Day 13 - Karumba, Hells Gate, Borroloola

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There's nothing like a day of killing marine life to get you excited for the day ahead. Obviously the Tigers are playing the Warriors today so Adam and I decided that we needed to head somewhere which had mobile coverage. I remembered that my good mate Bazz had spoken fondly of his days at Borroloola when he was drilling for BHP. It sounded like a lovely place other than the high unemployment and desultory aboriginal youth in the area, and the high crime rate. Adam was initially concerned until I googled the latest crime stats which clearly showed the success of the new policing policy.

We decided to get an early start so we were up at 6am packing up the tent. The two blokes sleeping in swags beside us seemed a bit restless but they were up at 6.15 anyway. Adam said it was because I kept throwing the tent pegs individually into a pile as I took them out. But I think they just wanted to make sure we got away. Now this will be contentious, but if your mate says he is going to brush his teeth and you say you'll drive over there and meet him do you mean 1. I'll meet you at the amenities block so you don't have to walk back or 2. Sneak out the back door of the amenities block so I don't see you and walk 500 metres to the café and I'll meet you there. Anyway after about 15 minutes I was getting concerned (esp given he had no mobile coverage so he couldn't even be watching porn or checking SMH). I thought potential heart attack. So I went in to the amenities block. Unfortunately even after a week and a half I'm still not familiar enough with Adam's feet. So I called out, no answer. There was someone having a lot of trouble in one of the cubicles so I figured he was just to embarrassed to acknowledge me. I waited in the car. Finally I decided to go for a drive around town and there he was flat white in hand chatting to a few locals outside the café. Bastard!

Finally we are off. Today is a long drive with not a lot to see. We dropped in at Normanton for fuel. The woman with no teeth at the servo said the roadhouse at Hell's Gate was "beautiful" and doesn't it sound it. Tarred road to Burketown and then dirt. When Adam told Bernie we were at Burketown she asked if it was near Bourke. It's lovely to know that your loved ones are concerned about your welfare and whereabouts. The dirt was great and we were making good time and then the worst thing in the world happened. A dust cloud up ahead. The problem with these dry dusty roads is that you can't see anything out the back and you can't get close enough to the car in front to overtake. The whole effect is compounded by the fact that they are towing a campervan. I still don't know why the government hasn't stepped in and outlawed caravans and campervans. It can only be a matter of time. Hell's gate was not so far. Ominously there was a couple packing up their picnic lunch and they had a kid's bike on the back so I'm ruling out them doing 120kph. I thought we'd better make this quick. I should have communicated with Adam. What would you like luv? me: "I'll have a sausage roll" Adam: "I'll have the chateaubriand with pot roasted kiplers and French onion soup to start". Ok so they got away ahead of us. The woman at the roadhouse said that the road is horrendous until you get to the border and then its fine. She was right almost. We navigated the 50ks of deep washouts, corrugations and then hit the smooth dirt. Then it happened. The dust cloud. The Tigers game was slipping away. Basically we were screwed. I can only put it down to the fact that Adam and I have been so good and tolerant (especially me). We had given away most of our fish. We were extremely polite to the two ladies in the café in Karumba who must the President and VP of the local Dykes on Bikes chapter, even though she wouldn't cook our fish for us for health and safety reasons. I'd spoken to 3 gray nomads for almost 15 minutes (in total) plus we both attended mass last Sunday. The road started to go up an incline and then turned to tar for about 300m. Unbelievable! We overtook and never saw another vehicle. About 100ks from Borroloola the road was awful. I figure the NT government thinks your so far in there's no turning back.

The thriving little metropolis of Borroloola sprang up around around us. Adam kept asking why everything had a barbed wire fence around it but I didn't want to worry him so I ignored him. The very fat lady (in black tights) set us up with a powered site and we were set up in next to no time watching the Tigers on Foxtel. We got beat. At around 9 the cops did a cruise through presumably looking for a nice powered site for themselves and then the local volunteer patrol came through twice.

No issues at the Lax and Whittle campsite but we did keep all our valuables in the tent with us (especially the grog).

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