Little Green Bombers

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DAY 270

This morning Andy has a little lie in, he did not sleep too well so while he sleeps I get up and put the kettle on, the birds are tweeting broken up by the occasional squawk, it is cool this morning, in a way just right.

The tea is made and Andy surfaces, I did offer him the cup of tea in bed but he declined. We sit at the table and discuss our plans while we drink tea, the maps are out, the calculator is out so that we can calculate mileage and fuel useage to Normanton via the Burke and Wills Roadhouse (mainly bitumen) or take the dirt road up to Burke Town and continue the Savannah Way. Should we stay and relax for another day or do we take a slow mooch up to Normanton?

We say our goodbyes to Scott and Caralyn, thank them for their company for the last 3 nights, they are heading to Karumba to do some fishing, but in the meantime are hoping to catch up with Caralyn’s parents (they are touring in their caravan) at Gregory Downs on the way through.

So we have decide to move on, it won’t take much to pack up this morning, we also decide that we will hit the bitumen and have a rest from the dirt, and the rattling fillings in our teeth. We pack up and we both shower before leaving, as we are not certain where we will stay tonight it could be a free camp, we have seen some likely locations.

Before we head out we put some diesel in the tank, not to fill it but too make sure that we have enough to get to Normanton (we still have a full jerry can) the diesel is $1.79 here we wait a short while for someone to come and fill us up but it again takes a while at reception so we don’t get on the road until 11.00.

We are on a dirt track for about 94k’s until Gregory Downs when the road turns to bitumen, there was only one river crossing on the way out, the landscape as lovely as it was on the way in. Changeable with lots of trees one minute and then nothing just a flat landscape of grass.

There is a mine on this stretch of road toward Gregory Downs and I have mentioned before the Road Trains, well today we see a huge (immense) cloud of dust coming down the track, the only thing this could be is a road train. Eventually we catch site of this truck hurtling down the track, there is only one thing to do, this baby is giving us no quarter so we pull over and stop, you do not stand a chance of going anywhere with this monster somewhere near, the dust complete obscures any vision, the track disappears completely and you have no idea where the truck is or where it ends until the dust has settled and you have your vision back.

By the time we leave the dirt and hit the bitumen the Odometer reading is at 742.5 which is what we have done off road since leaving Borroloola with the exception of around 10k’s of bitumen around Hells Gate Roadhouse, it has been a teeth chattering journey and not for the faint hearted, we think it would be virtually impossible to take a caravan to Kingfisher with the exception of the off road variety and taking the journey slowly in accordance with road conditions.

The tracks are really really rough and stony, we saw a fair few people broken down or basically just with damage, that said we would not have wanted to do this any other way, we are glad that we have done it. I hope that you appreciate that even though it is only 742 kilometres, we left Katherine a week ago.

The scenery we have seen off road has been amazing it probably has not changed in hundreds of years and reflects how tough it would have been for the early pioneers and settlers, we just have it easy.

As we are confident that we are back on the bitumen and it is not just a short stretch, Andy pulls over to re inflate the tyres back to 45 Psi. Soon we are back on the road again, but it is not long before we have a casualty of the day, a bird flies straight into us, it just hit the bonnet and flung away to the side of the road, I don’t think it would have survived. I feel sad that we have killed another bird on this journey, the birds are every where and we see a flock of the most amazing Green birds that I think are Budgerigars, that all take off together .


We see flocks of what we think are green budgerigars flitting in groups across the road (playing chicken), unfortunately for the second today one of the birds flies into the car, we hear a thud as it glances off the bonnet and falls to the side of the road.

We drive through Gregory Downs, there is not a lot here, it is quite sparse, we saw the airport and that is about it, we drive down towards Burke and Wills Roadhouse, the next part of the journey is quite uneventful, I am sat with the laptop on my lap connected to the truck aerial hoping for at least one internet bar, but no such luck.

Sooner than anticipated we arrive at Burke and Wills Roadhouse (named after 2 great explorers, who incidentally died whilst exploring), we stop for a coffee and sandwich check out the fuel prices then head north to Normanton.

Originally it was our plan to perhaps free camp and see how far we could get, but checking out some of the places on the road North up to Normanton we find that they are a little bit too exposed and too close to the road so we decide to push on, Andy decides he would be happier getting into Normanton, so we check out the final one and Normanton it is.

I was reflecting on the two birds that we hit earlier in the day and felt sad that we killed two things today, unintentionally of course, when another flock of birds flew up from the side of the road and bang one flew straight into our path, I looked in the wing mirror to see a big flurry of feathers and a blob drop to the ground in our wake, oh dear that’s 3 birds today, Lets hope there are no more.

Finally arriving in Normanton, no more bird casualties fortunately, it is about 5.00 a little later than we would have liked as we have been driving nearly all day, 412k’s and we now need to find a caravan site and pitch up.

We pull into Normanton Tourist Park, it has a swimming pool and Artesian Hot Spring so it sounds nice, Andy pulls in and I jump out to do the usual checking in process. Upon checking in the lady tells me that she will show me where to park up, so I then have to jump in the golf cart, leave Andy where he is and she takes me around the caravan park to show me a suitable site, we both agree and then she shows me the facilities and then takes me back to Andy so that I can show him the way, she actually gets us to follow her again, personally I think she just enjoys driving the golf buggy! Perhaps it is new?

So we work out the final position Andy reverses in and again we pitch up, but before we even have a cup of tea we get our swimmers on, grab the towels and go sit in the hot tub, now when we say hot tub, we mean HOT tub, the water drawn directly from the spring is almost too hot to sit in, but nice all the same, you can feel the dust and the rattling of the corrugations just drip away from you as we sit and enjoy the moment, we get out of the tub then Andy just dives straight into the pool, now I already know that this water is cold and when I say cold I mean COLD! I decide to take the easy option, I have no idea why I felt compelled to do this but I went to the steps and stepped down and then plunged into the cold water, oh how lovely and refreshing it felt.

We were soon out of the pool dry and back at camp for that well deserved and long awaited cup of tea. We logged onto the Internet to deal with a few things and then popped out for some provisions, we had a fairly light tea as we were still full from lunch at Burke and Wills Roadhouse.

Andy is feeling very tired tonight, but still manages a game of Mahjong before bedtime. I hop into bed and get out the brain training; I find it easier in bed as I can concentrate without any interruptions as Andy usually falls straight to sleep. My brain age is currently 36, so I am doing quite well really it does alter dramatically if I am too tired.

So, until tomorrow bloggers should the crocodiles not get us. We bid you a goodnight.

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Photos

Kenworth Kicking Up Dust
You have to stop when this is hurtling down the road in a cloud of dust, you have nowhere to go except wait for the dust to settle

Savannah Highway
This is a main Road, linking Lawn Hill to Gregory Downs

Developmental Roads
Only 3 Mtrs wide

Another Road Train
At the Burke and Wills Roadhouse

Comments

[Wendy & Tony]

The mine
Hello you two. I've been looking at your progress on Google as well. I spotted the huge mine to the right of where you were at the gorge. If you haven't taken a look have a go. It's quite impressive sitting in the middle of nowhere, you can clearly see all the steps as they've dug down. Well done Andy for all that off roading. That's certainly the wilds you came across. Some of the scenery looks very rocky to the south of Savannah but no tracks. Just loads of nothing. The rivers/gorges make the land look like a brain or lungs. Take care Wendy