What can I say about today? It's the crappiest day yet... It's been a s*** of a day... I'm glad it's nearly over, but tomorrow could be worse... I'm bone weary, exhausted, shattered and depressed through to my core, and that's the positive news...

But it didn't start off bad! As a matter of fect, when we finished last night, we were headed to our underground hotel for a night of luxury, so let's start there... We stayed at The Desert Cave Hotel last night, and after checking in, we spent the afternoon wondering around the resort, browsing the opal shop and cafe, (yes, Jo got an opal charm for her bracelet, but it's for mothers day, so she can't have it yet), and looking at their displays on the history of Coober Pedy, the mines and the environment. It was really good, and a nice relaxing way to spend our last day in Coober Pedy. Sleeping in an underground room is awesome, it's very dark (cause there's no windows, dummy), and very, very quiet. I don't know how I'd cope having to live like that, but you'd probably get used to it... We set our alarm, and woke up at 7, and had left Coober Pedy by 8. It felt like we scurried away like a dog with our tail between our legs, leaving before anyone was around to catch us. There were very few people around, and next to no traffic. We turned right, and headed towards Alice Springs...

Stopped at Marla, briefly, to fill up. It cost $1.94 per litre. Nothing happened in between, just driving...

We were going to stop at Kulgera to fill up. Didn't bother, was $2.20 per litre. Kept going. Nothing happened in between, just driving. Check the photos, and see for yourself.

4 and a half hours after leaving Coober Pedy, we felt safe enough to slow down! We arrived at Erldunda, a roadhouse and service station at the junction of the Stuart Highway and the Lassater Highway that goes to Yulara. This was meant to be our stop for the day, but one look told us we were going to be moving on... Jo didn't even want to drive in the gate, so we filled up again ($1.79 per litre), and kept driving. Three hours later, we were just getting to Yulara, and disaster struck... Before I get to that though, we drove 7 and a half hours today, not including breaks. We were exhausted beyond understanding, and bored to death of that road in the middle of nowhere. We'd made a game of taking photos of all the different road signs we saw (again, feel free to check em out, it's riveting stuff), but we'd managed to save a day by not stopping at Erldunda. That was good, cause we felt we'd wasted one in Coober Pedy. We'd made good time, and were discussing plans for our visit to the rock, when...

Bang!! The s*** hit the fan!! The car, which had been going so well, and had overtaken countless numbers of Prado's and Cruisers and Nissans, all the way through, chucked a wobbly and lit up the dash like a christmas tree!! It went straight into 'engine preservation mode', and wouldn't go more than 60 km an hour. Flashing lights screamed 'get me to a dealer!' Luckily, we were only a couple of minutes from our destination, and we managed to limp into the Ayers Rock Campground and get set up. Numerous phone calls later (NRMA Roadside Assistance and Mitsubishi in Alice Springs), and they've organised to pick the car up tomorrow morning and take it to the shop and try to sort it out. Hopefully, good news will follow. Good tip for anyone planning an extended caravan trip: Go to NRMA and upgrade to premium cover, we get all sorts of assistance and financial help. They'll look after towing the car and van to Alice Springs if necessary, provide a hire car (most necessary), pay accommodation fees (over what we've paid), and even pay for our trip home (not necessary, thank you!!). If it's a bigger problem than can be easily sorted out, we'll decide what to do once we know the options. The stress comes from the fact that this could happen again. We'd planned to do some 4wding around Alice and in Cape York, but now, I'm not sure we should risk it. Have to see what they tell us tomorrow...

Until then, hope and pray it works out! Oh, and put the army back on standby... Just in case...