This morning, Matt and David greased the bus springs and did any running repairs and servicing that the Clippers needed; while Brenda and I cleared out some of the red dirt inside, albeit a temporary respite, as we knew more red dirt will be inevitably filling the Clippers throughout this adventure. A restock of fresh food and topping up with fuel, we were eventually on our way, with a lot less noise and squeaks thanks to the work Matt had done this morning on the springs. It was an easy drive to Ali Curung, with an occasional bend in the otherwise very straight road. Easy for Sal, she slept for an hour , i drove for 3 1/2 hours straight... but that's what i like to do.
Ali Curung is a small community, but where some friends of David and Brenda's had a watermelon farm. Not the kind of crop you would expect out here, but very successful, and we now have this whopping big melon for Matt to consume. The owners took us around the farm and showed us the watermelon fields currently being harvested, and an asparagus trial crop and we got to pick some of this as well, and eaten freshly picked was apparently delicious, especially when I then used some in a beef satay for dinner. After spending time with David and Brenda's friends, we found a spot on the property to park up for the night. We ended up with front row seats to watch the new moon rise on the horizon, dinner time entertainment doesn't get better than that, though we had also just been spoiled with an amazing sunset earlier.
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| cant see the next bend... |
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| asparagus plants |
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| watermelon fields |
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| sunset |
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| moon rise |
Caravans
i now see why truck drivers complain so much about them
their drivers will sit on 95kmh and a 60-80 tonne 3-4 trailer road train slowly catches them up doing 100. no problem as yet. then to be helpful, they indicate left, half pull off the road and brake to 60kmh instantly,thinking this helps the truck driver go past.nope. cause they did it with traffic coming the other way, and the truck has to throw out the anchors so they don't clean the caravan up, cause he has nowhere to go.
they then did the same thing to me and the bus travelling with us. 3 potential accidents. all he had to do was drive predictably at the same speed and the trucks and busses will go out when they are ready, then the caravan can slow down and let the truck pass safely. it took the truck 3 kilometers to build up the speed to overtake again.
i've seen at least 4 caravan drivers do this
rant over . oh and i tried to fix the step but all the legs snapped off. and i cant weld alloy. it now lives in Alice springs.
