Marla to Alice Springs

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The drive along these parts is certainly not the most exciting around but as I have mentioned previously I try and enjoy the journey as best I can as it is one way of keeping my concentration levels up. My senses were to get a quick start not long after we headed off.

It was not far up the road when we had a close encounter of the bovine kind, this was to be our first with these beasts since fitting the animal repellent gadgets. Now I have described the reactions of crows, eagles and emus but cattle seemed rather confused. More often than not they just casually watch you drive by without an apparent care in the world, these little chappies today seemed far more agitated. As we approached they tended to dart away from the road – happy days, but one decided to zig when he should have zagged. Well he zagged initially but had a change of heart or maybe the repellent thingy just frightened the hell out of him. Straight in front of the car he bolted hooves clunking and sliding simultaneously on the road while I pushed the anchors as hard as I could as I made some type of oooh aaah sound as impact with this creature seemed inevitable. Again the crash Gods were on our side.

Further on I pulled off the road as we spied 2 beautiful eagles contemplating the world in a tree about 100 metres off the road. I fitted the telescopic lens and slowly approached hoping they would be curious as to what my plans were, they were more obliging than I had hoped – yay! Not long after this Liz managed to snap a couple of shots as again more eagles left it to the last second before lifting off in front of the car.

We stopped at the historic marker of the crash site where 4 people were killed in the inaugural Northern Territory Cannonball Run on 24 May 1994, very sad indeed. This was in fact the first and only Run to be held. Back then the territory did not have a speed limit but since 1 January 2007 it is set at 130 kmh on the open highways, this is the fastest in Australia.

It is quite surprising to see the number of abandoned and generally burnt out cars scattered along the highway it has definitely increased over the last 9 months, I don’t know but I feel it has less to do with accidents and more to do with car theft or littering. It appears nobody is interested in removing the wrecks.

Today we only spent 6 hours on the road and thought we would call it quits at that, we have stopped in Alice Springs for the night. It is very hot today so we enjoyed a refreshing dip in the large inground pool at the caravan park.

Travel safe take care and Remember it’s nice to be important but it’s important to be nice.

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