to the roadhouse next door for dinner. We set up camp in the Caravan Park (on the traditional lands of the Kokatha people) and needed the “L” formation again as it is still blowing a quite chilly westerly wind. We’re hoping for the sun to break through this afternoon.

It’s seems strange that we had mobile service out at our camp on the side of the road and for most of the way here but Glendambo has no service at all. This makes it hard to do our COVID check ins and to keep up to date with what is happening as far as lockdowns and travel restrictions are concerned. At this stage it stills looks like we will be able to get into the Northern Territory and Western Australia without having to quarantine.