Heading East

In order to head East, you have to go South, about 600km. We left Darwin and our first stop was one we had stayed at before, at the junction to Edith Falls. The next morning we decided to stop there for another night. We went looking for other campsites that were indicated in Wiki Camps, but we couldn't see them on our way in the day before. We walked across 4 lanes of highway, with the speed limit being 130 kph - it was a bit hairy, especially on the bridge, with no footpath!! We found the campground - it was along an old bit of the Stuart Highway, and near the Edith River. It was a lovely area, and we chatted to some people that we'd met somewhere previously. They said they swam in the river - a bit deadly I reckon! We decided not to move - not enough internet service and I wanted to update my blog while I could. Randall wanted to do stuff too so we stayed another night. 

The sunset was beautiful there. It was another hot night and we were looking forward to being south where the evenings would be cooler.

Our next stop was a return to Daly Waters where we had stayed on the way up. This time we stayed at Stuart's Tree, just about 500 metres away from the pub. The tree has a "S" carved into it allegedly by John McDouall Stuart. Randall pulled out his bagpipes and had a good blow, much to the appreciation of fellow campers nearby. He even earns $6 for his trouble - his first busking money.

The next morning we turned East along the Carpentaria Highway towards Cape Crawford (which is nowhere near the coast!) This highway is single lane for most of the way and you have to move to one side if you see a car coming. There were a lot of roadworks as well, but it wasn't as bad as we were led to believe.

We pulled into a lovely campsite by a river called Little River. with beautiful reflections in the water and lots of birdlife around. 

We sat outside and watched as other caravans came in and set up. We had drinks with two other couples that evening which was enjoyable.

The next day we headed to Boroloola, not knowing what to expect. It was a funny little town, with not much there but a caravan park, 2 service stations, a few shops and a museum which was quite interesting. We couldn't get to the Gulf of Carpentaria as the road would have been too rough, which was a pity. We walked the street to get a feel of the place before we got in the car to head back to our previous camp, not before we drove to the top of the town and into the aboriginal settlement - it did say not to enter but Randall took no notice of course!!

On our way back we called into Canbirini Conservation Reserve, to have a cuppa, then we did a short walk to the billabong there which was very pretty.

We also walked up to a lookout.

                           

Back at Little River, one lot of our friends from the previous night were there again so we enjoyed another evening chatting to them. It was a lovely spot.
The next morning a we watched a car with a trailer pull in and unload trail bikes, and two cowboys hop on and drive off, and then a helicopter appeared overhead quite low, so putting two and two together they were mustering cattle.
We left to head south towards the Barkly Highway. Again, it was a one lane highway and the first 100 kms were quite rough, even though it was sealed. There were lots of cattle on the road and you had to keep your eye out for them. We often saw carcasses of cattle on the side of the road.

Some of the road users went like a bat out of hell even though we were coming towards them. To slow them down Randall stayed on the road until the last minute, then we'd move aside. The countryside changed all the time as we were driving along. Sometimes there was low shrub, sometimes flat grasslands, sometimes trees. We felt that it was the most isolated road we had ever travelled along as we hardly passed another car for 300 kms! Barkly Homestead was a welcome break - the single lane was slow going with floodways all the 

way along it.

There was lots of smoke around when we pulled into our camp spot for the evening. On talking to a couple later the next day they told us a truck had caught fire and set off fires all around. We did pass a mangled mess on the highway on our way to Camooweal, so that must have been it.