65kms past Warburton

Today we left out Pines campsite by 8-30am having packed up and had breakfast due to Bob's diligence in building up the fire and making the first round of tea and coffee by 6am. The first stop was Tjukyrlia Roadhouse where we bought fuel and had a coffee. The couple operating the roadhouse for the Aboriginal Community were friendly people who brought us up to speed with all the local events. Last weekend they had 60 mls of rain which was about the 3rd descent fall they have had in recent weeks. It explained the couple of wrecks we saw either side of the roadhouse. This is a lake area so the road is vulnerable to flooding. There were still damp patches but in the main the road was good due to significant upgrading since we drove across it the last time.
They warned us that Warburton was not a choice stop over as even the fenced caravan park was being subjected to frequent episodes of theft from tourists.
We also had a chat to a man who was cycling  (push bike) with a mate from Perth to Alice Springs. We had seen the wheel tracks as we were approaching the roadhouse and assumed that they were probably Japanese. Hence we were surprised to find that they were Aussies and at least in their 60's. They ride about 100 kms per day on the sealed road and manage about 80 kms on this unsealed road, except when there is a head wind as there was today. They left Perth a month ago. They were having a break at the roadhouse to effect some repairs to a gear cable.
I forgot to mention our own damage yesterday. While we were driving through the road works there was a pretty loud bang but we didn't notice anything for a while. Then we saw that a stone must have deflected up off the camper and broken one of our rear windows. It is now wearing some very piraticle gaffer tape to ensure that it doesn't disintergrate on us.
We have seen bush turkeys, dingos and 9 dead camels on the road today. The camels came to grief at the hands of someone with a gun which was a rather sad sight.
We managed to drive into Warburton 15 minutes before they were due to close at 3pm given that it was Sunday. This was just time enough to fill up with diesal and have a quick shower. We were on the road again and searching for a campsite promptly because we really need to have found somewhere by 4-30 since the sun goes down at 5-30 out here. We were lucky to find a nice private borrow pit with swimming pool thanks to the recent rain. Soon had the fire going and sat around sipping Italian champagne because it is Maria and Rolands 29th wedding anniversary.
Life on the road is tough!