2013 Wagga to Daly Waters

Hi All,

How are you doing?
I'm currently living and working at Lake Argyle in WA but I am uploading this blog from Kununurra.
There is no mobile reception at Lake Argyle and the internet is dodgy at best so I thought I'd add a new blog for 2013 to save me sending out emails essentially saying the same thing and/or making a billion phone calls to friends and family...lazy? Yes. But at least I'm honest about it...
I've lost track of the dates since hitting the road again but I left Wagga in Freda on about April 12. My initial plan was to to drive to Adelaide then put Freda on the Ghan and travel to Darwin before driving across to Lake Argyle. However, I was too late in getting a spot for Freda so I had to drive it.
I had a week's worth of gigs booked at Daly Waters from Tuesday the 21st so that gave me 4 days to drive however long it was to get there.
I severely underestimated the time and distance it would take to get there. Despite google mapping it, I don't think it really computed how far away Lake Argyle is from Wagga Wagga.
So each day I did at least 700kms of driving in the heat and the first few nights that I stopped for the day I started to think "Am I REALLY doing this again? And all by myself??" I was a little bummed out but by the time I got to Daly Waters I was slowly adjusting to life again as a "Grey Nomad In Training".

Looking to the east...

...and the west

Even though the drive was long and at times very boring, I travelled through places which I'd only seen on the weather maps or heard of in songs.
I passed through places like Bourke, Charleville and Longreach before getting to familiar territory at Mt Isa.

In Charleville (In Charleville!) ear worm alert!

Being a seasoned traveller now, I didn't stop to take another pic at the QLD/NT border, though it did freak me out a bit to consider that it had been almost 12 months since I was at the same spot and here I was, doing it all again.
I did however, take a photo of a water tank at Camooweal where my Dad and his mates had a bath in back in the day when they travelled around Australia.

Dad washed his hobbles in this tank back in the day...gross.

I got to Daly Waters on time and spent a week there playing to guests in the evening. The crowds weren't big but they were good listening audiences and I managed to shift a few of my new Cds which was quite rewarding.
I also became a part of the furniture, literally, by stapling my old drivers licence (like many others before me) to the bar.

Now part of the furniture at Daly Waters Pub

A slightly freaky thing happened on my way from Daly Waters to Lake Argyle. I stopped for the day after another long drive and went for a little walk around the rest stop to stretch my legs, only to spin around to hear that Freda had started up again all by herself?!?! What the?!?!
So I ran over to the van as I didn't know what was going on and thinking she might just take off and I turned her "on" then off again.
Thankfully she powered down (and started again in the morning) but I have no idea how she managed to start herself up.
The thing that makes it even more creepy is at the time, I was reading "Christine" by Stephen King which is about a possessed car that goes around killing people at night. Spooky.
I made it to Lake Argyle the day before Anzac Day and started to settle into the next little chapter of my life.