Day 11 – The Outback Continued – July 12th
0 degrees when I wake at 5.30 and by 8Am it is 13 degrees. After breakfast, we take a short stroll to the top of the sand dune to inspect where we are heading to and also to enjoy the scenery. We drive between two sand dunes for about 10km and Graham’s van gets a puncture. The teraine is much better and we can drive a little faster at 20km p/h. We drive close to a 300m high breakaway. We decide to climb up half way and we discover caves with original aboriginal drawings on them, possibly 10,000 years old. A little stone monument is also there, about 2 ft wide and 4 inches wide, set in stones with some writing on it. We cannot make out the writing. We continue to climb to a level of 160m and we hear birds, this means there is water close by. We find a tiny pool about 1 ft wide and 3 inches deep. It is fresh water coming out of the side of the cliff, possibly the only water providing some life to small birds in the area. We continue along the cliff and David falls and hurts his arm. It is a nasty gash but it is not broken. He heads back to the vehicle with Kevin for medical attention. The rock over millions of years keeps breaking off the cliff due to the heat and the cold. After 30 minutes or so, we make our descend.
On we head for the next 5km where we will have lunch. Within 2km, Grahams van gets another puncture. He has had his other two tires also punctured and we have to stop to mend it. We loose about 45 minutes or so. About an hour ago, we picked up Rob’s tracks he made two years ago to this destination. We arrive at the Diebil Springs, which is incredible. We have a quick lunch and we head up the mountain valley at 1pm. There is an incredible view at the top. One can see the salt lake from the top, about 15km away. We took a different route back to the vehicle and we spend about 1 hour looking for a suitable descent. Arrived at the cars about 4.55. Getting late and we need to make tracks to our proposed camp site about 3km away. It is too rocky here to camp. Stones are 6 inches in diameter. About 1 mile from the camp site, Graham has a third puncture today and all his tires are punctured now. The word puncture or rain is not mentioned. Rob and I head on to set up camp and light the fire. It is getting dark. Luckily, the other vehicles can exchange tires with each other and they get back to camp within 15 minutes to join us. The next hour is spent repairing 3 punctures on Graham’s vehicle. He has been unlucky today. Dinner is sausages and rashers(not as nice as the Irish ones) with some peas and a half potatoes each. Desert is fruit and ice cream. Having a freezer in Nick’s vehicle is great. After all the walking today, everyone enjoys a beer around the camp fire and we discuss today and what is planned for tomorrow. Lights are out by 9pm and it is very windy tonight. Everyone is tired after the activities from today.
