I think it’s going to be a short post tonight, because it’s been a slow news day.
Thanks to the magic that is the Queensland/NT border, today will be a 24.5 hour day. We get to enjoy an extra 30 minutes of our retirement, because we crossed into the NT and turned our watches back 30 minutes.
Although I note that we will have to give it back again when we head back into Queensland in a few weeks.
Unfortunately that is probably the biggest news today, so please set your expectations accordingly. I will probably have to resort to some elevated level of sarcasm about things that annoyed me, just to provide enough content for today’s post.
Like the turkey in the BMW.
Before we went to bed last night, MBW did a quick review of our travel plans, and we agreed that we would still be heading for the Barkly Homestead tonight. It’s half-way along the Barkly Highway between the Queensland/NT border, and Tennant Creek.
Ok, maybe 2/3 of the way.
Just for clarity, Camooweal (on the right-hand side, underlined) was last night. BH (Barkly Homestead) is tonight, and tomorrow (Monday) we head to TC (Tennant Creek).
Well, in that general direction anyway.
The other bit of news that MBW told me last night was that the temperature is forecast to drop. This morning (Camooweal) was forecast to be 13 degrees but feel like 9 degrees, and tomorrow morning here at Barkly Homestead is forecast to be 11 degrees but feel like 3 degrees.
Might need to look out those warm clothes.
It did indeed get cold overnight. It was really warm when we went to bed, so we opened the windows. But during the night it got cold and I had to close the windows AND pull up the quilt.
Jeans weather today.
We stayed at the Camooweal lagoon/river-side camping last night. It’s a free camp spot with no facilities.
We woke this morning to another brilliant day. Sun shining, birds singing. Paradise.
On the way out of the free camp this morning, some guy in a BMW SUV and towing a single-axle van was ahead of us on the dirt road, and travelling about 5km/h all the way.
I don’t know if he was struggling to find 4WD, or if he was worried about puncturing one of those very low-profile sports tyres (I would have been worried!), but he was in no hurry to go anywhere, and not about to move off the track to let us past.
Why you’d use a BMW SUV as your tow vehicle out in the back of nowhere is beyond me. If you broke down or needed a part, it would probably be the first BMW that the local repairers have ever seen, and you’d have to wait weeks for parts.
And I’ll bet that they don’t carry those slick low-pro tyres out here either.
We drove the 1km or so back into town just to confirm that there was no lively Sunday morning excitement, and our expectations were certainly met.
No churches open, no pubs, no shops, no … nothing.
The local Puma was open, so we rounded up a few spare tigers to put into Elsie’s tank, and we were off.
We only made a couple of quick stops after we’d got fuel.
The first was to take a photo at the NT border.
The second stop was to drop our grey water at the side of the road, and to get something to eat to sustain us.
Hardly worth mentioning really, and I’m kinda sorry that I did.
After crossing into NT, a few things became immediately obvious. Firstly, the roads became noticeably worse. Bumpy and uneven, and unpleasant to drive on.
And there are lots of signs saying that the paddocks are unfenced, so that implies that you could encounter a cow at any time on the road.
Secondly they were full of pot-holes, so we were playing a game of “dodge the pot-hole at 100km/h, or risk blowing a tyre.”
You’d have to be seriously concerned if you were driving a BMW SUV with those fancy-pancy low profile tyres.
And the last thing that we noticed was that the speed limit was suddenly raised to 130km/h.
130km/h? On these roads?
It’s obviously part of the NT government’s natural (de-)selection process to see who can really do 130km/h and survive.
Survival of the smartest, perhaps?
It’s certainly one way to add a little extra chlorine to the gene pool.
At least we won’t see any idiots in BMWs plugging along this road …
… and there he was. When we stopped to drop grey water, he passed us, roaring along at about 80km/h in the 130km/h zone in his high-performance SUV.
That meant that we needed to pass him again, and of course it was way too much to hope that he would be one of these helpful drivers that gives you some indication that it is safe to overtake. Nope, just keep puddling along, blocking your forward view, and do nothing to help.
Turkey.
Anyway, we arrived at the Barkly Homestead around 1.00pm local time, paid our $40 for a powered site, and found ourselves a spot.
It’s a thriving little business here in the middle of nowhere. But I guess that the laws of supply and demand dictate that when you have the only place to stay between the Queensland/NT border and Tennant Creek, then it’s a seller’s market.
And they have happy hour starting at 4.30pm with live music, and meal service starting at 6.00pm. Did I mention the live band? MBW and I might put on our boots and spurs, and kick our heels up.
Carefully, of course. After doing a risk assessment.
A boot-scooting boogie, perhaps?
Lots of space, with plenty of sites with power and water hookup.
That means that we can be civilised for a day and night. We can have decent showers, make coffee, and MBW can catch-up on MasterChef.
We had lunch and I had a Sunday afternoon nap while MBW read her book. I do love Sunday afternoon naps, almost as much as MBW loves reading.
It’s been quite windy here this afternoon and all of that red dirt in the Barkly Homestead parking area becomes something of a dust storm in the wind, which is a bit unpleasant. And it’s cool still.
At least we have a relatively clean – albeit old – shower block here at BH, so I can give myself a good scrub tonight.
Tomorrow we head off towards Tennant Creek. I’m not going to tell you our destination for tomorrow night, because … well, because I’m not sure that even we know where we are aiming for tomorrow.
Retirement. Nothing to do, and all day to do it. Nowhere to be, and all day to get there.
Why didn’t I realise this a long time ago?
PS: I warned you that I had nothing to say today, but you read it anyway, right?
Ciao
#Retirement2024
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