Had an excellent night at Daly Waters, a few beers and a meal in the pub with a live act supplying entertainment. The Daly Waters pub is probably the best pub we’ve visited so far on the trip, a real outback pub.
The rodeo dates on the signs were for last year, as it turned out, so the rodeo actually started this morning at 7am. That gave us the opportunity to see one of the disciplines this morning before we hit the road – the Campdraft. Competitors had to start by isolating one of the cattle from the group in the pen and then, once it was isolated, the gate was opened and they had to guide the beast out of the enclosure and around some markers. Sounds simple but the agility and speed required of both rider and horse is quite something. We spent a couple of hours watching the competition before heading on.

We covered just over 400km today in the end, a bit further than we’d anticipated but as we’d set off in good time and the site were we’re aiming for was nothing spectacular we kept going with a couple of breaks at roadhouses and rest areas. The temperatures are dropping off at the moment as we head south too which makes life a bit more comfortable in the cab. The high in Tennants Creek today was 28C and Alice Springs was a balmy 22C – must dig out the thermal undies !
The landscape has changed noticeably today too. The thick layers of trees and undergrowth at the sides of the road has gradually petered out, replaced more and more by scrub and sandstone outcrops. Sometimes, when you come over the crest of a hill, you can see for such a distance you can see the curve of the horizon.
We may end up with a similar distance tomorrow as that will put us in easy distance of Alice Springs, arriving Sunday morning. As always we’ll take it as it comes.