(written by Nancy)

(note from Dave: Blues Win, Blues Win!!! NSW 18, Queensland 8, State of Origin II))

Another quiet night at the caravan parks, other than the packs of dogs barking in unison at random times during the night. It did not seem as cold this morning when we finally got up and moving just before 7. We were not moving too fast and by the time we had breakfast and got things packed and ready to go it was well after 9.

We headed back up north on the Stuart Hwy toward Threeways, covering ground we had rode the other day. It was quite a bit easier going north though, as the wind was a slight tailwind – much easier than the headwind on the way down. We stopped at the Tennant Creek Telegraph Station to take some photos. The station was one of the Overland Telegraph Line stations that is considered one of the great feats of engineering in Australia, as it ran from South Australia up to the north coast.

Tennant Creek Telegraph station

We continued on and made a stop at Threeways for our morning tea – lunch really, by the time we got there. Pancakes were on order and they tasted pretty good – with maple syrup even (suspect it was not real maple syrup but close enough to taste good). We met some Dutch folks there who were travelling from Perth up to Darwin so we had a fun time practising our rapidly decreasing skill at Dutch and talking to them about travelling generally. They were nice enough to give us a top-up on our water bottles from their tank as the water at Threeways was pretty brown coming out of the tap.

Pancakes at Threeways

Nancy at Threeways

From Threeways we had another 75k to go to get Banka Banka station, our intended stop for the night. We had a pretty good tailwind the whole way and the terrain had some variability in it to keep us interested. There were some semi-rolling hills – we say semi-rolling because we haven’t seen hills in such a long time. The landscape was different too – a lot more scrub trees and quite a bit of spinifex grass which looked nice blowing in the wind. There were also lots of rocky outcroppings. All in all a lot more to look at than the flat nothingness of the Barkly Hwy.

We made it into Banka Banka Station about 3pm. It is a funny place – very picturesque with grassy spots for camping. No power for sites and no mobile signal, but they have water and hot showers and toilets. It would be even more lovely if there weren’t so many caravans here! Just like anywhere else in the world, while most of the caravanners are great people there are always some loud idiots in camping areas that seem to have no clue that they are bothering people around them ( the most obnoxious of the group, four right in front of us washed their cars and trailers using the station water – no need to worry about water being precious out here in the outback I guess – amazing). The station gets all their power for the camp kitchen and the lights from generators – no power lines out here.

Banka Bank station bike and car

Old mud brick building at Banka Banka station

We made our dinner early as we were both pretty hungry, and then walked up the rocky hill behind the station to watch the sunset. Now the moon is coming up bright orange through the trees. I am sure the sunrise will be nice as well, but perhaps I will just send Dave up the rocky slope while I work a bit more (on sleeping) in the tent.

us with Banka Banka Station in background at sunset

Tomorrow we think we will try to get to Elliott, a small town about 150k from here. We think we can get mobile coverage there and it sounds like the other option at Renner Springs (60k from here) does not have a lot to offer. If we have tailwinds like today and get an earlier start we should be fine to make it the 150k – assuming these yobos quiet down pretty soon so that we can get some sleep.