From Isa to Alice - Anne Falls Asleep at the Wheel!

The 47m long road train Anne drove

Phil (the hero of this piece) suddenly grabs the wheel and pushes it anticlockwise, the van veers back onto the road and we are back again where we belong - on the bitumen. The wheels wobble beneath me as I try to correct my course. I non-chalantely utter "Oh, sorry" and then carry on driving, feeling extremely calm. Phil’s furrowed brow and incredulous eyes burn into the side of my face as he simply shouts “Anne!”. “What?” I say calmly. “Pull over!!!!” he firmly demands of me.


One of the Alleron Aboriginal statues

What strikes me most as I look back now is my lack of surprise. There was no jump start, no adrenaline released to help me deal with the imminent danger at hand, no increased heart rate and no worries. The sincere apologies and worry came later that evening as I lay in bed and was just about to fall asleep and my brain kicked in and suddenly filled me with dread as I thought “Good grief! I nearly killed us all today!”



For as far as you can see in all directions the land is featureless

The dangers of driving in the immense heat on roads which are straight, flat and featureless, the only exciting thing to happen is the smell of road kill wafting in from the roadside. We have no air-conditioning and we can’t pick up any radio signals. It really is incredible how far and wide Australian roads can take you without changing at all. It is hard to imagine the immense stretches without driving over them yourself, especially coming from small island countries as we have.



Anne tries to wake herself up with a leg massage

I was lucky to awake just in time to see us heading in the direction of a cattle fence and trying not to wake the snoring Anne, gently steered us back onto the bitumen. Anne had just experienced a micro sleep. It happens a lot with truckies and road train drivers in the Australian outback. Anne's eyes didn’t shut but her brain shut down, she didn’t realise she had veered off the road and she was still in a dream like trance when I asked her politely to stop the car.
A note to all friends and relatives - we have since made sure we swap drivers often and one of us is always awake and alert as a passenger when driving.



The Camooweal Bullaroo, an imaginary creature Australians like to fool tourists about

The Barkly Highway joins the Flinders Highway at Cloncurry forming the last part of the Overlanders way. We travelled the 188 kms along the worlds longest high street and arrived in the town of Camooweal at lunch time. Only 12 kms from the Northern Territory border this small settlement consists of a pub and a couple of servo's. The BP Roadhouse on the edge of town kindly donated $20 worth of fuel, cheers David and Susana.



A poor road train driver who had been stuck waiting at a road house for three days for two cars to arrive so that they could drive infront and behind him warning others of the wide load he was carrying

The museum attached to the general store being closed, we sat and talked to a couple of road train drivers over lunch. Col, a trucky who had just stopped to make use of the free shower facilities at the road house kindly agreed to let Anne travel with him for the 250 kms to the next fuel stop at Barkly homestead where we would later meet up with them.



Wide load road train



Col with his road train



Anne has a go at driving the 20+ gear, double-shift road train and manages to get it to go at a whopping 40kms an hour



We decided to stay at Barkly Homestead for the night and approached the roadhouse to ask if this would be okay. The man we needed to ask was a young lad called David and he had apparently just nipped home for a quick while, so we retired to the van for a much needed cup of tea and some cake. Returning half an hour later we were informed that he was still out and 'sure to be back anytime soon', 'he had just gone home for a quick shower'. This process repeated itself for the next couple of hours and reluctant to just pitch a tent without asking we waited patiently in the van. It became too late to move on. The next place to camp was 200 kms away and the thought of playing dodge the Kangaroo didn't interest anyone, so determined to finally set up camp and cook a warm meal we staked out the roadhouse. Every half hour we approached the counter for an update and every time we were rebuffed. It crossed our minds that he had possibly drowned.



