Update 7th July - 22nd July

Day 1 (7th July 2007)
Headed off at 7.30 am on a miserable, foggy & rainy Saturday morning. Nagambie was the first stop for breakfast and then on to Strathmerton to collect some yummy pies from the Bakery for lunch. Raining all the way. Stayed the night at Griffith and went for a 4k walk around the town. Not as cold as last night at Monegetta but still miserable.

Day 2 (8th July 2007)
8.30am start today heading toward Hillston and listening to Macca on the ABC. Looks like we may be heading out of the rain. NO SUCH LUCK!!!!!! Rained on and off all the way to Bourke where we are staying overnight tonight. Lunch stop was at Cobar where we had a look at the open cut mine, very impressive. We are staying at the Kidman Camp Caravan Park which is lovely, the sky is pitch black and the stars look sensational.

Day 3 (9th July 2007)
Went for a drive into Bourke to fill Paul’s car with gas and have a bit of a look around. The pubs are all barred up and the shops in the main street have shutters on the windows….. not a very nice place. The Wharf was interesting with a Historical Crossley Engine running. Late start today – headed off from the Caravan Park at 10.30 on our way to Nardoo Station for tonight. Our lunch time stop was at Barringun which is on the NSW QLD border. Stopped for a look around at Cunnamulla and took a picture of the Cunnamulla fella which is a statue in front of the Municipal Offices. Staying tonight at Nardoo which is a working sheep & cattle farm with hot artesian spas. Barry & Maree went in for a dip but I wasn’t too sure if there was Sulphur so I stayed away. Tonight we cooked our dinner in the Bar-b-Q area right next to a roaring fire. A lot of people staying here at Nardoo are congregated around the fire telling jokes and having a good time. Tomorrow we head for Charleville.

Day 4 (10th July 2007)
Heading for Charleville for tonights camp. Got a site at the Cobb & Co Caravan Park because Barry’s car is booked in tomorrow for a service. Very ordinary Caravan Park, squashed in and very crowded, not actually legal what the Caravan owner was doing. We had caravans parked in front of us and couldn’t get out if we wanted to…….Maree & I went for a nice long walk into Charleville and tonight we are cooking our Bar b q in the Camp kitchen. Met up with a nice bunch of travelers and sat around and talked for a while. The weather is now getting nice and warm with lovely clear blue skies and the temp is in the mid teens, am gradually stripping down to warmer clothes, soon I will be in shorts!!!!!!

Day 5 (11th July 2007)
Left Charleville about 11.30 today after Barry picked up his car from the service and Bary & Paul managed to wash the cars before we left. Had lunch at Augathella a small town with some interesting murals along the main street shops. Free camped tonight at the 615 camp which is 41kms south of Blackall. Gathered some wood and got a great fire going so I cooked roast lamb with garlic, honey, rosemary & mustard………
MAGNIFICENT. Baked veggies topped of a great meal. Nice spot beside the river, not noisy and not too cold. Sat around the fire until about 10.30 before making sure the fire was out before heading for bed. Tomorrow we are off to Blackall to have a look around.

Day 6 (12th July 2007)
Up & away around 8.30am after having a beaut brekkie of porridge. Did a tour around Blackall. Had a look at the Wool Scourer which was very interesting then had a wander around the town before heading to Barcaldine. Took pictures of the Tree of Knowledge then took off to find somewhere to stay for the night. Found a free camp at Newstead Creek Rest area which is 32km from Longreach. Another great free night camping – Bar B Q and fantastic open fire. 500metres from the highway so very quiet. Not cold at all during the night so slowly stripping down to warmer clothes.

Day 7 (13th July 2007)
Stopped at Winton to look at the Banjo Paterson memorabilia in the main street. Also stopped at Longreach to look at the 747 & the 708 in the main street – impressive. Ran into Sue from the Bistro at work in the Tourist Information Centre at Winton (what a small world). Overnight stop at Kynuna Roadhouse tonight and had a counter tea at the famous Blue Heeler Pub. Good value at the roadhouse $8 for a hot shower and power, cant complain about that.

