Gunslingers draw desert inspiration

So why can’t I can’t see Grady Brand and Lesley Hammersley in their the vehicle, even though we’re talking on the UHF radio and I know they’re only a stone’s throw away.

I can see down the track to the eastern horizon, and it’s empty.

… and then … there they are now, appearing back on the track, apparently from nowhere.

The answer is that, in places, the Gunbarrel Highway is more like one of those multi-barrel Gatling machineguns. The track has become so rough and corrugated that travellers have pushed on to side tracks to try to avoid the worst of the washaways and rock holes.

Grady has been on a parallel track behind sheoaks, and now just pops back on to the main track. Then he’s gone again.

Now he’s back.

The Gunbarrel has become a sort of dusty version of those driving scenes in the Mini Coopers in The Italian Job.

I’m glad I’m behind the wheel of something considerably more robust.

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