BORROLOOLA to Mt ISA
In the morning we made a final decision regarding where to next. Last night hubby was proposing that go via Hells’ Gate to Lawn Hill then Mt Isa. I had a bad feeling regarding the proposed route. During the night he decided we couldn’t go the way he proposed as we only had one good spare wheel. To keep going along the Savannah Way, which is a 4WD track, you should have two spare wheels. The road crosses many creek and river crossings that are still running high and several require manoeuvring through boulders.
Our fourth focus area will not be completed. But there is always next time. We would do the Roper Bar section again if we came this way so now we do have a reason to come back to this neck of the woods.
We set out mid morning after some further adjustments to the wheels. We travelled along Carpentaria Highway to Cape Crawford. What a name for a place not by the sea!
The most significant feature along the way today - the cows. There were lots and lots of cows along the way regardless of the terrain. They were not confined to the fields. They tended to be on the road or by the road. It is surprising that there were no dead cows along the road.
We then turned onto Tableland Highway towards Barkly Homestead. Tableland Highway is a very narrow single lane road. It is quite dangerous in places as it winds and crests and you have no view of what is ahead and whether there is anyone else on the road. If you meet anyone else you need to move off the road so that both can pass each other. If a roadtrain comes along you just move off, stop and wait for it to pass. As we are in a big vehicle many cars moved aside for us.
We camped in a rest area with quite a few others at Brunette Downs Rest Stop. The windmill was quite a landmark.
The cockatoos obviously liked to sit and watch what was happening from above. At night it was hard to sleep as on every rotation the windmill made a sound like a squeaky swing.
In the morning it felt really cold as the temperature was down to 10.6C degrees. What a difference from Borroloola where 16C degrees was the coldest morning we had. On our first day out of Borroloola the day reached 28C degrees. Today it was 26. We think the temperature is now going to keep dropping everyday.
We saw thousands of birds this morning. As we drove along the road they kept flying off in large and small flocks from the road. This kept up for at least 50 kilometres possibly more.
Several kangaroos were seen in the morning. One was huge but I was not quick enough with the camera. Cattle were again seen along the way but not in the numbers that we saw yesterday but there were lots of young calves to be seen.
Today was the first time we drove with windows closed for most of the day, as the wind was too cool to keep them open. I’ve packed the singlet tops away and taken out some long sleeve tops.
Fences started to appear once we were on Barkly Highway.
I think we must be seeing the last of the termite mounds on this section of the road as we crossed into Queensland.
The most dominant feature of this component of the trip over the two days was the flatness of the land. It was flat, flat, flat as far as the eye could see. In places it was just grasslands. This was interspersed with some scrub and trees in places. I can’t say it was exciting going through here but I couldn’t say it was monotonous either.
Camooweal was a quaint little town along the way. Technically it s part of Mt Isa. The main street from Camooweal goes all the way into the centre of Mt Isa. As Camooweal is administered by Mt Isa Council, Mt Isa tries to boast that it is the biggest city in the world and the stretch of Barkly Highway one of the longest main streets. Closer to Mt Isa the land was not so flat. Small hills started to appear and break up the scenery.
We spent the night at Moondarra Caravan Park. It has many units here for those working in the mines and a cafeteria that they call a restaurant that is open for dinner and breakfast.
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