Crossing over to the Northern Territory

After our night camping by a Billabong, we filled up with petrol at $1.85L & headed across the border into the NT. We had planned to do approx 300km a day and make our way slowly up to Darwin. Our first stop was the Barkly Homestead. A nice caravan park/hotel/motel/take-away shop/restaurant. It was really busy, being the only one for a few hundred Km's. Lots of Army guys, truckies & gray nomads.

After the homestead, we had planned to stop at Renner Springs & Daly Waters. Well, when we got to Renner Springs, we decided not to stay there...the toilets were shut, there was not enough staff to even ask if we could stay, so we filled up again for $1.90L and kept going. At this stage we realised we only had about 6ookm until we got to Katherine, so we kept driving. We stopped at Elliott for some hot food & cold drinks, and wow was that an experience! the indigenous community was in full swing here, hanging around the petrol station/take-away in large groups, sitting on the side of the road, young teenagers pushing prams & smoking (hmmm, this sounds like Glenorchy...lol). We even had one of their dogs come up and drink out of the windscreen wiper bucket. We didn't stay very long here at all.

Onward and straight upward, to Katherine

Mt Isa & Camping by a Billabong

From Cloncurry we went to Mt Isa for a few hours, just to have a look around. On the way we stopped at the Burke & Wills Memorial on the side of the road, in the middle of nowhere.

We didn't do a whole lot of sightseeing in Mt Isa, but it was fantastic to be in a 'big' city again, with big department stores and shopping centres, we even treated ourselves to a McDonalds breakfast! After a little bit of looking around, we took Alex to the free family fun park...which was a play ground and water park, great for the 32 degrees. In true Alex style, he found some other kids to play with and we didn't here from him for a couple of hours :)

After Alex was totally waterlogged & exhausted, we continued on our Journey to our 1 night stopover in Cammooweal, right on the border or QLD & NT. We had planned to stay at a roadside stop we had read about, but when we got there, a big sign stating NO CAMPING had been placed there. So the next alternative was a Billabong about 1km up the road, & what a fantastic free camping ground. The Billabong was actually dried up, so no mozzies, you could park wherever you found a spot, and there were already a few other vans and tents there so we knew it was ok to stop.

We had planned to set up of chem toilet & tent, but just as we were setting up it became very, very windy, and started to rain! which for this time of year is very unusual. So, we had to swallow our pride and keep the toilet in the van...ha ha. Alex thought it was fantastic and proceded to 'go' 3 times in the 1st hour, whereas Antony & I used it only when absolutely necessary. As a matter of fact, Antony decided to take to the bushes later in the evening, only to walk thru a massive spiders web that he said felt like fishing line. Lucky the nasty looking palm-sized spider decided he wasn't good to eat.....

The sunset at the Billabong was beautiful, and we all slept really well, until it started pelting down with rain again, the poor guys next to us, in the flimsy Big-W style tent ended up jumping into their very full commodore wagon...it was pretty funny watching them scramble out of their tent :P

Here is a photo of the sunset taken from the Billabong, it was really beautiful.

Winton to Cloncurry

We stopped for 2 nights between Winton & Cloncurry, 1 night each in Hughendon & Julia Creek. We won't write much about wither of the towns, because there is really not much to write. In both places it was mid 30's and no pools open because it is "winter". They were really just places to rest for the nights. However Julia creek did have an airconditioned library with the internet ($3 for 15 minutes!!!). And they had a free book exchange so it gave me (lauren) an opportunity to get some more books to read...as i have read 6 since being on the road.

Cloncurry, however, was fantastic. The van park we chose was great. Lovely large sites separated by 2m high bouganvillea vines, so very private. Still mid 30's, but they had an OPEN pool, which Alex and I made use of. The pool was surprisingly cold, so Antony wasn't as tempted. The town had a Woolies which was fantastic, as shopping at the little grocery stores and supermarkets was becoming expensive.

We were in Cloncurry for the Curry Merry Muster Festival, which started on the Friday night with a Street Parade/Madis Gras. Everything and everyone was pink as it was to raise money and awareness for breast cancer. There were cowboys/girls riding horses with painted pink hooves & pink braids. The floats were pink, even the cars/trucks were decorated pink! There were lollies thrown from most of the floats, we had almost half a backpack full by the time Alex had run around collecting them all...funny thing is, Alex isn't a huge lolly fan! shucks, i guess his Mum & dad will have to help him :)

On the Saturday we went to the Mary Kathleen Museum & park, where there was lots of old railway machinery & the museum was a historic police house. After that was the Rodeo, and it was fantastic! It is the highest paying Rodeo in Australia, so there were all the good 'riders' there. There were horse obstacle races, bull riding, & steer chasing. We saw one bull rider finish his ride on an overly wild bull, then after he jumped off the bull turned, charged then threw him about 2.5m into the air! You could tell the locals from the visitors at that point, as the women visitors squealed and covered their eyes, and the locals didn't even flinch! Needless to say the Ambo's were needed for that one.

Some of the braver kids, including Alex, sat on the fence to watch the rodeo. It was pretty funny when the rogue bulls/horses ran towards them at full speed, they couldn't get off that fence quick enough :) Unfortunately we don't have many photo's of the rodeo, as we had forgotten to charge our camera batteries.

