Surprise, all change!

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Day 106 - Tinaroo to Mount Surprise

So today is moving day and also, unfortunately time too part company with the awesome Kangaroo Jack family. Our hearts hang a little heavy at this point because it’s been great to get to spend time with them and in all honesty the four of us feel like we’ve known each other a lot longer than just the two days.

We wander down to the guys with the kettle freshly boiled to see how they’re getting on and to start the morning with a hot drink. It’s not long before we’re discussing each others plans for the coming days. We’re due to start the journey onto our first ‘chewing gum’ track, the developmental single track bitumen road to Normanton but Andy & Caroline are yet to decide on any firm plans. Andy’s been tip tapping away on the laptop but at this point he stops and makes the suggestion that they join us for part of the journey and that we all head towards the Bedrock campground at Mount Surprise. It had been their intention to celebrate their forthcoming wedding anniversary back in that direction anyway so with that said and everyone in agreement the Wallaby Wanderers and Kangaroo Jack will travel together for a few more days! Excellent news.

Sitting around the camp this morning and catching up with writing the blog for yesterday was lovely. It’s always easy to write when you’ve got such a great atmosphere and an even better view! Time to get moving though and with the suggestion that we all stop to get supplies from Atherton we packed up and were soon on our way leaving Jodie and her family the campsite to themselves.

We’ve both got UHF radios so plumped for channel 22 to have a bit of a laugh on the journey, we did the old ‘We got ourselves a convoy’ but surprisingly we didn’t get a response. Figuring that perhaps their radio wasn’t yet switched on we left it a few more minutes and then gave them another shout but again, no response. Very strange indeed so we did a scan over the channels and could hear other people which confused us even more. Anyway, Andy had stopped along the track because the lack of response from us had concerned them too. He could still hear us but we couldn’t hear him. All very odd. On we motored leaving the radio on scan and we soon heard Andy ask for a radio check on the truckers channel! We could hear him now so switched to channel 16 and had a chat on there. Whilst we were discussing the probable radio blackout a chap came over to say that in our manuals we’d see channel 22 was a telemetry channel and that some radios won’t accept incoming frequency! Ok, mystery solved then, we’d picked a channel we shouldn’t have been using in the first place!! Whoops! We continued chatting and then the same guy asked us to move to another channel because this one was active for their fire watch! Whoops again! On to channel 28 we went and all was good! We found the Caltex Woolworths to fill up with fuel and while us girls were waiting to pay I buried my head in the new edition of Australian Street Machine whilst Caroline check out ‘OK’! We did chuckle at that! Next stop was Woolworths where we pooled together for the next couple of nights dinner supplies and whilst Darryl got some beer I paid and got some cash out, $100. Our funds are starting to run low at the moment so every penny counts now and we’re having to write it all down before we can get some more money across from the UK. Anyway, I push the trolley back up the hill to the caravan so we can load it all away. With that I turned tail and wandered back down the hill to the trolley drop off and on to the ladies. I wouldn’t normally write all this down but there’s a point to it, promise! On the way down the hill I spotted Caroline pushing her trolley up so gave her a wave and said I’d see her in a minute. Anyway, when I came back to the caravan she called me over to ask if I’d got money out at the cash point. I hadn’t but I’d got cash out with the shopping at Woolworths. She asked me to check if I still had it because she’d found some money coming up the hill! I asked how much and she replied $100 so I asked if it was a $100 note and she said no it was two fifties. Fair play to Caroline because I had indeed dropped our precious money and luckily she’d spotted it and picked it up. Funnily enough the total of the shopping (with the cash out) had come to $213 which made me think ‘here we go, what’s going to happen today then’! Obviously I also had a good fairy looking out for me in the shape of Caroline. Phew and thanks a bundle.

Onward we went moving through great rolling hills and winding roads until we happen about Windy Hill, a windmill farm completely changing the outlook of the area. ‘Powered by Nature’ reads the sign but somehow it’s just a blot on the landscape to us.

We stopped for a great lunch where Darryl whipped out the sandwiches quick as a flash and we all tucked in. This was our first experience of a Rest Area where you could also camp and although it was right next to the road it was pretty full up so others must have thought it a good idea. A lone lady hitch hiker stood at the entrance and we watched a couple of cars pull over but then pull off again so figured the route she wanted and the one they were taking weren’t compatible. I wandered over for a chat as she waited, I was pretty curious to talk to a young female who still believed hitch hiking was safe in this day and age. Her name is Chainey, she’s American and only started hitching a couple of weeks ago when her money ran really low. She’s hoping to make it to Georgetown or Mount Surprise today which is also where we’re going but it would be a big effort for us to try and get her in. Luckily a lady pulls up in a Landcruiser and is heading to Georgetown so Chainey gets her lift and we wave her off. Maybe we’ll see her again further along the route.

Off we go again still with a 2 hour drive in front of us and the time is now coming up to half three! We pass through the small, rustic looking town of Innot Springs and continue on the 2 lane bitumen road wondering when two will become one. We thought we got to that point just before Mount Garnet but found two lanes when we reached the other side. What a beaut little place that is, very rustic and laid back looking.

The journey continues taking in some bizarre driving techniques from fellow travellers! We get stuck behind a triple trailer road train and we’re approaching a single track bridge over a creek whilst in the opposite direction is a Patrol towing a boat. You would think that faced with the bridge and a road train that the Patrol driver would have thought ‘Actually that’s going to be a really tight fit so I’ll slow down and let him come through’ but oh no, the Patrol keeps coming and they’re side by side on the bridge with road train desperately trying to keep it all straight. They both made it over but gee whiz. We got a shout out from the road train driver a bit further down the track for a possible overtaking opportunity but we thanked him and said we’d sit tight behind him, he’s not slowing us down and I said at least we wouldn’t come at him head on over a single track road which prompted the response ‘No, I’m still getting over that. It makes you wonder what goes through their heads sometimes’. Yes it really does!

The road train carries straight on as we turn right and head out onto the Savannah Way, the chewing gum strip road where the bitumen is single track and either side is levelled ish gravel. The idea is when you have oncoming traffic you both move over and put one set of wheels on the gravel but keeping the other set on the bitumen. It works well when you both give way and we don’t meet many that don’t which is great.

Kangaroo Jack are now well in front of us since we’ve been behind the road train a while and we’re not able to raise them on the radio but we give them a shout out every now and then incase they can hear us but we can’t hear them! You never know. Tom Tom says we’ll get to the campsite just gone 5pm which should give us ample time to get set up, do the blogs, sort the photos, do the washing, eat some dinner and then get to bed!! You can but hope!

There’s a familiar sight on the side of the road in the distance, Kangaroo Jack has pulled over to wait for us! Bless them! We all roll into the campsite together, it’s called Bedrock and there’s a definite Flintstones theme to it! Fabulous, we can’t wait to explore it tomorrow.

So from Fred and Wilma, Bam Bam and Pepples we bid you goodnight and we’ll hope to hear from you soon.

Take care and much love

Dar and Sar

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