Day 13: Renner Springs to Newcastle Waters plus some. (Bush Camp)

We are still not in the tropics and no tropical vegetation in sight. Hopefully tomorrow. Heading off to another bush camp although we were going to stay at Elliott but we were unable to contact anyone in the town- the Mobil service station or the pub- so we decided that the town must have shut it's doors to outsiders.

We got to Elliott for lunch and the Mobil service station is now a BP and this might explain why they weren't answering the phone. The pub has closed down. The town was looking even more dilapidated since our last visit so we're glad we changed our plans. Going that little bit further today will make tomorrow a shorter day. The group are looking a little flat at lunch and we're not sure why as they have had ideal riding conditions over the last week or so. It may be due to the fact that they haven't had a full rest day for a while as well. A couple of the riders seem amused that Collis isn't too sure exactly where we will camp tonight and not sure why. Lew is again worrying about the camp fire tonight.

We drove to Newcastle Waters rest area and it was already packed with caravans and backpackers. No thanks- nowhere to camp. So we went on in the cars to find the perfect spot. We found a road that led to the old Stuart Hwy- going up and down into waterholes and out again- we followed this until we were back on the new Hwy without any luck. All of the grass is sitting around waist or shoulder height. Eventually 10 km down the Hwy we found a drive into a station with an area just outside the fenceline which looked pretty good. There was a cleared area for the fire, plenty of firewood, privacy for toilets etc and flat areas to pitch their tents. Perfect!

As soon as Lew arrived he was going on about the fire again but he seemed to calm down when I informed him that we have a fire extinguisher in the car if needed. Dinner tonight was a lasagna (my first attempt in the dutch oven) and was quite successful. These riders seem to like all my cooking though and I am getting a little suspicious that they are just saying this out of politeness. Dessert was an apple cake (a little underdone) and custard. Nothing left of either dish. Some of us sat around playing Ghost while half the group went off to bed straight after dinner (around 7.30 pm). Jerry read us a new poem about the 2 NZ girls- I hope I can publish it here before we go to print.

Lovely night!