Camel Races & Dinosaur footprints

After Longreach was 4 nights in Winton.

Winton is a quiet little town, with one street of shops...including 3 opal shops and 3 pubs!!!

While in Winton we spent a day at the annual Camel races, which was fantaststic. Camel races are hilarious. There wasn't a race that didn't have some sort of a mishap. For example, in one race a camel stopped still, turned around and ran the other way around the track. In antoher race a camel just decided to stop and sit down, and in another race a Camel decided it didn't want to turn the corner of the track, so it kep going straight, off into the wilderness! I can't tell you how much we laughed.

Alex had a ball too. In between the races they had kids games and activities & races. Alex ran his first 3 legged race, and he was paired with a stunning little 3yo called Chelsea, who afterwards he told me he was going to marry :)

The lunch time entertainment was kids sheep riding and Camel tagging. Camel tagging is an interesting and funny but dangerous 'hobby'. You are in a pen with a camel, you have to run from the fence to the camel with a piece of electrical tape and 'tag' it, then run back and touch the fence, then run back and try to get the 'tag' off the camel... you can only imagine how impressed the camels were with having tape stuck to them, they really do spit and kick, it was very funny to watch, but the $500 prize money is not enough if you ask me.

We also went to the Lark Quarry which was 110km west on/off dirt road. We drove through a huge locust storm, og HUGE locust, when they hit the car they didn't splat, they bounced! we even found some still alive, holding on for dear life on the front of the car LOL.

We went to the Quarry to see the only trackways of a dinosaur stampede recorded in the world!!! it is AMAZING, and it's more amazing knowing that most people in the world, even in Australia will never see it. The site has been preserved by being sheltered from the elements and wildlife, in an environmentally sound building. It is truly a breathtaking site that i recommend everyone to see if they ever get the chance.

The van park we stayed at was pretty cool. At 4.30 each day there was a music hour with live music...county & western of course, and then at 7 every night there was a comedy show called '2 old chooks'. These things made up for the smelly showers! (The water was bore water heated underground, you had to hold your breath whilst showering).

So that was Winton. The town itself hasn't got a whole lot going for it, but if you go at the right time of year it is worth the trip :)

Longreach - short and sweet

On the way there we passed by a horrific accident, where a caravan had unfortunately misjudged the "wide load" that was coming his way and didn't pull over far enough, the wide load happened to be a truck transporting a house, the house was resting on metal beams...the metal beams went through the caravan like a can opener! Luckily no-one was hurt, but i think their holiday was cut short.... We also got stuck following a truck carrying a mining drill, which took up 3/4 of the road so you couldn't pass it, and traffic coming the other way literally had to stop & pull over. It was a very eventful few hours, but was great on fuel!

We only stayed one night in Longreach, which was plenty as unless you are there for races or a rodeo there isn't a whole lot to see or do. We visited the Qantas Museum, and the Stockmans Hall of Fame. And we did have a treat of dinner at the woolshed resaurant at our van park, awesome food, live entertainment and all for old pub prices of approximately $15 a main meal! And that was longreach.

Sapphire - our first real bush experience

The Sapphire tourist park is absolutely beautiful. Set in acres of bushland, the campsites are large and sheltered. They were so busy that we were booked into the overflow section, which doesn't sound very glamerous, but suited us beautifully.

The sites still had water and power, but unlike most of the other sites, we could have a campfire! We got some marshmellows and made the most of it.

The wildlife was amazing, dozens of different bird species, cheeky Magpies that would enter your van if you weren't careful, beautiful Rosella's that would sit with you to eat your food. There was an animal feeding area that provided food every evening for Kangaroos, wallaby's and plenty of bird life.

We visited an underground Sapphire mine and went fossicking, on the 1st day finding more than a dozen small sapphires and zircons but nothing big enough to cut yet. Alex had a ball sifting through the sand and rocks, but the best bit for him was washing the rocks...he got very wet :)

On our second try at fossicking, i (Lauren) found a cuttable Sapphire!!! It was so exciting, and has definately got me addicted to the 'hobby'. It doesn't look like much at the moment, but once it is cut i will post another photo to show the finshed product!

The sunrises and sunsets in the bush are spectacular. From purples & pinks to brilliant oranges, and virtually no twilight, the rays making themselves known through the trees.

Some forgotten things about our Yepoon stay

I have to mention the fruit and vegies we came across, there were pineapples on the side of the road for 50c each on the way to the National Park, and they were the best pineapples we have ever tasted, and we bought some vegies froma market in Emu Park (yes, emu's wander around wherever they feel like it)....3 capsicums, 1/2 kg potatos and bag of green beans for $2.30! major bargain :)

We also visited Rockhampton, spending a little bit of time in the city park taking in the beautiful man-made waterfalls.

On the way to Sapphire....

So from Yeppoon we headed west to do some Sapphire fossicking in Sapphire, which is about 50km from Emerald. There was a huge change to the landscape, from green and tropical to brown and bushland. We saw huge coal trains travelling to and from Blackwater, they were so long they had an engine at the front, 2 engines in the middle and sometimes one at the back!

We also had a mishap with the caravan.... with the front window cover breaking off and disappearing into the wilderness!!!!! lucky there was no one else on the road or it could have been a whole lot worse. We haven't bothered with getting a new one yet, we will look into it when we get to the next major city, which will be Darwin.