Anne was at times more than a little shocked at Col's uncouth truckie humour
Unlike some of Australia's city's, parts of the outback have huge underground springs and basins full of water so there would be no water restrictions in place here. It hit midnight and there was still no sign of David, not knowing where he lived and with the nearest lifeguard station over 500 kms away we were at a loss for what to do. In one last valiant attempt we ventured forth into the roadhouse, again we were confronted with an exasperated assistant wearing a look half of incredulity and half admiration (presumably at our staying power). They finally relented and agreed it would be okay for us to sleep at the side of the forecourt in the van and that David would definitely be there between nine and ten the next morning. We climbed into the van and were lulled to sleep by the constant hum of a diesel generator and the occasional thundering road train but at least we had some real dunnies (toilets) to go to in the morning.

It's impossible to forget where you are in Australia
The next morning exhausted and hungry we set off for Tennant Creek. The road between Barkly and Tennant was much the same as most outback roads we had travelled, long, straight and hot and after three hours travelling at a steady 80 km/h we were in Tennant Creek. Knowing that all being well we would pass back through here on the way up to Darwin we decided to motor through and try and reach The Devil's Marbles before sunset. We had no idea what to expect or who we might meet.

The long straight road suddenly starts to contain some rocky features to one side.
The Devil's Marbles are a geological oddity situated just off the Stuart Highway between Tennant Creek and Alice Springs. We arrived late in the afternoon, just in time to see them glowing in the warm dusk light. It wasn't hard to understand why the lands traditional owners held this site as sacred. Aboriginals from the local four language groups still meet at this place today.

There is a campground on the Devils Marbles Conservation Reserve and as the sun went down we decided to set up camp. It was here that we met Jon Duncan, the manager of a cattle station east of Alice Springs. Before finding out his name and before having the chance to introduce ourselves a beer was thrust into our sweaty palms and cigarettes and insect repellent were offered. Stood around, slaking our collective thirst we discovered that Jon was up here from Alice trying to find somewhere he could water his cattle for a while.

Stations in this vast territory need to work together and it is common place that one station will allow neighbouring stations to temporarily graze cattle on their land if they have any to spare. Without this cooperation a lot of cattle would lose their condition or even perish during the extremely harsh dry season. In outback Australia this can mean moving cattle huge distances, as some of the stations in this part of the world are larger than some European countries.
The Northern Territory uses none sniffable fuel as many youths abuse the sustance

After hearing about what we were trying to achieve Jon took it upon himself to give us a well earned break and the cold frosty beers kept on flowing. Talking further we discovered that Jon hadn't always been a station hand and had only moved here in the last few years flying back to see his family in Brisbane whenever he gets the chance. He had a laboratory background in the sciences, but had done many different jobs in many parts of the country before arriving here. When the beer began to run low he suggested a short trip to the nearest pub where he kindly donated a couple more and we propped up the bar for the first time since leaving Brisbane. A bottle of Bundaberg and some more tinnies were acquired and off we headed back to camp.

With no shade from the intense sun and very little water we were surprised to still see the odd plant forcing it's way through the red earth

Having been to the UK himself a few years ago Jon had discovered a band called the Kinks and being from that part of the world he knew we would have heard of them. Inserting the CD and pumping up the volume he asked, in fact he politely insisted that we sing along and wanting to thank him for his unwavering generosity we broke into song. This scenario repeated itself regularly throughout the night and was interspersed with a couple of his old Aussie favourites from Slim Dusty and Kevin 'Bloody' Wilson. When it seemed like we were faltering and couldn't remember all the words to 'Waterloo Sunset' Jon produced a printed sheet with the lyrics on and with no excuses we valiantly sang on into the small hours. Eventually tired but elated we hoarsely strained our good nights before stumbling off in the direction of our van. We had a few hours to sleep before waking to our well earned hangovers.



The pub Jon Duncan took the boys to for singing supplies
Apart from Anne deciding to take a brief nap at the wheel of the van, the road down from here down to Alice was less eventful. We stopped at Wauchope and Wycliffe Well and both service stations donated fuel.
We reached Alice Springs that evening and met up with another Woof host called J9. Fed and refreshed we went to bed wondering what adventures Alice would bring.

One of the immpressive, giant Aboriginal statues at Alleron