Vulnerable in the Outback

We flew into Alice Springs and picked up our campervan.

We've been on the road for 2 days and camped 2 nights. So far, though challenged at times, we're living in relative comfort.

The roads are good, mostly tarred, though there's lots of unpaved ones too. Most of the unpaved ones are also unmarked, heading to who knows where. Unfortunately, we're restricted by the camper company to the sealed roads.

We've visited a couple of very popular sites, Uluru and Kata Tjuta. They are quite unusual geological formations in the outback that otherwise lacks features. For the most part, the Outback is red sand dunes, stunted trees, yellow clumps of grass, and dried creek beds.

The journey has included a little adversity:

I forgot that one of our battery chargers needed 120V and plugged it into 240V. There wasn't any smoke, but it's life is over.

My charge card appears to have been cancelled since arriving in the Outback. I guess they suspect that I'm not coming back to civilization. I've tried contacting the company, but with the time difference, I haven't succeeded yet. When I spoke with them before leaving Canada, they said all would be fine in Australia. Being caught in the Outback, needing fuel, food and water without a charge card is not fine.

The 12V system on the campervan didn't work initially, but I found a loose connection and got it working. Then just a couple of hours ago, I turned the system off and it wouldn't turn back on. I suspected the main switch, pulled it out and fiddled with it until it started to work again. Note to self, don't play with the switch and cross fingers. Without the 12V system, we have no in camper lighting, water pump or refrigerator when on the road.

We're realizing our hoped-for Outback experience, and a little adversity is driving home the point that we're vulnerable out here.

Click here for the next story in this series:
http://travellingwithsteveandmarlene.blogspot.ca/2015/04/hiking-kings-canyon.html