Followed up my sojourn to Finke yesterday with a trip back there via Imanpa (work things). Upon arrival at Imanpa, a lovely Nankeen (or Australian) Kestrel welcomed me by sitting on one of the roadside poles:
The trip then proceeded down the Stuart Highway towards Kulgera. I passed each of the below Solar Cars taking part in the 2011 Solar Car Challenge, and then managed to get some photos as they arrived at Kulgera:
On to Finke down the 150 kms of dirt which was quite a comfortable drive as the road must have been graded I think since Tuesday. (They'll have to grade it again soon but more on that below.)
On the return home a couple of things happened. I came across a beautiful Sand Monitor:
and then about half way back to Kulgera I ran into firstly a dust storm, followed by an amazing Thunder Storm which lit up the sky with lightning, as well as shooting bolts down to the ground. The rain started to hit at about 50 kms east of Kulgera and absolutely pelted down. So I had two occasions where driving was difficult - the first was the dust storm which made visibility of the front of the car impossible for a few minutes and then the driving rain was too much for even the fastest windscreen wiper setting. With the storm coming from the west, the road waqs quite slippery and wet and already the grooves of smooth driving from the middle of the day had turned into ice-like laneways. I was very happy to finally make it to Kulgera and seek the safety of shelter and the welcome return to the bitumen for the drive back to Alice.
The trip then proceeded down the Stuart Highway towards Kulgera. I passed each of the below Solar Cars taking part in the 2011 Solar Car Challenge, and then managed to get some photos as they arrived at Kulgera:
Turkish team - not much room in the driver's seat
Canadian team
Swiss Team
Turkish Team
On to Finke down the 150 kms of dirt which was quite a comfortable drive as the road must have been graded I think since Tuesday. (They'll have to grade it again soon but more on that below.)
On the return home a couple of things happened. I came across a beautiful Sand Monitor:
and then about half way back to Kulgera I ran into firstly a dust storm, followed by an amazing Thunder Storm which lit up the sky with lightning, as well as shooting bolts down to the ground. The rain started to hit at about 50 kms east of Kulgera and absolutely pelted down. So I had two occasions where driving was difficult - the first was the dust storm which made visibility of the front of the car impossible for a few minutes and then the driving rain was too much for even the fastest windscreen wiper setting. With the storm coming from the west, the road waqs quite slippery and wet and already the grooves of smooth driving from the middle of the day had turned into ice-like laneways. I was very happy to finally make it to Kulgera and seek the safety of shelter and the welcome return to the bitumen for the drive back to Alice.
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