Movie stage X
| start date | activity | place | from - to | days | km | km/ day | comment |
| 10.08 | desert cart | NW and W Lake Eyre | Macumba R - Anna Creek St | 8 | 265 | 33 | 1/3 off-roads |
| 18.08 | desert cart | South Belt Bay | to Dingo Soakage | 1 | 24 | At lake surface | |
| 19.08 | desert cart | South Lake Eyre | Dingo Soakage - Muloorina | 3 | 105 | 35 | 4WD tracks |
| 22.08 | rest | Muloorina Station | Hot pools in artesian well |
Fortunately, one of the farmers offered to drop off water and food (I only contacted him for permission to pass his property). I took this opportunity and shipped supplies from Alice Springs, but unfortunately the post office lost one of the two boxes. And after all, for over two weeks I already had been on limited doses of food due to lost breakfasts, soups and desserts in the previous stage. Hunger and failing equipment were still my problem.
On the first day of the stage there was a surprise, because there was no track marked on the map, then I got a flat tire. I fixed it and walked as hard as I could to hide from the storm, because on GPS I wrote in one waypoint "some constructions", i.e. a theoretical chance for a roof over my head. When just before sunset I saw some buildings, my heart was overjoyed, and suddenly a wayerhole blocked the access at the last meters. Quick took off of the drone to see where I can get around this pond. It's not bad, just one additional kilometer, so I was racing like crazy. I got to the shed at dusk and in the rain, but couldn't open it. It was only after 20 minutes that I took out the set of cart tools and turned one in the lock, until heard a crack, something slid down, and I stood shocked in front of an open sesame. Satisfied with the break-in, I unpacked my gear, but wait, where is the backpack with a drone and a camera ?! With a flashlight, GPS and a raincoat, I recreated the route until I finally found a backpack lying in the mud, but fortunately it was not soaked yet.
The third day was the culmination of all failures - the inner tube was punctured twice, and second spoke broke as well, of course, in a different wheel what flat tire. This fact itself took me about 2 hours of work, because taking these tires off the rim and putting them on is a real art. I lacked spare inner tubes, those glued with patches were something wrong with them, others got a clogged valve, so I never thought that I would ever use pool noodles, but that is why I carried them - just in case. It was time to put the pool noodle into the tire, it wasn't even that bad, the wheel was rolling. After a few hours, however, the foam noodle inside was completely shredded. There was no choice - early camping in the rain and further improvised repairs. Eventually I combined the inner tube with a bit of air with clogged valve and a new pool noodle so it didn't come into direct contact with the inner rim's metal surface. It was a pity that some tracks existed only on paper - I was buying new editions of topographic maps, but the publisher did not put much effort into updating them - many roads were missing, and from time to time there were ghost roads that I had no idea where they lead. I had a lot of decisions to make.
When the farmer wrote to me that second box of food finally has been found and even though the time of my arriving at his station did not suit him to come to me, he arranged delivery of my boxes on time. He also offered some extras if I needed something, so I asked for a few. I knew that I had to get to the food drop off location at all costs, because I didn't have dinner for tonight - I was completely without food. Despite the wilderness and off-track conditions, I got up at 4 am and in the moonlight I tried to navigate. It was easier during daylight, however after a while the wheel gave the impression that the rim was already rolling directly on the ground - I shifted all the weight to the other side of the "healthier" wheel, and a track appeared, so I was continuing walking 42km up to 9pm and in complete darkness I was looking for where the hell this water reservoir was, and yard 250m south-east of it.
After some time of blindly wandering in the dark, I ran into the fence - I walked around it and suddenly the entrance gate appeared, with a huge red esky and a barrel of rainwater next to it - as described by the owner of The Peake Station. I screamed and laughed when I opened it - in addition to my supplies, I got fruits, steak and sweets - 400g of chocolate disappeared in the next few hours. The wind stopped, the moon came out from behind the clouds, and I ate, ate and ate. Besides, it was here in Barlow Dam that I crossed 5000km mark and in conjunction with a Saturday night, the party was justified. I also fixed the wheel... at 2 am. I was proud of myself and for the first time in three weeks I went to sleep without my rumbling stomach.
