Day 9 - Oodnadatta to Marla

It was a welcome shorter day today. Not crossing the Simpson had taken the wind out of our sails a little and we had decided to fast track it back home retracing our path from Marla. We slept in a little and were awoken by a local dog relieving itself on Trent's swag. Time for breakfast, coffee, and some souvenirs. Bid farewell To Kyle, packed our gear and headed for Marla. The road from Oodnadatta o Marla was great. It was quite refreshing to be able to up the pace a bit and not have to dodge rocks and sink holes all day. We last filled our tanks at Mt Dare and we decided to see how far we would get before topping up with the fuel from the Rotopax. In the end we finished 20k's short of Marla which put us in the 600k range. Not too bad at all. Just goes to show how much these little bikes don't like sitting on 110 all day.

 "There ain't nothin' to hit but the heights"

Marla as the best showers ever. Hot and plenty of pressure. Marla also has great food, happy hour, and everyone we have spoken to there was nice. There were 2 lady's from Gipsland headed to the Kimberly's in their Landcruiser towing a pop up camper van. They were having some trouble with things falling apart. Picture this, a Landcruiser with a trailer full of stuff and we had to give them some zip ties... They were very grateful and returned the favour with some fresh eggs, yum!. Another coupe had been in Oodnadatta the previous night and camped near us. We didn't see them but we did recognise their car. The came to join in frivolities and we all caught up later for dinner and happy hour. The second couple were nurses and were travelling all over, working where they could. They were on their dream trip. Good on them.

Spoke with Bec for the first time since Ayres Rock. Was really good to hear her voice. Wasn't so nice to find out our girls had been sick for the past week and they may not be able to fly home when planned. Getting back early would be a good thing. Bec sounded very tired and at least I could help with the girls and let her get some rest before I had to return to CENSORED.

Into bed reasonably early. We were both very sore from the previous days on the rough roads.