Into the Desert We Go

DAY 2: KATHERINE - TENNANT CREEK (700 km / 435 mi)
Early rise at 5am again.

Before the 450 mile run to Tennant Creek, we had to refuel the Saab from the E85 drum in the back of the Rodeo. This is done under the event marshall’s supervision and then the fuel tank is sealed.

During that time I did my first daily live interview on ABC regional radio. This is scheduled to happen at 6:50 am every morning during the event. We use a Next G phone supplied by Telstra to ensure clear transmission. So far we haven’t found any dead spots…most impressive.

After that we called into the compulsory checkpoint just south of Katherine, got ticked off and waved away. Next stop was to be a designated refuel point at Dunmarra about 180 miles away. But we decided to take a little detour about 60 miles out, on to the Carpentaria Highway. There’s a very old, very famous sign there which reads “Next petrol stop 500km” at Borroloola, which translates to about 300 miles. Correction, that should be “was”…some sod has put in a petrol station about halfway and when we got there and looked for the sign…there it wasn’t!

So, our bright idea for a great photo of the Saab and the Rodeo nose to nose under the old sign, with one of the team sitting on top of the E85 drum, holding up a card reading “who cares” kinda lost its impact! Oh well, the best laid plans of mice and media men… (We found a picture of the sign on the Internet before it disappeared. It would have been a great shot.)

So with pain in our heart and ethanol in our tank we continued on and stopped for lunch just out of Elliot. The heat hit us like a hammer when we climbed out of the cars. It was well over 100F but at least we were now below the tropical stickiness. Travelling south takes us into hotter temperatures but lower humidity. And from now on it’s time to break out the fly nets. Because it’s so hot and dry the little buggers are looking for moisture and crawl into every facial orifice looking for it. You don’t need fine mesh, anything moving in front of the face will stop them from landing. Hence the time honoured Aussie swagmen tradition of hanging corks on strings from their hats. Very loose open weave netting, which fits over a cap is the modern equivalent.

We hit the checkpoint in Tennant and then moved on to a community reception and display only to discover that the officials and Team Ethanol were the only ones there. Turns out that they had seriously miscalculated the time it would take on this leg (by about two hours!) and we were the only team with the speed and driving nous to meet the impossible deadline…BioPower rules! The team set up a display but it was so hot that not many people turned up. It’s said that these conditions test one’s mettle, but in this heat the mettle quickly becomes molten! In the meantime I did an interview on ABC Radio Drivetime. The organisers finally gave up and called it quits, so we adjourned to our cabins at the Outback Caravan Park for a good long soak in the pool. Tonight we’ve booked out the local Memorial Club for a multi-team dinner…and no doubt the odd alcoholic libation.

A quick note on Tennant Creek. It’s located two thirds of the way down south from Darwin to Alice Springs (which is about the mid-point of the World Solar Challenge course). Tennant is also close to Threeways, the junction of the main highway east into Queensland.

We’ve just heard that the Tassie Saab Motor Club members (thousands of ‘em) have joined our followers…welcome aboard Saabites and Saabettes. I’ll be adding some more specific details on the car and its performance in future blog entries, in your honour. Here’s a little taste to think about…as the temperature climbs our fuel economy improves…