Day 8 (14th July 2007)
8.30 start and heading for McKinley to have a look at the Walkabout Creek Hotel. This is the hotel where Crocodile Dundee was filmed. Too early for a drink (it was closed or we would have tried.) Took a couple of photos. When we left a huge grader towing a caravan, trailer as well as a car pulled out in front of us. It was huge, thank goodness it only went about 2 kms up the highway before it pulled off onto another road. Apparently they grade 100kms of road then sleep in the caravan they are towing, sounds like a very lonely life to me. Tonight we are staying in the caravan park at Cloncurry and then went to have a look at a Camp Drafting, Rodeo that was going on in the showgrounds. Lots of beautiful horses. Maree has fallen in love with the bramha bulls and at the Rodeo they were “cutting” them out.

Day 9 (15th July 2007)
Left Cloncurry about 9.00am on the way to Gregory Downs via Burke & Wills Roadhouse. The trip to Burke & Wills is fairly ordinary but when you turn off to Gregory Downs the road narrows quite considerably and you need to be very aware of roadtrains. The road isn’t wide enough for 2 cars so when a roadtrain comes you have to get off the road and stop and wait for it to pass before you start again. Used the CB a lot talking to the truckies as well as Maree to make sure we are safe travelling. Gregory Downs camp spot is absolutely magnificent…..It is a free camp right on the Gregory River. The back of the Caravan was nearly in the water and the sound of the water was very soothing. Absolutely beautiful…stayed for 2 nights. Tomorrow we are going to leave the vans here and travel 100kms into Lawn Hill to have a look. Apparently the road is not very good and is also used by roadtrains going to a zinc mine.

Day 10 (16th July 2007)
Headed out to Lawn Hill for a walk, did about 3kms up to the lookout then back to where the cars were parked for lunch. On the way back to Gregory Downs we stopped at Adels Grove to have a look and an ice cream. Very nice, but still glad we are staying at Gregory Downs – not much to do once you have had a walk around!!! Barry not 100% today (a dose of the trots) got him on rations to see how he goes. I drove the 100kms back so Barry could have a break. Last night at Gregory Downs we watched the eagles that the lady in the next van were feeding with scraps of Barramundi. It was fantastic watching then swoop down and snatch up the tiniest piece of fish before heading for the nest in the nearby tree. We also had a free “concert” tonight. One of the other vans had a guy that was singing. He had a Casio keyboard and was really, really good. Left him a donation and he was heading to Lawn Hill to stay for a few days.



Day 11 (17th July 2007)
Had to drive all the way back to Burke & Wills Roadhouse before heading up to Normanton. We are going to leave the vans in the Caravan Park and drive up to Karumba to get some Prawns & Barramundi. Had lunch at a great Hotel overlooking the Gulf of Carpentaria. People there said the sunset was worth seeing, so after we took the fish back to the van we headed back to Karumba with cooked prawns & Champagne to watch the sunset over the Gulf. Thank goodness we did….it was truly spectacular. I took over 30 photos, and am so glad we made the effort to drive the 150kms round trip to do it.

Day 12 (18th July 2007)
Drove from Lawn Hill to Normanton

Day 13 (19th July 2007)
Georgetown Gold Fields Caravan Park
On the way from Normanton to Georgetown we stopped at Blackxxx and met up with the Gulf Lander Train that was at the siding for a ½ hour stop. Took lots of pictures. It wasn’t really convenient for us to have a ride in the train otherwise we would have. Cute little train with lots of history attached to it. Arrived at the Caravan Park reasonably early and the guys got to wash the cars. Lots of red dust, hopefully not too many stone chips!! Nice quiet Caravan Park and tomorrow heading towards Mareeba or Arthurton

Day 14 (20th July 2007)
Free Camp at the War Memorial @ Rocky Creek Tolga.
Horrible trip today. I think it is a long weekend in Qld this weekend (Union Day Holiday) and there were lots of absolute idiots in 4WD’s in a huge rush to get somewhere. Sprayed us with dirt & dust as the sped along a one lane road……so stupid. I was really angry and let them know via the CB. Tomorrow we are going to head off early and have breakfast on the way to the Caravan Park at Wonga Beach where we will be staying for a week. Not much here……just somewhere to sleep.

Day 15 (21st July 2007)