Highways and Byways

As we continue our travels we are encountering many different standards of roads and different landscapes. On short day excursions we have encountered gravel roads so corrugated we could be in a 3rd world country and in contrast some gravel roads that are almost as smooth as seal. In the Atherton Tablelands the green paddocks and tree clad hills reminded us of NZ. As we continued west the road narrowed at times to a single sealed strip with wide dirt shoulders. The protocol when travelling on these and meeting on coming traffic is for each vehicle to move left so one set of wheels is on the dirt and the other on the seal. For road trains the rule is different, these have absolute right of way and the sealed strip is all for them while the other traveller moves off and stops until they go by - fortunately we haven’t met too many. The largest have 4 trailers behind the tractor unit and are about 50m long. We counted 88 tyres on one unit (not counting the spares!) It was an impressive sight at Gregory Downs to see up to 6 road trains parallel parked beside the pub.
Most of the traffic we encounter is 4WD vehicles towing caravans, Toyota’s being the vehicle of choice. We estimate 80% of traffic is 4WDs towing vans/trailers, 15% road trains and the rest single vehicles.

We have travelled though many small towns that were boom towns on the 1880's as gold was found here. It is interesting looking at the buildings that remain - pubs, jails and court houses or police stations. This says a lot for what life was like back then. It is great to go into a town with a current population of around 300 and see that it has been able to retain many of its old buildings. In Croydon we saw a police residence (currently the information centre), police station and hall all from the 1890's (wooden) and lock up (corrugated iron). In Normanton the lock up had concrete walls 18 inch thick (much cooler than the iron one in Croydon). Interestingly this lock up had an extension that was used up until the 1990's.


[The croc’s not real! (It’s a replica of one shot in 1957)]

Near Normanton we spent a night at Leichhardt’s Lagoon and were camped on a dry part of the lagoon bed. Fortunately there wasn’t any wind as there was plenty of dust lying around. In this area there are a lot of lagoons that don't dry out and become flooded in the wet. They are an important habitat for birds and other creatures including crocodile (so we are told). At Leichhardt’s lagoon from our caravan we could see brolga (storks), egrets, ducks, pelicans, the ever present kites and a Jabiru and a few other birds. We saw so many brolga here they are no longer a novelty.

We continued west to the Gulf of Carpentaria and stayed 3 nights at Karumba. Every second person in the camp seemed to have a small boat, as fishing is a magnet for many going to this town at the end of the road. Our caravan park had a weekly free fish barbeque and we were lucky to catch that. We had 3 helpings each of Blue Nose Salmon with our own salads and wine. We went on a half day fishing charter and in the evening as part of the fishing package we went on a sunset cruise. We went up river for a while and saw lots of birds before going out into the gulf to watch a red sun dip into the sea. On the way back a crocodile was spotted. The fishing charter was interesting as we were the only passengers in about a 6m long 'Banana Boat' a fibre glass hulled central console boat with a full cover canopy. We motored north from the mouth of the Norman river for about 20 minutes and fished at anchor about 3km from shore in about 2m of water. (Much of the Gulf of Carpentaria is quite shallow and the channel markers go 14 kilometres out to sea) As there are no reefs or grounds to hold fish it is a case of waiting for schools of fish to swim by, leading to periods of inactivity followed by periods of action. We caught many bronze whaler sharks up to 600mm long, lost 2 nice mackerel and came home with 1 mackerel and 1 ling. The mackerel was beautiful eating but the ling was full of fine bones, still nice eating though. The mackerel have teeth like surgeons scalpels. Twice Al felt a faint tug on his line and on retrieving found that all of the end tackle had been cut off probably by a mackerel going for the swivel (or maybe just swimming around with his mouth open) We came away from Karumba with 2kg of prawns as at $12 per kg they were hard to resist. The last few are still in our freezer but not for much longer.


[Sea eagle catching a piece of fish.]





We went on an excursion to Burke and Wills 2nd last camp on their ill-fated expedition from Melbourne to the northern coast and return. They were in this area in Feb 1861 so it was the wet season and because of the mangroves and bogs didn't actually sight the sea, although they knew it was close. All but one of the party died on the return trip to Melbourne. There were good information boards at the camp site but little remains of their presence. While there they blazed (marked) some 14 trees but after some 148 years only a 2 of these trees remain and only 1 is in reasonable condition.

As we travel though the area we marvel at the perseverance of the early pioneers. In many areas the country is so flat we find it hard to work out how they were able to navigate their way from a to b. If they were travelling during the wet they would have had water but it would have made traversing the land so much harder. Minerals and gems are found here and we wonder how the early pioneers decided where to go to make these discoveries. Travelling by road to these places along 40 plus km of dirt road in the truck can be hard enough.

With friends Mary & Tom we spent a couple of nights camping near Lawn Hill National Park. This involved a side excursion of 560 km. We camped in tents at Adels Grove under a canopy of trees. The birds were singing from early morning until dusk so it was like camping in an aviary. The camp was beside the Gregory River and it was a delightful place to have a refreshing swim. It was novel to have a cormorant appear with a small fish and swim to a log and eat it all within 10 metres from where I was swimming. In the evening we sat in front of our campfire.

[There are scones in the pan but the stew in the pot isn't ours]


We went on a short walk in Lawn Hill NP and after visiting a small waterfall climbed up and looked down into a deep gorge. While having lunch near the car park we watched a great bowerbird. Its bower was nearby and the entrance was adorned with white and green objects, the white and green in two different piles. We went back to Gregory Downs, where we had left our vans, and free camped beside the Gregory river. It was just a few steps to go for a swim to remove the grime of dusty roads. That night we had another camp fire and Mary produced a birthday cake to celebrate Jill's and her husband Tom's birthdays (only 3 days apart).

We have now travelled as far as Mt Isa, which is not a pretty city as it has a copper and lead mine on the western perimeter. Here we have internet coverage, and have stopped for a few days to recharge batteries, restock supplies and wash the dust and grime off the truck and van before moving on to the Northern Territory. We plan to be in Alice Springs by the end of the month where we will meet up with Nicky who is joining us for 4 weeks. We will spend the 4 weeks making our way to Darwin where she will catch a plane to go back to Christchurch.

We are both keeping well and enjoying the experience. There is a great camaraderie among us 'Grey Nomads' that is most evident at the many free camps we have stayed in, and in some caravan parks. Most contacts are passing, but we have had lots of laughs at impromptu happy-hours. Much useful information is shared with people who are going the opposite direction to us.

We have now been on the road for 13 weeks, travelled a total of 9300km,
of which 6500km have been with the caravan in tow and have camped in 43 different places.