After an interesting night at Devils Marbles - we had rain , not just a bit , but good rain for about 4 hours !!! We thought no more about it till the morning - there was a god - the complaining little person next door got a bit damp - KARMA !!
People packed and left , amidst more light showers , which turned a little heavier as we were chatting to a couple from Silverdale near Warragamba , who knew about Moss Vale !! We decided to sit it out and wait for the showers to pass before completing pack up ( we still had to put the steps up !! ) . The rain eased to a stop , so we got out and headed off . The track in was a good granite road when we arrived yesterday - bother - about 12 caravans and 6 camper trailers and 1 bus & car later and it was a bog heap !!! There is a slight incline to go up before the track levels up and runs down to the old hwy. The plan was to just idle along in 1st gear and slowly grind our way out - problem no 1 - the ute started to spin and came to a stop about 2m from the fence - engage 4wd and reverse back in a vain effort to find some more solid ground !! Next attempt was better than the first , we made it up the incline and all was good - muddy , but good - forward progress is always good . Everything was good , we were tracking slowly to the road so as to not dig the road up - problem no 2 - a patch about 30m short of the bitumen ( salvation ) was cut up and just a bog heap . We increased speed to get us through , but that also meant spraying mud everywhere . Reaching the bitumen , we were happy , National Parks , however wouldn't be - they may need to be bringing the grader out again soon !!
It felt like Fred Flintstone in his car , the wheels seemed to be solid and definitely not round !!! Bouncing our way onto the main hwy , the mud started to clear from the wheels and accumulate on the mud guards and the highway - apologies to following motorists !!
It wasn't as bad as some that left before us - you can see another car in the 2nd photo .
It did look worse out the rear view mirror though - it also set like concrete as it dried off while we drove along .
The landscape changed as we went along , more open grazing areas , bigger gum trees and also bigger cattle - much bigger !!
We started to move into mountainous country , although the road stayed pretty flat , climbing the occasional hills , many more flat topped hills appeared and disappeared as we went along .
Stopping at John Macdougall Sturts memorial and rest aera for lunch , we marvelled at how much rain they've had out here , roadside drains were full , creeks had water flowing - not much , but flowing , and there was a tinge of green about the place . Bulls were quite happily on the road verge eating the fresh green grass !!!
Back on the road and not far away was Ti Tree - a small locality , with the obligatory roadhouse / hotel / takeaway / caravan park / motel / fuel station , we stopped and got a site for the night . There's mobile service here , that also means internet !!
As a side not to the fuel pricing - Wycliffe Well has diesel fuel at $1.17 so that's another 17cents below what we paid at Tennant Creek !!
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