28 June 2014
Mt Isa – 31km East of Riversleigh Heritage site, Riversleigh Rd (241km)
We left somewhat later than normal as we knew we didn’t have that far to travel today. We could have gone all the way to Adel’s Grove but had only booked from tomorrow night so we had time up our sleeve. After filling up with fuel we set out towards Camoweal by driving out through the back streets of Mt Isa.
There was a interesting WW11 site along the way on Barkly Highway. Due to the need for strategic defence of the northern part of Australia a sealed road was built from Mt Isa to Camooweal in 1942. A new road is now in place parallel to it but to commemorate 50 years post WW11 part of the original road was preserved as a testament to the fortitude, memorial to the persistence and sheer hard work of those who built the road.
We started to see the odd burnt out car along the way and small termite mounds. After turning off onto Thorntonia Yelvertoft Rd the good bitumen soon ended. We seemed to alternate between corrugations, good dirt road, a bit of bitumen. We dropped our tyres and the ride became much smoother.
There was a section where the termite mounds were grey not reddish brown. I couldn’t work out why as the soil colour had not changed that much.
After turning onto Riverslegh Road we only travelled about 4km before making camp. It was a lovely spot amongst beautiful trees and very interesting termite mounds. There were lots of budgies softly serenading us as we cooked and ate dinner. It was too windy to light a fire. We kept hoping in anticipation of it dropping off and got a campfire ready if not for today for tomorrow morning. The wind didn’t let up.
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