Borroloola to Cloncurry

.Fri 25^th July Soudan Bore

We left Borroloola in a damp mist. It wasn’t raining but there were droplets of condensation on the car and van. By 9am the fog had lifted and we had a clear blue sky. On the road to Cape Crawford we saw a dingo, donkeys, horses, eagles and lots of dead cattle that were road kill. I wouldn’t like to hit one of them, they are really huge. At Cape Crawford we turned down the Tablelands highway towards Barkley Homestead which was 375km away. The road narrowed to single lane, although it had clear stony sides. Whenever anything came towards you both vehicles almost stopped and took to the side of the road – with the exception of road trains that barely slowed and stayed in the middle. It was a long trip on a road that was quite lumpy, I sort of felt like we were riding waves. Our lunch stop was at a free camp where there was a tap and there were some zebra finches enjoying the water. We bypassed the Barkly Homestead Roadhouse because we had heard that its fuel was about $2.50per litre and we had enough to get to Camooweal. We finished the day at Soudan Bore Camp and found that someone had left wood by the fireplace so we lit a fire. A chap called Warren, a grain farmer from near Geraldton joined us and we yarned around the fire until the wood was burnt.

Sat 26^th July Cloncurry

We had an easy run into Camooweal and decided against buying their fuel at 199.9.  We topped up a little from the jerry can and full of confidence, Mick headed off. He didn’t tell me when the red light came on, but we were a long way from Mt Isa. When we got there we filled up at the first pump we saw, and as it happened it was the cheapest in town at 184.9. The car was very close to empty and would only have given us a few more km. We intended to get some supplies but as soon as we encountered traffic lights and traffic we decided to keep going for “The Curry”. We booked into a park, did our shopping and talked to our neighbours. In the park were lots of accommodations for miners and they started leaving for work at 4am. That’s when the dog next door started barking and its owner was trying to keep it quiet. I heard nothing, Mick heard it all.