On the road again down the Tablelands Highway, this would have to be one of the worst bitumen roads around single lane with wheel ruts and lumps and bumps that in some places gets you down to 60kph, and there is 370 kms of it till you get to the Barkley homestead. Took us about 6 hours including a lunch stop we also had a very strong head wind all day which did not help, the roadhouse is jam packed not a powered site left would be 60 caravans here most of them heading to Darwin, happy hour at 4 o’clock and dinner at the restaurant tonight.Read more
What a mad place, the park at the back of the roadhouse was full last night and this morning by 9:30 there was only us and 2 motor homes left, had a walk around the place and just caught up on a few things for the day, yep by 5 o’clock the place was full again, happy hour at 4 again today with some live entertainment from a singer guitarist from cairns. Shared a table with a couple from Canberra very interesting to chat too, we had a great night and stayed until close, the meals were excellent and the drink prices good.Read more
Left this morning around 8 Northern Territory time heading back into Queensland, best road we have been on for a while just a short run of about 260kms today to get to Camooweal which is just over the border. Nice little town we are camped in the van park behind the pub which is very clean and well managed as well as the pub, good little shop in town to grab a few supplies. We decide to take a walk to the drovers camp museum which is about 1.5kms east of town after lunch, well worth the look we had a guided tour of all the exhibits as well a lot of info on the local area and history of the old times. A beautiful day here today 24 degrees and full sun, drinks and dinner at the van.Read more
Had a quiet night at Camooweal, heading off this morning east a good run into Mount ISA, we stopped and fuelled up with the rest of the grey nomads as they make there way north to Darwin, Teresa had a conversation in the morning with a lady who informed us of a nice camp spot about 50kms before Cloncurry. We pulled into the Clem Walton Park which is on the Corella Dam great spot to stay on the water if there wasn't another 100 grey nomads taking over the place, we looked at both camps one which was 4 wheel drive only still no spots there unless you wanted to have generators humming each side of you, we stopped for the night in a nice grassy spot no where near the water but it was nice and secluded away from all the noise, took a walk around and chatted to some other campers lots of them stay here for months. Spaghetti bol in the shuttle chef tonight, Teresa cooked it up at lunch time and we sat outside for drinks till it got too cold, moved inside with the diesel heater on, dinner already done happy days 👍Read more
What a great place even though we weren’t on the water, but we hadn’t done any washing for a week and decide we needed to move on so it was only 60kms into Cloncurry, got into the caravan park early and sorted out the washing job. Caravan park is busy usual nice spot but you are pretty jammed in, lunch at the bakery and a little food shopping, we then took a drive out to Chinamans creek dam it was a very nice spot but no camping is allowed. We wandered over to the info centre in the avo for a look and Teresa picked up a nice cow necklace souvenir, happy hour at the van and lamb chops on the baby Q.Read more
Another great day in far North Queensland, 26 degrees here at Cloncurry it was nice and quiet here overnight and good sleeping weather about 10 degrees. Cooked up a very healthy chicken schnitzel and salad lunch on the baby Q, Cloncurry is a great place to stop and stock on food etc it has a Woolworths and nice fresh vegetables. Just relaxing and enjoying the weather going to have our Friday night sips and stone cooked pizza on the Weber 😊👍
The van is covered in red dust and in need of a clean but it will have to wait till we get home, might find some rain as we head down south to wash a bit off 😬Read more
Time to move again today a bit further east, 140kms to Julia Creek good road a little bit lumpy and bumpy got into town at 10:30 just winging it at the caravan park as you have to book, no probs got a good spot with a concrete pad staying 3 days here. Great place the van park is super clean and the whole town is very well presented, wandered down the street all the shops you need picked up a couple of souvenirs at the newsagent. Another cracker of a day 27 degrees with a slight breeze, probs the most flies we have encountered for the trip so far but not as bad as home on a hot day.Read more
Sunday bacon and eggs to start the day, very warm today 30 degrees we went to the info centre to check out the Dunnart feeding, only local to this area they are a descendent of the Tasmanian tiger. They are a little rat looking with some dog features only the size of a small rat, super fast very hard to get a good photo of the little buggers. When we were finished there we took a long walk around town and found a little museum to check out. Artesian bath time at 6 tonight, free when you stay at the van park, what a fantastic setup 2 old style baths hot artesian water in a galvanised water tank with views out into the never never and a great sunset, drinks and the tunes all good 👍
State of origin game 2 tonight, fairly noisy crowd at the camp kitchen to watch nsw take the win, pizza on the Weber great night.Read more
Day 3 here at Julia Creek, great spot to rest and chill out, walked down to the Main Street on the morning and had a look in the shops, found some nice timber products but just a bit too big for us to bring home, Teresa picked up a couple of cookbooks from the newsagents in stead. Spent the day doing a few jobs on the van and car, back down the street in the car to pick up beer the super important job as Iron Jack beer is hard to get up here in the far north got the last slab 😁👍 school holidays have started and the park is full again tonight, happy hour time now 🍻 cheers !Read more
Out of bed early this morning and said our goodbyes to Julia Creek, on the road east at 8:15 heading for Hughenden all bitumen pretty lumpy and bumpy in some sections but overall good, had a quick look at Richmond on the way through a nice spot to put on the list for another trip. Got into Hughenden setup and then headed down the street for lunch and look at the shops, had a pie from the bakery just average, went to the info centre and checked out the museum very interesting full of dinosaur history. Drove out to Mount Walker about 10 kms south of town, you can drive right to the top for 360 degree views as far as you can see, nice van park but just on overnight stop.Read more