THE BIG DASH: Soft buggers

We’re into week four of our six-month sojourn now, yep not that far from being on the road for a month. Unbelievable.

This week we’re headed to Alice Springs in the very heart of Australia (by the way, did you know there are at least four different spots that various people argue are the geographic centre of Australia, but I digress), then continue the trek north via a series of, hmmm, interesting overnight stops.

But choice is limited out here in the red heart of Australia if you want to plug in, and we’ve learned we like our air-con at night and our coffee machine in the morning.

We are soft buggers.

Also read:

THE BIG DASH: Now or never

THE BIG DASH: Why we went Chinese

THE BIG DASH: Buying all the bits

THE BIG DASH: Sorting the tow tug

THE BIG DASH: Hitting the scales

THE BIG DASH: On the road, finally!

THE BIG DASH: Onwards and upwards

THE BIG DASH: Getting serious

I’ve ladled a few criticisms on the Kia Tasman X-Pro in the course of this drive - and in some testing I did before I left Melbourne – but that doesn’t mean I don’t admire it.

We’re asking it to drag me and Jane, Eddie and Lulu, our luggage and a 2.8 tonne lump at speed across the outback on some ordinary roads in 30 degree temperatures for hours on end.

It’s done so without complaint. The only thing I’ve noted is a small amount of engine oil consumption. I’ve started adding a few millilitres of 5W-30 every few days.

All the other coolants and fluides are un-depleted, temperatures are in the right ranges and tyre pressures don’t vary unless I adjust them.

Kia does recommend reducing the service intervals from 15,000km to 10,000km if the vehicle is being subject to a hard life. I think what we’re doing qualifies, so it’s going into the dealer in Darwin for some TLC.

I wish it didn’t have to bing and bong every time it was started and I didn’t have to go through the laborious process of switching off speed monitoring, driver monitoring and lane safety each time as well.

But Kia and its sibling Hyundai have been hammered about this for years and show no real sign of adjusting. The new Chinese brands are reacting to criticisms on this stuff quicker. Just saying…

Anyway, back to consumption. The decision was made last week to back off to the low 90km/h zone when towing to see if that helped with thirst.

Have to do something because it’s a punch in the head when you see $3.72 per litre of diesel on the bowser.

And so to this week’s numbers*:

Litres consumed: 224
KM travelled: 1452km
Consumption average: 15.427L/100km
$ paid: $641.18
KM per $: 2.26km (vastly improved from 1.37km per $ last week)

*We spent four days in Alice Springs, so that also helps account for less fuel used. There was also plenty of driving without a 'van on the back, including a leisurely cruise into the West Macdonell ranges. That helped with consumption as well as slower towing speeds. And while we saw $3.72 per litre at Erldundanda, from Alice Springs onwards the pricing has stayed well below $3. It all helps!

Things we enjoyed this week:

Alice Springs: Well, we didn’t enjoy everything about Alice Springs, but for a town that gets a lot of bad press it was better than expected.

Yes, there is evidence of the issues that are commonly reported. People are drunk wandering the streets at 11am in the morning, there’s lots of shouting accompanying that behaviour too and there is an obvious police presence.

But it’s a neat and tidy town and it has all the facilities a grey nomad appreciates after being remote for a week or two, including $2.50 per litre diesel (yep down $1.20 from a couple of hours down the road) and a brewery with happy hour, decent beer and good pizza.

Alice even has some very cool mountain bike tracks – although that’s of more interest to me than Jane.

For us, the best bit of it all was a short encounter we had with some First Nations teenage school kids on Anzac Hill in the heart of town. They came over to pat the dogs and stayed to chat. They were polite, intelligent, curious and articulate. And inspiring.

We hope they all find the success and happiness they deserve.

Daly Waters: After Alice Springs we motored north staying at a series of caravan parks, mostly set at the back of roadhouses and pubs. Undoubtedly the most idiosyncratic has been Daly Waters.

Tucked away a few kays off the highway, the main street (and pretty much the only street) looks like a deranged movie set/junkyard. Remains of airplanes, trucks and other mechanical devices line the road and there are all sorts of animals wandering about untethered – horses, cows, donkeys. Thankfully, the crocodile was stuffed.

The pub itself serves cold beer and hot food and when we got there the joint was swinging to a touring Irish folk band down from Darwin (and sleeping in swags no less – ah the glamour of the road). Not a bad way to celebrate my 63rd birthday.

Bringing two dogs on a journey like this has its obvious challenges. Jane’s been working hard to find sitters ahead of our visits to Litchfield and Kakadu National Parks, where no dogs are allowed.

But apart from that stuff Eddie and Lulu have proved to be minimal inconveniences.

In fact, Lulu loves travelling in the Tasman so much she’ll try and get in at the first hint there’s a drive in the offing.

Eddie, the old man, is far more relaxed about it all. But when they get into their beds in the back seat (raised, purpose-made boxes secured by seatbelts) they settle right in. They’re pretty quickly asleep, which is a favourite Dachshund past time.

The only time they get at all excited is when we pull up and then there’s a rush to exit the car. They have to wait to be unclipped of course, but once out there’s much to be sniffed and peed on.

On-site they spend most of their time outside the 'van. Like Jane and me, they love a grassed site to walk on, but unlike us they also like to lay out in the sun. Eventually, even they concede defeat and seek the shade.

A walk, a feed early evening and then they're zonked and asleep again. They have beds that sit in under the overhang of our own queen-sized bed. Small dogs have their advantages.

Unlike me, they don’t need to get up in the night to go to the bathroom, which is handy. Are we happy to have them along? Yes, very much so.

To say the quality of accommodation along the Stuart Highway is variable would be quite the understatement.

You could cop a dirt square under a broiling sun or luxuriant, deep, grass under a spreading banyan tree providing plenty of shade (with just enough clear view for the Starlink to hook up). The further north you go the greener it gets.

Which made Banka Banka homestead a very pleasant surprise. It’s in the desert between Threeways (where the Barkly highway comes in from Queensland) and Elliott (the next town of any significance headed north).

Expectations weren’t high. While we rely on the Wikicamps app for a lot of info, we’ve learned to be a little cautious of some of the enthusiastic reviews that bear little relationship with reality.

But Banka Banka lived up to the raves. The site is fed by its own natural spring and as a result it’s green and shady with power, potable water and clean facilities.

Wander up a dirt track a couple of kays and you come to a permanent swimming hole that is just the ticket on a 30-something-degree day.

At dawn and dusk the view to the east from the hill above the camp is spectacular.

Sitting out at night you can hear the road trains coming for miles, like passenger jets on full throttle taking off. Their high beams light up the night and obliterate the stars.

That evening, the owner opened the camp’s small bar and about 20 of us sat on the verandah, had a few drinks and swapped stories. There was a lot of grey hair, a lot of big laps and plenty of discussion about 'vans and utes.

As usual, I was interrogated about the Tasman: “How’s it go?” No-one asks: “What is it?’” Everyone knows it’s a Tasman. The ad campaign certainly worked!

It was a nice way to spend a couple of hours.

Also, a shout out to Tricia and the crew at Temple Bar caravan park on the outskirts of Alice Springs. Golden, chilled mornings and a quiet haven we enjoyed.

The journey is soon coming to a temporary halt with two weeks planned in Darwin.

We’ve enjoyed the road so it will be interesting to see how we adapt to being in one place for an extended period.

But we’ve been armed with a huge list of must dos from friends who know Darwin, so we’d better get on with it...