Into the Northern Territory

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Today we headed into the Northern Territory. It was a fairly easy drive on the Overlanders Highway the 188 kms to Camooweal, the last Queensland town. The road suddenly changed its name to the Barkly Highway once we crossed the border 15kms later.



We encountered a lot more termite mounds along the way, with more dressed ones, too. The scenery kept changing from rather dry looking scrub land to Mitchell Grass Plains, with their long silvery stems wafting in the wind, to the occasional patch of larger trees. The landscape changes colours regularly, too, with termite mounds and side dirt roads clearly showing what is beneath the bush or grass. It seems to be the thing in the Outback - colourful.



We stopped for a break at Camooweal Rest Area, near the Georgina River, and saw some little Diamond Doves but they soon flew away – very skittish.



Further along the road, at a property called “Soudan”, was the best letterbox I’ve ever seen. I’d been sad to see so little imagination in the letter boxes in most of the Outback towns (actually – in most of Queensland) but this more than made up for it. It was a full-sized, beautifully painted old Steam Engine sitting proudly at the entrance with the front door of the boiler wide open, shining black in the sunlight, and the name on the inside. I imagine the postie would close the door if there was mail inside. We’d been surprised at how much post the kids who do the School of the Air get but they’d have no trouble getting it in that box!



Later, we stopped at the Wonara Bore for a break and saw a couple of water tanks there. Someone had put a few plastic containers with rocks inside under the taps on the tanks and written on the tanks to ask people passing to make sure there was water in them for the birds. There was and the birds were all around the area, particularly the little Zebra Finches. We also saw a Falcon, which sent them all off for a while. There were some metal bins, too, that people had been using for target practice, full of bullet holes.



I took a few photos, including one of a group of broken rocks which showed all the colours just in that spot. Then I put my things back in the ute but I couldn’t find my camera, which I had just used less than a minute before. I searched all over the car and went back over the places I’d walked but it was nowhere to be seen. As I was going over it all again, Barry yelled out that he’d found it. It had somehow slipped off my seat and got caught in the seat position changing mechanism. This is definitely my week for losing things! Let’s hope it’s the last.



We moved on and came to Barkly Homestead, one of the few fuel stops along the way. Barry checked the fuel price and found it was $2.10 a litre but he filled up anyway, very reluctantly. Outside the shop there was a large sign apologising for everything costing so much and saying that it was because they had to run a generator for powering the Inn and the Caravan Park. Barry was not convinced!



We kept going and soon got to the famous Three Ways Junction and Roadside Inn. It is where Barkly Highway forms a T-intersection with the Stuart Highway. We’d been warned that their fuel was exorbitant, too, but that Tennant Creek was only a few kms down the road and was much cheaper so we pushed on. It was actually more like 16kms and we probably spent as much in fuel getting there as we would have if we’d paid the extra at Threeways.



At least it was another town to see. We set up and I did some washing and hung it out to dry overnight. Then we gave Ros and Arthur a call (yes we had Optus!) and found they were already in Darwin and only had another couple of days to go. It doesn’t look as if we can meet up there, but maybe we’ll manage to meet on the way up for us and down for them, like Katherine. We’ll see.

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Photos

One Big Letter Box and No Fuel
This old steam engine has been painted up and the front of the boiler has been made into a door. It is the letterbox for the property named "Soudan". They must be expecting a lot of mail! They must also be sick of people asking them for fuel. It's a long way between petrol stations out here.

Mitchell Grass Plains Go On Forever
Along the Barkly Highway heading towards the Queensland/Northern Territory Border there are open stretches of plains as far as the eye can see with not a tree anywhere.

Zebra Finches Around a Bore
We stopped for a break at Wonara Bore and saw a large group of these cheeky, fast little finches. Someone had left some plastic containers to be filled with water from the bore and asked travellers to fill them if necessary. The birds were enjoying it - until we came and disturbed them.

Termite Mounds are Growing
The termite mounds in this area have changed shape and are much bigger.

Cricket Playing Termites
Some of the decorators of the termite mounds show a little more imagination than most.

Colourful Rocks at Wonara Bore
This is typical of the types of rock we found all along the highway. The mineral-rich rocks are constantly changing colours and even the inside is different.