Day 126 | Another gravel pit: no other distinguishing features anywhere close
79 km | zzOz total: 6,370 km
On the Tanami you have to camp among the spinifex, just try to find some bare, stone free, surface for the tent, somewhere.
It’s a high risk proposition, despite an essential purity and beauty, emulating the first explorers, the sleeping mat was stabbed by the needle sharp leaves of the spinifex grass through my Ortlieb panniers and I only managed to find the fourth tiny hole that caused the slow nightly deflation of the mat some months later.
The spinifex is the fall back option now, not yet used. I prefer to have more clear ground around where the tent will be located these days.
You have more options on the GCR.
The first couple of nights I stayed at official parking areas, well off the road, where many travellers have stopped over the years, scenic, mulgas and “pines” to camp nearby, a little toilet paper blowing around in the shrubbery, there’s no facilities at all.
The subsequent rest areas have been less compelling, right on the road, more for cars than camping.
Remnants of the old road can be a better choice, usually closed off, you go 200 m, or 500 m, down near some mulga and find a sandy spot that’s, initially at least, ant free. No complaints or disturbances out there.
There are occasional one-offs like camping in the creek bed near Warburton which is just about as good as it gets but the more usual nightly stop has been like tonight, a gravel pit.
These are marked by a well made track and some signs of excavations not so far away. The road is made from local materials, generally better than the main road due to lack of traffic, and around where the gravel has been excavated are cleared areas eminently suitable for an overnight stop. Just throw up the tent, the fly not really a requirement except it’s just after full moon and it’s otherwise difficult to sleep with a torch constantly in your face.
In any case paid accommodations are few and far between, the gaps have been 310 km, 360 km and now 320 km.
The payment part is a necessary evil on occasions: you also acquire at no additional cost the all night lights, the humm, roar, of a generator, or roadhouse refrigeration unit, but there are compensations, that shower, clothes washing, conversation and the opportunity to eat, massively, of different food that otherwise requires refrigeration.
As for stealth camping it’s a non-issue, with about 10 cars in total today, none in the evening. As if they could see you anyway when you are even 100 m off the road.
Basically it’s quite relaxing out here.