Up early with the birds only to find bull bar needed some maintenance. We are carrying everything but the kitchen sink and 1/2″ nuts. Off to Repco at 8am and after some minor repairs in the car park we are on our way.

It’s raining, light showers and 11 degrees. I thought this was a desert. It’s green, as good as any cattle property on the Downs. We make Tilmouth Roadhouse in good time and the rain is fading and temperature rising. Eastern Tanami Road is a mixture of wet, dry and wet and dry corrugations with some bitumen, the latter a pleasant and welcome surprise.

After fueling at Tilmouth we also top up at Yuendumu, it’s a long way between drinks for our Red Truck. They promised us coffee next time saying their new coffee machine was being delivered soon and was somewhere near Tennant Creek.

We stop for a rest at Renahan’s Bore where we catch up with the grader crew heading East. We heard they had started grading from the WA border two days ago, their work makes driving so much easier.

We pass the Granites Gold Mine and pull up off the road in the scrub for the night. The country is empty of cattle and Roos but the bird life is prolific. Perhaps not prolific enough because the flies are doing well too.

Sunset, rainbows, bird songs and isolated rain clouds passing by conclude the day.