Day 9 – 02.10.2025 – Warburton

Road trip – 557 km – Warburton

We left Ayers Rock Campground early, just past 07:00. eating a banana and some dried fruits. The Service Station was nearby, so we stopped and got a coffee there. The direction was the same as to the Olgas the day before. At one point, we had to turn left towards Western Australia. After 100 km, the asphalt ended and the dirt road began.

Sometimes it was red sand, which is very dominant in the outback, and sometimes we had to drive on a gravel road. The road was better than I had expected. When Andrew was driving here last time, it was not good as now. We had the windows closed because all the dust would come in. Whenever a car or truck came from the other side, there was a huge sandy cloud. But it got pretty warm in the car, we had to start the air conditioning.

Mostly we could drive around 70 km/h, more or less, depending on the road. We stopped somewhere for lunch, just a small parking space with a tree for shade. Otherwise, not much has happened until …

The next petrol we would get is in Kaltukatjara, where there is an Aboriginal community at Dockers River. We turned left to enter the town. It is usually not allowed to take photos of Aboriginal people and their places. The town didn’t look very welcoming, with lots of plastic around, and Aboriginal people without jobs hanging around. The government spends a lot of money for them, but this is not very helpful when these people don’t have any perspective in life. They lost their roots, and most of them never reached civilization.

I was nearly falling asleep when I heard Andrew cursing. Out of the sudden, blue smoke came out of the exhaust. We stopped and checked the oil; it was all good. It could be the fuel. They call it Opal fuel here. There are some additives in the fuel which doesn’t make you high. Many aborigines were sniffing fuel to get drugged. But we were told by a mechanic that this fuel is not of good quality. It was a bit scary when you are in the middle of nowhere, literally in the center of Australia, and your engine dies. But the engine sounded pretty well. After starting the motor, the exhaust gases looked normal again. We still weren’t sure what caused it, oil or fuel.

We reached Warburton after 557 km, there is a caravan camping. We got some more petrol and checked in. Half of the Great Central Road we have done. One more day on a dirt road tomorrow.