I only got up at sunrise, not at least an hour before it. I ate a double breakfast (with spoon, not with trowel anymore), grabbed my camera and walked around, it felt like a holiday. I didn't have to hurry either, because Cameron Williams wrote that he would come to meet me in two days, two wells away (Barlow Dam timing didn't fit him) and we will repair these problematic inner tubes.
The next day I made campfire twice to cook the steaks left by Cameron, because I couldn't be sure how long they would last without a refrigerator. After the night I got up in the dark, as usual, to have 14 km on the meter at a quarter past nine in the morning. Here in the bone dry Flint Mound Yard I waited for the farmer politely playing with the matches. He traveled a long way for over two hours and came with his son - for me they were the first people seen in nine days (the second longest result in my life). Cameron offered a tea and sandwich, he patched some inner tubes, but I also got two new ones! After two hours of his stay, the farmer started to gather and I regretted a bit that I hadn't asked him for some extra food, because he was a very open and helpful person. Cameron suddenly, without warning, lifted the lid of the cardboard that served us as a table - I was totally shocked when I saw over 10 kg of deliciousness - cookies, chocolate, candies, muesli, powdered milk, fruit, cordial, etc. Cameron said that I do not have to take everything if it is too heavy, as his wife Kirsty prepared this not knowing what I really miss, however I would even pour out the water but had no plan to let food go. He added two kilograms of home-made raw beef sausages and he did not accept any payment, not even for the inner tubes. I don't remember if I was so happy to see food in my life. I was delighted so I praise his fences that they are very strong and my wire cutter struggled with spark wire ... I had to add quickly that I was joking.
Most of the people on the stations were great, did something extra. On this trip I am lucky with people and companies, they host and help me, they do it from the heart, giving their private time and work to make my trip easier, faster, cheaper. Pure altruism. I want to be like them!
Nature changed completely after leavig the desert. First there were majestic trees, then low-patrolling eagles, curious emus running up, then flat steppes where I could see sunrise and moonset on opposite sides. I looked at the horizon and there were lights - it is impossible, there is no road there, let alone a house, there is nothing in the east. Then the lights started to look like a bushfire. Getting stronger, stronger, taller. Wait, the fire is rising to heaven? Only after a while I realised that it was the rise of Mars - a majestic sight. In addition to sky wonders, there were also strong winds, wells/dams/bores/ waterholes or river beds, lush vegetation around them, so I will not die out of thirst.
I left Lake Eyre as final attraction. I had plans similar to those in Bolivia nine years ago, where I crossed unmotorised South America. With the same desert cart I crossed huge salt Uyuni Lake, but here the problem was water. This year's summer was full of so many rains that the lake was largely wet and too boggy. I had to modify the route and had to go around or along the edge of the lake, because it was impossible to walk across.
The descent to the surface of the lake itself was amazing - canyons with steep slopes, a maze of paths and impassable cliffs. Several times I did not know which way to go, whether I would walk this way or that way. In the end I found a safer descent into canyon and somehow reached the lake surface through this narrow rocky riverbed - I was in depression. In the lowest place in the whole country, 15 meters below sea level, it was not a coincidence that I chose Belt Bay. I have empirically figured out where I can walk on a harder surface, and where the mud boggs me along with the cart. I liked it and I very rarely decide to go camp earlier, I just had to wait the wind to die down, as it usually stopped in the evenings. Hmm, but not that day - when after sunset it started to rain with with a gusty wind, I ran away from the lake almost in the dark, quickly looking for some cover from the gale. I had to unpack the cart to use it as wind barrier. The night was hard, but the morning brought the best - the beautiful rising sun was perfect for a photo session, and the lack of strong wind allowed to launch the drone.
The last three days had been just reaching my destination - Muloorina Station where my next food drop was waiting for me. The owners Cindy and Trevor welcomed me greatly, I was given a room and dinners, as well as help with more tubes and the necessary information on the way forward. And even though I hadn't starved since meeting Cameron and had a double dinner at Cindy's place, I swallowed a 750g jar of Nutella within 6 hours.
This Australia is empty. From the Purni Bore on the Simpson Desert, I have not seen any random person for 500km. These 15 days of solitude were only broke by Cameron who came especially for me (we contacted via the Garmin InReach satellite SMS system). An interesting fact is that for a few days I was walking through the area of the world's largest active cattle farm - Anna Creek Station is larger than Slovenia.