Yay!!! We've got signal! What happened to Telstra's ad campaign "I've been everywhere"!! OK - here we go again.
Monday 20/7
We drove straight through to Cloncurry from Karumba, well - a quick fuel stop at Burke & Wills (158.9) and a hotdog ($4.50) then on to Cloncurry - oh, ok then, if you must know, a quick stop for a refreshment at the Qamby pub - then Cloncurry.
This was just an overnight stay before heading off to Mt Isa to collect our mail, replenish the fridge (so very expensive at Karumba), wash off the dust and dirt, get my bedside lamp fixed (I like to read in bed) and get the brake light fixed on the caravan. While Ken had a haircut - aboriginal fellow from Everly Street Redfern $20 cash only - I found a lovely shop called the Duck In. It is full of the most lovely nic-nacs for the kitchen and really lovely gourmet foods and cookbooks. I could have spent hours there, but Ken found me. Last night the caravan park had a black-out and all the oldies were threatening to insist on a refund for their powered sites. Gosh - the power was only down for 30 mins and it was 11pm! I'm only sorry that I missed the ending in Cold Case on tv.
Thursday 23/7
Fuel 124.9 30 degrees
Left Mt Isa this morning. The roadside scenery has changed dramatically now that we are nearing the Northern Territory. The dirt is getting redder and the grass is like straw. We are 263m above sea level here but as far as we can see, it's as flat as could be.
Fuel 168.9 29 degrees
Camooweal is only 12 kms from the border and is the last Queensland town before the Northern Territory. Its main street is the Barkly Highway which stretches 200kms from Mt Isa and they reckon this makes it the longest main street in the world.
This area was once the droving centre for some of the largest cattle drives in Australia; the cattle is now transported by the huge roadtrains up here. Each year in June, the Camooweal's Drover's Camp Festival is held and apparently the town swell's to hundreds with their swags and high-heel boots. With only one pub in town, I can just imagine what that would be like!!
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The river here is the Georgina and tonight we are camping beside a beautiful billabong nearby the river. We are "free camping" tonight without power, just on battery with our transistor radio listening to ABC National - North West Queensland. Ken is preparing a campfire and we bought some lamb loin chops ($19.99 per kg) from the Camooweal butchers which we will cook over the fire with some potatoes wrapped in alfoil and thrown into the embers .... I don't think I will even miss tv. We are about 20 metres from the waters edge and have been watching the brolgas and the spoonbills feeding in the shallow water, which is full of lillies. It is now 5pm, so we are looking forward to the arrival of the wallabies and kangaroos as the sun sets. There are a few other caravans further up the river but we can only see them when we went for a walk. We could be the only people on earth here - it's magnificent. It's like a scene from Waltzing Matilda - we've got the billabong, the coolibah tree, but only 1 trooper - well, ex anyway. All that's missing is the jumbuck!
Tomorrow we head off over the border to Barkly Homestead which is just a small caravan park with power and water at the back of the roadhouse and in the homestead's grounds.
Back soon.
Love to all.
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