Slightly surprised to have survived the night … up before the sun was I, trying to catch the sunrise.  It was freezing cold here this morning … maybe 20 degrees or so.  Cold enough to contemplate a windcheater to go with the shorts anyway.

Climbing the crater wall in twilight was pretty cool … and just in time to catch the sunrise.  There’s a lot of smoke in the area due to a few bushfires and that made for an exceptionally red, hazy sunrise.

Another quick packup saw us outta there by 8am.  The road hadn’t improved overnight so it took just as long on the way back out as it did on the way in.

We did manage to sneak up on some of the eagles though.  They’re massive.

Decent sized roadkill there too

We made it back to the Tanami eventually

The van door unscrewed itself again, the milo tin popped again, the coffee unscrewed as well, anything that wasn’t bolted down wasn’t where we left it … and much dust was again inside the van.  No real breakages this time though.

Another quick stop at Halls Creek for fuel, again, saw us truly on the way about 11am.  Our planned stop for the night was at Spring Creek, the gateway to the Bungle Bungles.  However, we got there at 1pm so it ended up being only a lunch stop instead of an overnighter.

Little Grub. Red dust all over her face.

We had originally considered staying here for 2 nights and driving into the Bungle Bungles, but discussions with other travellers along the way has changed our minds.  We’re now planning to fly over them instead, from Kununurra.  This gives us an extra day at either El Questro or Kununurra now.

Continuing on from the Bungles saw us cross Bow River, made famous by Cold Chisel.  We also passed the road into the Argyle Diamond mine.  Kel spent the rest of the trip checking the side of the road for anything remotely shiny and hinting that there was some sort of annual event coming up.

The next major stop along the road was the Doon Doon Roadhouse.  The lure of a hot shower had Kel hooked, so that’s where we’ve ended up tonight.

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