My world walk blog Australia 74 - Angels of the Barkly Highway.

Angels of the Barkly Highway.

Saturday afternoon after four days I picked up my first mobile phone signal since Avon Downs. Signal-wise I expect it will be like this for the next three or four weeks. Perhaps if I'm lucky I may get reception once or twice a week, one never knows in Australia. It's such a huge country with a relatively small population of about 26 million. I guess its difficult to service the outback the way one expects it to be. Many people have told me that most European backpackers that come here are surprised at the vastness of the country. Almost as if they expect a Perth to Sydney drive to be like Paris to Brussels, it's more like from Paris to Moscow, and a bit more. 

Last week I saw some interesting signage which told the story of this east-west highway. It was originally built when the second world war came to the south Pacific. In order to connect it up with the main north /south road the Australian military along with the aid of the Americans worked around the clock and built a pretty rudimentary road in about a year. Thousands of military used it daily. Years later it was eventually upgraded but remnants of the old road can still be seen in some places. 

Thanks to so many people for making my week of "hardship" such a heaven in this difficult and  potentially hellish remote area

Once again Ross a road train driver  stopped to give me four bottles of water. He is the same driver that stopped to check on my welfare last week. There were so many others and I overdosed on their generous gifts of fruit too. This was particularly welcome as fruit for me is difficult to obtain in desolate areas. 

One day I met an English man called Lewis who was on holiday with his father. It seemed that Lewis was a famous cross channel swimmer and with that talent had no trouble getting a job as a lifeguard in New Zealand. 

It was also a week when several people who stopped happened to be making a big move to relocate to Darwin, including two hotties called Charlene and Jessica They were both in the Australian Navy and kindly stopped to offer me water and snacks. As did another man on the move. He was originally from India and was making a road trip out of it with his mother. 

Yes, I know that my account is in danger of reading like a thank you manual! Another day my cooker developed a leak. Sometimes I enjoy a campfire to cook over, but it's not always feasible and there are other days when at the end of a long day that I just enjoy the convenience of cooking a quick meal. I mentioned this to a man called Hata when I stopped at a roadside rest area. He went back to his caravan and gave me his cooker!

"No worries Tony! I can buy another one in Mount Isa tomorrow!" 

How about that! Also, woman called Debbie who was camping in the caravan beside him  helped me enormously and gave me some canned stew. What can I say?

Next day, I walked long and hard for it was a bit hilly. Many people have told me that this road is as flat as a pancake. Yes, they were drivers

About twenty kilometres before the Barkly Homestead I was stopped by an interesting group of people. Rossi the driver is an engineer for a company that had recently installed a gas pipeline from Tennant Creek to Mount Isa. His three passengers were Aboriginal elders who were there to advise him about where and how any modifications to the pipeline could be made. One of these First Nation men has an interesting name, Pat Murphy. 

As I was so close to the roadhouse and people continued to offer me yet more water I asked them to drop it off further down the road at my designated kilometre posts. That would make next week a lot easier to manage as I have to push more food from a package that I picked up from the road house. This is the second batch of five that I sent on from Mount Isa. Thanks so much to Kim-Maree for her help and to Amanda the driver for it's delivery and to Jill for accepting it.

My next sniff of any services will be at the Three-Ways Roadhouse. It's about 190 kilometres away. Perhaps I will arrive there on Friday or Saturday as I plan for an easy week. This is where this highway that I'm on joins the Sturt Highway. I turn right for Darwin there. On my world run I ran this segment, so it should be a case if deja-vu. That was back in May 2013.

Just to remind anyone who worries about my safety that they can still overdose on Mangans progress by pressing the Spot tracker link on my website. I typically press the track button every ten kilometres and at the end of each day please see www.myworldwalk.com

22,411 kilometres walked for 634 road days.