Our 2000km epic journey to the centre of Oz

Well it was a crazy journey through an exceptionally remote part of Australia but we managed to make it from Karratha to Alice Springs in 4 days. Over 2000km with most of it on gravel/dirt road. We hardly saw any other cars and the only human contact we had was with the guys pumping fuel at the two Aboriginal communities we stopped at. 

The first day we went through Marble Bar, which has the honour of being the hottest place in Australia. It was certainly hot and unfortunately the water in Marble Bar pool was stagnant and did not look very inviting! After 7 hours driving we finally made it to Carawine Gorge that night, it is meant to be a lovely place but unfortunately it was near dusk and it was packed (long weekend in WA) so we ended up camping very far away from the gorge. It was exceptionally hot, humid and still and we sweated through the night grateful of any slight breeze that came our way.

For the next 3 days we drove for an average of 8 hours each day, with only short food/wee stops on the way. Daniel did an amazing job of driving, Emilia did an amazing job of entertaining herself with sticker books, colouring and Barbies. Jackson did an amazing job of keeping me on my toes by requesting a change in activity every 5 minutes or so. I did an exceptional job of keeping him entertained with songs, stories, stickers, colouring, craft, games on his computer and by the afternoon, (when I was worn out) movies.

We enjoyed having campfires again and the stars were just magical. As well as enjoying the natural scenery we also saw several dingoes and lots of camels but by far the most common attraction on the Gary Junction Hwy was abandoned and/or burnt out cars. Most had also been stripped of tyres, bonnets, boots and doors with much of this then scattered nearby the car. The most interesting one was a Landcruiser sitting right in the middle of the road. As we were coming up we assumed the people had broken down but were shocked to see it completely abandoned right in the middle of the road. Each community we pulled in to also had its own bush version of Kilsyth Pick a Part, with the number of cars in these 'car graveyards' just astonishing.

We had some car and fridge trouble along the track with the car struggling to accelerate at higher speeds. This was quite troubling on some of the huge bog holes we had to drive though on the NT section of the road, Daniel has since told me he only just had enough acceleration to get out of some of them. He has since changed the two fuel filters and all seems ok. Fridge has also been fixed so we are all good.

We arrived in Alice Springs on Tuesday late afternoon and had not predicted how busy it would be with the upcoming Finke Desert Rally. After finally securing an unpowered site at a caravan park (after many knock backs and an hour spent trying to find a bush camp spot along the Finke track - very difficult when it was nearly dark) we spent a day getting our repairs done before joining the other hardcore campers along the Finke Desert Rally Track. It is already shaping up to be a highlight and certainly a part of our trip we will never forget.  

Inspecting the rocks at Marble Bar Pool.

The rock colours come alive when wet.

One of the roaming desert camels we passed.

The intersection for the Gary Junction Hwy, another outback road constructed by Len Beadell.

An outback intersection. We really were in the middle of nowhere.

As we crossed into NT the bog holes started. They'd had a lot of rain a few weeks prior which meant LOTS of mud.

The sun was setting and we were still driving........ desperately searching for a track to lead us to a campspot for the night.

Just as the sky turned a lovely shade of pink we found a clearing where we camped for the night - after 9 hours in the car!

The camp spot was next to a huge puddle and the kids just had to check its depth.

Don't get water in your boots.......Guess who did manage to fill his boots with muddy water though!!

Our breakfast spot on the way to Alice Springs.

A barefoot race in the red dust to stretch their legs.

And here's some photos of me and the kids enjoying the waterslide at our caravan park at Alice Springs. I didn't like the water up my nose so held my nose but I should have been holding my bikini top! One embarrassing incident averted thanks to the deep water!