Wednesday 30 September - hot, HOT, HOT

So far in our travels we had not really encountered any very warm days, even Tibooburra, reputedly the hottest town in NSW, had found me in a sweatshirt in the strong winds. However, after we arrived at Birdsville we got a real sense that we were near the desert.
Quite a bit of Tuesday aftternoon had been spent in the Birdsville pub (sightseeing only, of course). Wednesday, we knew, was tipped to be about 40 degrees (105F). We organised ourselves so that Darren went to the Birdsville Working Museum, while I went to the library to write blog and get away from the heat. The museum was amazing. The chap that owned it had collected hundreds of old bits and pieces, from cars to mixers to bits of steam engines to……, Darren was there for about 2 hours. When he came to collect me from the library there as nothing we could do but face the heat and go back to the caravan. It felt over 40, and had that burning sensation when we walked in the sun. It was like moving in a hairdryer and breathing in it’s air.
A swim was called for immediately we got back to the caravan, and we were most grateful at how cold the water was. I swam in a t-shirt and bikini, and then sat in the wet t-shirt in the caravan, glad of the shirt’s coolness, while I continued to type. This blog has become a monster, and needs constant attention or it gets very out of hand – rather like a child I would imagine! The typing kept my mind off the heat, and I continued after supper. Darren in the mean time had been for about 3 swims and had a snooze. When I stopped typing at 10 to 10, the car said it was still 38 degrees! ,We considered soaking our sheets in the creek and then sleeping in them, but decided that might be taking things a bit far. There was a cool change that was going to come through in the night, and from stillness there did indeed come a rustle then a strong wind and the temperature dropped with its usual suddenness, by morning I was back under a duvet.
The hot day hat concentrated our minds, however, on the heat ahead of us. We were going to go around the Simpson desert, and then make our way up to Alice, then go to King’s Canyon and Uluru. We were very aware that we are right at the end of the season to go to the Red centre, and did not want to get to Uluru when it was too hot to do any walking. So, despite the fact we had the best camping spot, with wonderful views and a swimming hole on our door step, we decided we should leave in the next day or so, as we still had a long way to go….