SAVANNAH WAY – NATHAN RIVER HIGHWAY
Butterfly Springs is a delightful place. Beautiful paperbark trees surround the waterhole.
Butterfies flutter around in droves.
We started the day in a relaxed frame of mind but it didn’t last long. Hubby noticed water on the ground. After investigation he found that the radiator was leaking but he couldn’t find from where. We made the decision to give Lorella Station a miss and go straight to Borroloola. With a careful eye on the temperature gauge we took off.
The Southern Lost City was not too far away and was on our way so we decided to stop there. The radiator was dripping but still no trace from where and the temperature gage was not showing any signs of trouble. We went on the 2.5 km walk through the Southern Lost City.
It was not quite a stroll through the lost city. I did not enjoy walking through the Spinifex.
In places it was a tight squeeze between rocks and in other places a bit of a goats track but overall it was okay. It doesn’t have the awesome impact of the Western Lost City as to see it you have to weave your way through the rock formations.
Often they really tower above you. This face was really interesting.
It is hard to get a panoramic view of them partly due to the foliage and because you are too close to them or the impact is lost because of the numerous rock formations.
Some of the formations were really interesting. I called one a Bowl
another a Vase
and a third a Tulip.
At the top there was a view to another distant lost city.
After the walk we had lunch here. Hubby conferred with a others here who showed an interest in the Oka re the radiator. A decision was made to put some black pepper into the radiator to plug up the leak. Guess what – it works. It worked so well that the next day when they tested the radiator under pressure no evidence of the leak was there.
Anyway, we continued on making our way through creek crossings to the Carpentaria Highway.
As you approach each creek crossing they look so similar on the road – a patch of water. They don’t look like much but many were quite deep. As mentioned before in my blog, when you look at either side of the crossing you see the uniqueness of each creek or river.
Some differences may be very subtle but they are there. At other times they are very different.
On our way in to Borroloola, on the last section which was on a bitumen road I mentioned to hubby that the tyres didn’t sound right. He pulled over and checked for a flat tyre but they were all fine.
Finally we got to Borroloola. First stop was to find someone who could fix the radiator. Arrangements were made for the next morning. Then onto the town centre, if you could call it that, to post some postcards. Hubby came around to my side of the car to lock the doors after I got out but I soon saw his expression change to horror. I asked what was wrong but he told me I would see when I got out. The wheel studs had worn through and sitting loosely on the wheel. We had been very lucky. What was sort of funny was that all trip I had been going on about taking spare wheel studs on the next trip as we had heard on the HF radio of a number of instances of the studs going and arrangements being made to get them. Well here we were in the same boat. The radiator problem paled into insignificance at this point. Hubby tightened the studs as much as he could and we drove slowly to the caravan park not too far back down the road.
He was soon on the phone making arrangements to get some sent up if needed and to see whether he could redistribute the others in order to drive to Mt Isa if needed. Advice was that we needed 7 on each wheel so we had to get new studs before moving on.
So here we are in Borroloola and we will see what tomorrow will bring.
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