An early start as we wanted to stop off at Normanton again so we could take some photos .I set the Tom Tom for Mount ISA which indicated that I should make a left turn at 544Klms. We should arrive at about 4.30 pm allowing for a couple of stops for coffee and lunch by the roadside. It was going to be a long stint behind the wheel. We back tracked to Normanton, where we stopped and took some photos before heading off again. Today the wind had picked up and was blowing a dust storm across the road which slowed us down on the open stretches. Here were vast salt pan stretches across this flat desolate land. However in the wet season this becomes the wetlands which are recognised as being an important habitat for some of the most unique birdlife in the world. The many waters ways also teem with barramundi, mackerel and reef fish. In January of this year Karumba was isolated by flood waters for 6 weeks when the wet season was more severe than usual, closing the road in many places. We passed a cattle drive of about 500 head on the side of the road being driven by the drovers on hors back, all causing another dust storm, with a stray being rounded up by a drover on a quad bike. Just before re-entering Normanton we stopped to take a photo of a remaining wetland covered in colourful lilies and birds.
The road continued on much the same with many stretches of single bitumen road causing us to move over with both cars near side wheels on the dirt to enable us to pass safely. Many many kilometres of straight road, varying between savannah grass and wooded areas of silver trees, acacia bushes and eucalyptus trees to name a few we know. Cattle grazing, a couple of Kangaroos crossing in front of us, red soil, termite mounds , cars rolled over and abandoned and even a caravan shell burnt out and left to disintegrate by the road side.
We stopped in the middle of nowhere for our coffee break then continued on to the Burke & Wills Roadhouse. Here our stress level started to climb as I realised I might have miss judged the fuel I had before leaving Normanton, as the fuel needle was starting to fall alarmingly. The last 60 klms took the longest time ever, I slowed down to conserve fuel and we limped in to the B & W Roadhouse with the yellow warning light glowing and our hearts beating very fast. We filled up with fuel until it was overflowing, the next fuel stop was only 181 klms away at Cloncurry but I wasn’t going to go through that again. When we do the long stretches along the Barkley Hwy to the Barkley Homestead I will carry an extra 20 litres in the jerry can we carry on the trailer along with our additional 20 litres of fresh water. Just in case!
It was an incident free run to Cloncurry just long stretches of straight road varying between single and two way bitumen. We pulled in when we arrived and filled up again before heading for Mount Isa 121 klms away.
The road heading west has been upgraded right through to Mt Isa. It is a magnificent and finished so recently that the lines have not been marked, so caution was required when overtaking. The landscape was hillier with lots of small rounded hills and a lot greener with rocky ridges everywhere. As we neared Mt Isa after a dream run we started to look for somewhere to stay for a couple of nights. The first caravan park didn’t have any powered sights so we tried one just a bit further out of town which was the Argylla Tourist Park a member of the Big 4 Group. Here we were able to get a spot for a couple of nights as they had a site that would only take a small rig so we lucky. It’s amazing how many people are on the road, though the school holidays in Victoria and the Northern Territories have just started.
We settled down for the night and took advantage of having the power by charging up the computer, phones and camera batteries. I was able to get on the net for a while to pick up some emails which I will answer when we are next in a reception area. I also caught up on the blog as I was getting a bit behind with it.
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