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Three very early mornings and three long days of driving and we're just past the half way point between Sydney and Darwin. After two slow starts and a bit of confusion at petrol stops, the team is finally getting it's travelling legs. This morning we were underway by 6:11am - eleven minutes past our target departure time. Sammy Diasinos imposed a 12 minute "penalty" on the team for being late, so tomorrow, we have to wake up at 4:48 am. Nonetheless, the team's getting better at waking up and packing up - an important skill for racing in the World Solar Challenge.
We're driving through endless stretches of Central Queensland grasslands enroute to the Northern Territory. While beautiful, the scenery is putting most passengers to sleep. Occasionally, something interesting pops over the next crest in the road. We've seen eagles, hawks, brolgas, crows, cows, bulls, goats, kanagaroos, wallabies, foxes, kangawallafoxes, emus, goannas, horses and feral pigs. It gets exciting when something pops over the crest in the middle of the road we're driving on. Cattle and eagles are the scaryest. The cattle sometimes escape from their paddocks and wander near the roadside where the grass is ungrazed. Eagles feed on roadkill in the middle of the road. Unlike crows, they're much slower getting off the ground and fly for several metres at just about windshield height. To keep the driving safe, we make the most of daylight hours and avoid driving between dusk and dawn.
It's getting hotter and more humid as we travel further west and north. The day's driving would be unbearable if it wasn't for two things: fuel stops and air conditioning. We get a short break from the monotony of driving about every 2-3 hours when we stop to refuel.
It's pretty quite in the cars, otherwise, for the better part of the day...well...except for the software development team, who are developing and refining the telemetry and strategy software.
By the end of the day, we're usually pretty much starving. Drew and the catering team have put on an excellent Aussie barbarque, courtesy of Nick's Southside Gourmet Meats, in Sydney.
We passed the camera around the dinner table and gave everyone a chance to take the picture of their choice.
Tomorrow, we're going to get the car on the road for some more testing. Stay tuned for more pictures from the Tenterfield, Queensland to Threeways, Northern Territory leg of the trip.
Willy The Whale
Willy!
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