Gismo Queen and her King

We were pretty convinced the Track would open this morning and that by about 10:30am we would start to see cars. But there was nothing this morning. It was a gloriously sunny morning, warming up quickly which also meant the flies were active quickly. After our morning cuppa around the fire (shared with a couple of million flies) Neill and I were off firewood hunting before lunch. This was hot work, so we were cooling off with a beer when we saw a ute appear. We radioed him to ask if the Track was open, given he did look like a station worker (translated = no luggage). "Yeah, I think so. You'll be right" was the reply. This didn't fill us with confidence and we'd already written off departing today so we had a quiet afternoon. Afternoon tea was pikelets cooked on the open fire, which we had just started making when the first vehicles started appearing over the hill. They kept coming (well, there was about 20 of them) for about an hour so we calculated the Track must have opened at 3pm. The only vehicles we saw were single 4WDs, capable of doing the 130km in 1.5 hours. No towing vehicles, but it did at least inspire us that the road was in better nick. Just before 5:30pm, a 4WD and camper trailer pulled in here, so we're not alone tonight.

So our last night stranded on the banks of the Cooper Creek saw us enjoy another delicious meal in front of our roaring campfire washed down with a bottle of red. And no, that wasn't copied and pasted from the last few nights!