We woke up early, around 5.30am Central Time to see a lovely sunrise. A bit worrying as there are no stars and a big black cloud bank overhead.
The little flies are really bad so early in the morning. As we leave camp, I try to photo a large stork like bird on the road …possibly a Jabiru.
There are small ant hills to the left and right of the road, way smaller than those encountered in Litchfield National Park below Darwin some years ago.
We reach the WA/NT border around 8.40 CT and are greeted by road corrugations…..this was only 37 klm from our overnight camp. We start to encounter a few waterholes with water in them.
I am trying to take photos of the landscape with both cameras [ Nikon D7000 and small Sony] as we are driving. Corrugations and basic movement of the car 
Fuel up time as we reach the Kiwirrkurra Community, where fuel is now $3.00 per litre. The Community store is packed inside as well as many locals outside…..possibly centrelink payment day…….there are dogs everywhere…..many very very thin and possibly just had a litter.
Tony and Michael are very pleased with their fuel economy…..average of 4.6klm per litre on the tar and 4.2 on the dirt, when they budgeted for 3.0 or less on the dirt.
Just out of the Community, Michael spies a herd of camels ( approx 7 / 8) close by the road., so stop for photos….Michael also gets his camera out and we both get some good shots.
Encounter a single Sturt’s Desert pea in flower as well as some wattles in flower.
Stopped for Lunch and what a shock when I opened the van……drawer and cooking utensils all over the floor as the lock barrel had snapped through.
Then we discovered the ensuite sliding door had slammed shut despite the latch and the 2 foot lock-downs….This became a real challenge to reopen as the footlocks were still engaged. Michael is required to force the door back, which proves a difficult task. Finally gets it back and resorts to cable ties to reinforce the latch to hold the sliding door in place.
We also detect screws holding refrigerator side panels have become loose…in fact on the left hand side the screws fasten into thin air!!!!!!! Everytime we stop, the floor is covered with aluminium drill filings and saw-dust…….Not Happy!!!! an off-road van ha ha!!
We encounter some light rain and road puddles through a green desert with shrubs and grasses. Tony points out a remote community of 12 or so deserted houses……apparently used some years ago to put indigenous troublemakers in the middle of nowhere and that they can’t go anywhere.
We arrive mid afternoon at Jupiters Well and decide to make camp for the evening. The water from the well is lovely, clear and very drinkable. A great location surrounded by Desert Oaks – Casuarinas with a lovely sighing sound through the trees.
As we open up the van and setup for the night, we discover more issues…..door clip between flywire and external door is broken…..glue and gaffer tape to repair; Pantry gliding frame parted from ply panelling at top……empty section and then more gaffer tape to hold it up; Refrigerator – plastic shelf inside door broken at both ends where slides into holding grove – remove shelf; open the tunnel then find voltage unit hanging from one screw….the other has come out of the ply panelling…..resort to gaffer tape again. Michael’s stress levels are sky-high by now as Tony and he attend to these repairs, each discovered after tools and equipment had been put away. We are quite depressed …..nothing has really come adrift in Tony and Jen’s van as everything is screwed into solid timber, whereas ours is into ply panelling.
The camp site is near a large water hole, which attracts camels, dingoes and other wildlife. Tony & Michael go for a walk and discover the original well which is opposite the current bore well.
Tony has a fire for cooking the evening meal, and afterwards we sit around the campfire and enjoy the wind through the desert oaks and the clear night sky.
We were counting cars today, we passed not a single one. One wouldn’t want to be alone with a problem out here.
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