Wed, 13th June, 2018 Bush camp, near Tropic of Capricorn, north of Alice Springs to Bush camp, near Mt Polhill, south of Alice Springs, NT

7am 12 degrees, clear sky though there is a heavy cloud on the horizon in the east that is blocking out the sun as it rises.

8.30am 19 degrees, cool breeze.

Packed up and Steve put some air in the tyres as we will be on bitumen for a while now. Back to the highway and down to the rest area. Plenty of room now the caravans have moved on. Checked out the Tropic of Capricorn marker and read the info boards. Interesting!!

Mobile phone signal booster dishes - ‘Hot Spots’. I just use my aerial.

Further down the road was a big cairn so we pulled over for a look. Highest point on the main route from Adelaide to Darwin.

Back past the Tanami Road turn off. Closer to the range as we head into Alice Springs. Tree got in the road of the sign.

We found a park to pull up beside to have a cuppa and make some calls. Rang Ray and Carol to report our finds in Mt Dockrell area as Ray had given us the GPS marks. I spotted a big statue which turned out to be explorer John Stuart.

From the Westprint maps:

John McDouall Stuart dominated exploration in Central Australia in the 1860s. Stuart, with two other men and 13 horses, left Adelaide in March 1860 on the first of three almost continuous treks across Australia. Stuart’s expeditions, financed by William Finke and James Chambers, were successful, especially when compared with the size and cost of the Burke and Wills expedition. As he pushed northwards, on what was later the route of the Overland Telegraph Line, Stuart named Peake Creek, the Neales River, Mt Dutton, Mt O’Halloran, the Stevenson and Finke Rivers. Stuart’s party was forced to return after conflict with Aborigines at Attack Creek, just north of Tennant Creek. In 1861 he again set out determined to cross the continent but was forced to return after failing to find water north of Newcastle Waters, only 160km north of Attack Creek. Stuart finally crossed Australia and on July 24, 1862, he was standing on the coast about 80km east of present-day Darwin. By the time he returned to Adelaide in December 1862, he had travelled about 16,000 km in three trips through some of the harshest country in the world. This enormous effort ruined his health and almost killed him.

Found Coles and stocked up again. Great murals outside Coles.

The town has certainly grown from when we were here in 1985. We were here for Steve to compete in the Formula 500 Australian Titles. This is where we met Kev and Linda who owned a Yamaha dealership here and Steve’s engine was a Yamaha. We climbed Ayres Rock and visited the Olgas, Kings Canyon and the other gorges. Won’t be able to the Rock again as it will be permanently closed to climbing after October next year – not that I want to as it petrified me the first time. But we look forward to exploring the rest of the area again one day.

Then filled up the fuel tanks and water tanks. Had to wait till 2pm to get some grog – no casks, only wine bottles. Now the Todd River has glass bottles in it instead of plastic wine coolers – that’s not a good idea.

Bought a hot chook and some buns and went down to the Todd River to have lunch. Wine bottles scattered around. I uploaded some of my Blog and updated our travel on Facebook, checked the emails and banks while I had good internet reception.

Headed south on the Stuart Highway. Oops someone when ‘through’ the roundabout. We laugh when ‘girlie’ on our Hema tells us to go ‘through’ the roundabout!!

Through ‘The Gap’ of the West and East McDonnell Ranges then alongside the Todd River.

Passed the Old Ghan train engine – will check that out when we come back here in October.

Passed the start/finish line of the Finke Desert Race. Still lots of people camped in the showgrounds etc. We chatted with a guy at Coles and he said it was an unusually warm race this year. He was wearing shorts and t-shirts when they usually have 0 overnight and frost. I think the warm weather has ended though as it is quite chilly today. I had checked the weather forecast and it was a top of 18 with overnight around 2 degrees!! Time to dig out the big coats.

We stopped along the road to pick up some firewood. Pulled into Mt Polhill Rest Area which was only small and full again so we kept on. There was a bush camp marked on Wikicamps so we headed for that. Drove in off the road and next to the fenceline where others had had fires and set up camp for the night. Hung out our washing – will probably have icicles on it in the morning!! Packed away the rest of our groceries and got the fire going. I forgot to take our camp photo.

Left over chicken and greens for dinner. Got out the big coats and Steve put coals in the ‘lovelies warmers’ so we were all good. Played cards till 10pm and it had only dropped to 11.3 degrees by then. Closed both doors – still enough ventilation for us with them down.