Wylie Adventures; There and Back (Finke Desert Race 4)

  June 8th another beautiful day in Alice Springs. Didn’t exactly leap out of bed today. Investigated getting a new tyre-success! Just drop the wheel in this afternoon and they’d be switched. Then as we headed to the track, a warning light on the dash for the electrical system, check now! So we found a Ford dealer at the far other end of town and drove in. They were very helpful and found a loose screw on the new battery and tightened it up for us. Finally off to the track. Pulled up at the big red sand hill 30km out, and did a bit of photography, 2 passes up the dune and off to 12pm. The turn around time to head in the opposite direction, North, and come back for lunch and coffee. Rider Roy conquering the dunes Rider had had enough so we packed up and returned to the cabin, whipped off the back wheel and dropped it in for the switch while we went out to the track and registered, mug shot taken, posters acquired.  Mugshot Mugshot take 2 Picked up switched tyre on the way back ...

June 7th, Finke race track. Ready to roll out for practice day 1 at 9am, Linda, team member, at the door ready to go. Just a couple of stops for fuel and coffee! Having foolishly thought we could break some rules and grab coffee at Maccas drive through, we found that everyone else had the same idea and the queue went down the road so we diverted into town instead. Unfortunately it turned out that Linda’s almond milk was not squeaky clean and she suffered a mild allergic reaction which fortunately wasn’t life threatening. Might not go there again! Out on the track we drove to the first fuel stop, unloaded and kitted up rider Roy.  The mighty Yamaha ready to tackle its first run on the Finke track. Being morning everyone heads South, so off he went and we roughly kept pace on the access road, catching up a few times along the way. About 11:15am Roy headed off with us following along, knowing that he had to get off the track at midday as direction changes over and everyone heads North...

 June 6th Still headed for Alice Springs, nearly there! Out the door of the 'mud hut' hotel at Coober Pedy early and driving out at 7.30am. Pretty much Alice is due North of Coober Pedy, so we just pointed the car in that direction and kept driving all day 'til we got there! Heading due North, our long shadow A shorter day's driving than the previous ones but still a long drive with just a few fuel stops and morning tea. We stopped at Stuart's well, not so far South of Alice, and decided to have a toastie for lunch there. Lunch at the eclectic Stuart's Well We arrived in Alice after 2pm and settled into our Cabin. Nipped down to the shops for supplies after unpacking then headed over the road for a bit of a walk. Beautiful weather, around 21C sun just setting for beautiful golden light. Climbed up the ridge for a gorgeous view. View of the West Macdonnell Ranges Back to the cabin and cousin/pit crew came around for dinner and a catch up. Practice run tomorrow ou...

 June 5th Out the door in reasonable time from Broken Hill Silver Lodge and driving out at 7.30am. No wrong turns today, kept a very close eye on the GPS and had a straight drive through with just a few stops for morning tea and lunch breaks. Grabbed a few supplies at Peterborough IGA after abandoning all veges at Broken Hill before crossing the SA border. Lunch stop We arrived at Coober Pedy after 6pm, a long day's driving, listening to plenty of podcasts. On the road to Peterborough We had a lovely stay at the Mud Huts hotel and had dinner at the bar and grill over the road - pasta! Not so far tomorrow to Alice but we till plan to get away pretty early. Arriving Coober Pedy at late light, many wind turbines. Saw a few wedge tailed eagles today on the road kill by the roadside, some so dark they were almost black. Not much other wild life. Just a few little birds flitting across the road.

 June 4th Day 2 of the Road Trek to Alice and Finke A fresh start out of Griffith this morning, and on the road by 8am, not too early as we felt we had a few hours under our belt from getting to Griffith yesterday. Headed for Broken Hill. We trusted in the car's GPS to plot the route, foolishly and followed it for half an hour before realising we were headed for Victoria! The whole point was to dodge Victoria! In the end we decided that the only thing to do was back track through Griffith, lose and hour and then head back on track to Broken Hill. Then we noticed that the 'trusty' gps was directing us through Menindie Lakes, and while not in the original plan sounded interesting. However, of course, the road was flooded and closed so again we had to backtrack (a little) and replot a course up to Cobar, losing more time. The solution was obviously to stop by the side of the road and have a cuppa and a lamington - solution to everything. It was pretty cool and breezy, but love...

 June 3rd Day 1 of the trek out to Finke Desert Race. Packed and ready to go around midday. Leaving a day early due to Covid border closures around the Victorian state lock down and heading for the alternative route through Broken Hill. We were stopped in our tracks by a flat battery! NRMA to the rescue and with a 2nd track dispatched in the teaming rain to install a new battery we finally pulled out of the driveway by 3.30pm to head for Griffith NSW. We had to dodge road closures from damaged roads - presumably flooding, in the dark with poor signage on the Burley Griffin Way around Wallendbeen . Got around that in the end only to miss another turn in the dark and have to backtrack a bit to the right road.  Finally arrived in Griffith rather later than originally planned at 9pm but all well.