On the Road

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Leaving home was difficult. Doubly difficult because we are not actually moving to any particular place. All of our gear had to go somewhere and most of it was somewhere that we are not going to have access to for some considerable time. Over the last few weeks the bulk of the gear was moved into 2 shipping containers on the block next door. Some was identified for movement in the ute to Brisbane and some, very little, is to go with us on our travels.

Unfortunately, our gear bred over the last few weeks and when we came to the last couple of days there seemed to be more and more to be loaded, stored or dumped.

We were due to be out of the house by 11.00am on 17 October.We decided, more or less, that we would be gone on 16 October. The plan required the movement of all gear out of the house by the evening of 15 October with the packing of the ute and the cleaning of the house to occur on 16 October. Didn't happen according to plan. Probably enough said.

Ute loaded, house clean - kitchen in particular - last gear into the shipping container, final trips to the dump, final goodbyes and tears and we hit the road at 4.30 on 16 October. Made it to Katherine by a little after nightfall.

I should say that we would never have made it out without the help of our neighbour, Theo. He was simply magnificent helping with the packing of the containers, lifting, carrying and building a roof over the containers.

We decided to head south pretty quickly to get out of the heat and humidity as soon as possible. The Top End is very hot and humid at this time of the year. It was over 40 degrees and over 75% humidity most of the days in the lead up to leaving. Made it to Banka Banka on the second night. Banka Banka is a camping area at a station about 650 kms south of Katherine. Nice grass and a bit of shade. A good place to camp and they put on a good presentation about station life.

We are camping in our swag. It is a flash swag. Double with insect mesh and all. But it was still hot at Banka Banka. The little battery operated fan didn't really do the job. An uncomfortable night made worse by the feral cat that decided that our rubbish bag was interesting.

Made it to Mt Isa the next night and checked into a cabin. Another day of over 600 kms and we were not doing well with the aim of keeping things gentle and easy.

Tonight we are back in the swag at Charters Towers near Townsville in Queensland. Another 600 plus day but we are definitely going to make tomorrow easier. No problem with the weather here. It is actually just a bit chilly. Not sure what the temperature is but it is cold enough for us to be looking for some warmer clothing.

Ute is going well, canopy is still attached and all in all things are starting to roll along nicely.

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Comments

[Weggs]

Good Luck
Came across your blog, you similar in age, we doing it differently. Will follow you, who knows, we may even catch up somewhere? Wish you all the best. We at: mytb.org/weggs

[Slowfeet]

Thanks. We will keep track of you.

[D MJ Binkley]

The words are different
What is a swag? Is it a tent? I'm not familiar with the terminology. Help

[Slowfeet]

A Swag?
We will send a photo. It is basically a bed that you can carry. Ours is one of the flasher ones but we have spent many nights in the bush in very basic ones.