Poepples Corner-Somewhere in the middle of the Sumpson Desert, SA

Despite the ringos (rodent dingos) wanting to climb on my swag with me, I slept really well! This is the way I like to camp- out in the middle of no where with a camp fire, early nights under the stars, and early mornings. Although I would have preferred it if I hadn't had to zip my swag right up to keep out the ringos...
I got up just in time for the sun rise, and we packed up and hit the road (sandy track) five minutes earlier than yesterday. It turned out we were much closer to Poepple Corner than we realized, only about one kilometer away. We stopped so we could pretend to be super efficient by being in three places at once. Leon and Sandra lifted me onto the corner post and I was in SA, NT and QLD all at the same time for a minute or so, with a picturesque salt lake in the background. A couple of the cars that passed us last night came down to have a look, and Leon got talking to them about GPS apps you can put on your phone, so we lost our five minute head start.

Poepple Corner

Our first toilet stop was interrupted by a couple of east bound drivers, just after Leon put me on the toilet. And if course there's not much tree cover, so I just had to sit there while they went past which was a bit funny. I'm sure they were wondering why I was sitting on a toilet right next to the road, not hiding behind a tree like a normal person.

I realized today that I actually know quite a few people who do do a fair bit of 4WDing, and would love this trip. Mostly people I did venturers with. I think having done this short trip with family I feel my confidence has grown in myself. Up until now, I have only ever gone camping (post accident) overnight. I think my options have now been opened up a bit.
I started writing this early this morning and something happen that has only happened to me a small number of times before; I got motion sickness. Not badly, but I was feeling pretty ordinary. Turns out blogging and sand dunes don't mix...
After lunch, we came across a couple of cars. One was the green car from this morning, off to the side and looking like he might be stuck. The other was a ute parked in the middle of the track. After waiting politely for them to move, Leon went to see what was going on. It turned out it was the park rangers, checking up on park passes. The guys in front of us didn't have one, so they were doing the paper work there. We had one, so once the others were free to go, so were we.
We had to drive some pretty awful roads today. There were stretches that felt just like a mechanical bucking bull at the rodeo. Either that or a washing machine.

We were driving along part of this really bad road when we heard something fall off the car. All of a sudden Sandra's gone 'my camera!' she got it out to take a photo of the road, and left it on the bonnet of the car! We got over a sand dune and halfway back down before it fell off. Fortunately it doesn't seem to have too much damage, just lots of grit in the lens which will need cleaning. Still no a cheap exercise...
We saw a lot of the green car and the other car travelling with them this afternoon. They appeared to be very drunk, hanging out the windows as they were going up dunes, and stopping on top of them to play fight. These guys are only in their 40's after all...
We got ahead of them at sunset and didn't see them again. We really didn't want to have to camp with them, so we were glad to see the last of them. We could hear them last night and try were a kilometer away.

'Flame tree'

I am really starting to feel the effects of the long days and no rests. I think the rest of this week will be pretty much written off, except a check up for my feet and hopefully a massage.
The stars out here are amazing, the moon is full. I'm off to bed now.

Distance travelled: 142km
Time driving: 8 hours