Camooweal to Cape Crawford
2/8/2020
I left Mt Isa pretty late and headed out the road and camped in a bush camp. Next morning I headed for Camooweal just short of the NT boarder, I heard there was a good camp there by a bill-o-bong. (I guess I must be a swaggy). Nice place to camp with lots of bird life, yes you guessed it, more photos, yarn!
Next morning I was all prepared to tackle the boarder crossing only 15 min up the road. No problem, I passed with flying colours.
As soon as I got into NT there was nothing but flat, flat flat and flat country. Funny thing though ,I can understand people hating or board with it, but I seem to enjoy it, buggard if I know why. I even take shots of it so you can be board with it instead. But I try to capture of what I see and give you a glimpse of it, I watch it for hours. However, I think it would help if you put Johnny Cash and June Carter on singing Jackson. Oh, and turn it up real loud and sing away loudly yourself, and open up the windows and stick your head outside, you’ll be amazed how great that flat country feels.
Hey, notice the speed sign for NT(see photo). I thought beauty, I’ll make some ground today. No I didn’t, I actually slowed down. I’ve been sitting on around 90 just about all the time.(however, my speedo is about 7-9 k’s too fast so I’m properly doing about 82. I travelled for hrs. doing around 85. Talk about driving Miss Daisy. But I’m in no hurry to get anywhere. I can stop in the middle of nowhere, not a tree or feature in sight (which I have) and have first class accommodation for nothing.
I travelled 260k’s to the Berkly Roadhouse. That was a nice surprise. It’s a modern facility with bar and restaurant, also a great caravan park out back. I enjoyed a couple of stubbies and watched the footy. The stubbies were $6 for two (Happy hour) I was very happy with that.
3/8/20
There were two ways I could go from here, and I was up in the middle of the night still going over things trying to decide where to go, left or right. Finally while having breakfast I decided to go up to the Gulf and find a great place beside a river and stay put for awhile, and indulge in a bit of fishing, so there will be some different photos coming up soon (hopefully) and much to your relief (hopefully). So off I drive 380k’s north towards Cape Crawford.
Not surprisingly the country was still flat so I managed to get some shots for you. You’ll have noticed that I take a lot of shots while driving, but don’t worry it’s safe, especially the pace I drive. As a matter of fact, a couple of times I have contemplated jumping out and running along side (maybe even walk). Also I’m on roads where I can see 50 k’s behind and in front, and of the 380 k’s I drove today I maybe seen a dozen cars. No trouble having a pee on the side of the road up here. Oh, that reminds me of a story I must tell you.
Many years ago when I was playing football for Tumbarumba my mate Alan Wake and our two girls and I were travelling to Holbrook to play football, we took the back road down towards Jinjellic near the Murray River. We were coming down a steep hill called Carboona and coming around a corner and a car was parked on the side of the road with the passengers door open. I noticed a man sitting in the drivers seat reading a newspaper. I, or should I say we, also noticed a woman squatting about two meters away from the open door and completely in the open. I also noticed that she was wearing jeans and pink underwear, mainly because when she spotted us she immediately stood up and didn’t think to grab hold of her clothing that was now around her ankles. She looked at her husband and he looked at her, both with their mouths open. To late! We just tooted and waved. I also noted that she was a blond.
You really had to be there.
Now where was I, oh yes.
The road was pretty flat but the environment kept changing. Sometimes you would notice some trees and then nothing again. (But you know me, a good old sing song and a look around and I’m happy). Until about 10k’s before Cape Crawford. Suddenly a beautiful red rocky range jumped up at me. Also those lovely ghost gums were more prolific (love them). By the way the temp has hit 31*.
Cape Crawford is only similar to Berkley Roadhouse only a lot older. Its called Heartbreak Hotel. (maybe Elvis stayed here).
Big properties up here too. I was talking to a bloke next camp to me and he drives around OLD and NT inspecting cattle stations. (A paid lurk) I asked does he need a lackie? he said he already has one, (indicating across to his wife). He told me he was at a nearby property today that is 10,500 sq klms. I told him I own one bigger but it's measured in millimeters. There bis another property that I will most likely go and st called Lorella Springs that is one million acres. You should here more about that later.
I am leaving for King Ash Bay in the morning so I'll upload all this and some photos because I have reception here, and I don't think I'll have any for a while. And I'll have a lot to tell you when I do the next page. I'll tidy up these photos and add more to this section at a later date.
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Stay tuned......
