Saturday 14th July 2012
Today we start our journey inland towards Darwin, our last port of call, before we fly to Bali on the 30th.
We have been told that it will takes us approx. 4-5 days, driving 500-600kms a day.
We don't want to be in the camper all day, every day, so have left ourselves plenty of time for stop off's!
Our main detour, which is pretty big (400kms) will be Kakadu National Park.
I will try not to bore to much:- Do a food shop and fill with petrol, we are told the road, which basically goes straight across the top half of Australia from Townsville, which is south of Cairns in Queensland, into the centre of the Northern Territory, just above Alice Springs (when I say just above, I'm talking, probably 500km's), we are told the petrol (and food) gets more expensive as you go into the outback! It is obviously along way for it to be transported! To give you an idea, the cheapest we have paid for petrol on our 5 week tour, is $1.26 and the most expensive, on this last leg has been $1.97! We are told never to pass a petrol station without topping up, as you never know how many hours it will be before you see another one!
Anyway, we drive away from the coast and the roads start to get hilly and very green, we haven't seen this for a while, so it makes a pleasant change. We drive best part of the day and reach Queenslands highest town, Ravenshoe. Just outside the tiny town we find a 'free' cmap. It is packed with caravans and campers, with the odd tent thrown in too!
We squeeze into a corner and get chatting to the couple next door, George and Michelle, he's a 10 pound pom (Irish actually) and she is from Sydney. Lovely people and they give us loads of information on the road ahead, they are travelling in the opposite direction to us, so tell where the free sites are and where NOT to fill up with petrol! In Oz they really encourage rest stops, when driving, so free camping is alot easier then in NZ.
We drive on the next day to a town called Normanton, it has a population of about 1100, 3 pubs, 2 shops, 3 petrol stations and 2 campsites! It is very spread out, and if there was some tumbleweed blowing down the road, it wouldn't have looked out of place! I will add a photo of the 'Purple Pub' and you will see what I mean!
(We have one of our best nights sleep here, for some reason.)
Next day we drive just over 400kms to a town called Cloncurry (pop 5000), famous for being the birthplace of the Royal Flying Doctors and apparently, Qantas Airlines were conceived here! And as for global warming...the highest recorded temperature in the shade, was recorded here in '1889'!!! (Oh, it was 53 degrees!). We have a look around the outdoor steam and rail museum, it's a bit like looking around Pete and Jude's garden really!! Except, Pete hasn't got a 1954 V8 Ford Rail Ambulance with train wheels, very strange!
We drive 50k outside Cloncurry towards Mount Isa, George and Michelle have recommended another roadside camp.
In general, the roads have been very good, all tar, single track in places, which is okay, until you meet a 'road train'. These are massive lorries, that can be upto 4 trailers long and 54mts in length! Fortunately, we didn't meet too many!
Mount Isa is a strange 'city' in the outback, with a population of 22,600 there due to the mining industry. The sight as you come up and over the hill, is one of industry, which is a bit of a suprise, after hours of nothing, but ever changing landscapes! We have driven through bush-fires, baron land, the odd section of lush green trees and miles of miles of flat....nothing, as far as the eye could see. Hard to describe really! Mount Isa still manages to have KFC, McDonalds and all the usual 'crap' eating place's, that we have managed to avoid, (mostly!).
From here we head to Camooweal, another one horse town, a pub with campsite (which is where we stay, a couple of petrol stations and a shop. There is also another campsite off the main road, which we are told is 'beautiful'! We make our way down the gravel track, not ideal in a hired camper van, we meet a couple coming the other way and Matt flags them down, to make sure we will be okay in the camper. They say we will be fine, as long as we have fresh water. Not a problem! On we go. We have now traveled about 10k and see a sign saying we still have 14k to go. If you have a 4 x 4 this is not a problem, but we decide to stop, put wet cloths over the vents in the van, because the red dust is coming up through them and turn around!
From here we go to Daly Waters (pop 25!) recommended to us by a couple we met last night. It is about 4k off the main highway, it is famous for being a staging post in the early days of aviation - Amy Johnson landed here on her flight from the UK in 1930. There is only a petrol station and campsite here, all aun by the local pub. There is also a craft stall run by a couple, he is the local entertainer in the pub this evening. The site and pub is really busy, so we pre-book our bbq dinner of Barramundi and steak. The entertainer is a combination of a comedian and country singer, an ex-cowboy, he's very funny and keeps us all amused!
Our unpowered site has cost us $14 and we have had an unexpectedly great night!
To be continued:
