Borroloola

Wed 23^rd – Thurs 24^th July 

With a bit of maneuvering, backing and sneaking around trees, we managed to get out of the park at a reasonable time. Our first stop was Stuart’s tree where he is reputed to have cared his initials. It was Daly Waters where they were able to get water and survive. Unfortunately all that is left is a trunk and I couldn’t see any initials on it.

The road to Cape Crawford where we didn’t buy the fuel for $2.20 per litre, was bitumen, but was mostly very narrow – one car wide.  The edge was wide enough to run off onto the side when another vehicle came along. Actually there was very little traffic. Just north of Cape Crawford was evidence of mining in the area, characterized by an excellent and wide roadway to take the oversized road trains that the sign warned us about. Unfortunately there were none about today. Borroloola is a medium sized town with a very high indigenous population. There are four fuel outlets and several shops and government buildings stretched over a long street with lots of spaces between. Fuel cost $1.84. We booked into a caravan park on the edge of town. Nearby were a couple of tracks through softish sand to the McArthur River. What a surprise. The river is huge and it is the most beautiful emerald green colour. Most people who are staying here are fishermen. The owners of the park actually live in Bateman’s Bay and the lady said that they can drive up to Borroloola in two days – that’s serious driving. They come at least a couple of times a year.

 
 

We drove out to King Ash Bay which is on the McArthur River off the road to Bing Bong. We expected to see a basic camping ground but were surprised at the size of the area. The camps were stretched along the banks of the river for several km and there were very few vacant sites. Most were unpowered, but there were a lot of powered sites too. There was also a pub, fuel outlet, restaurant and a store. When we left there we returned along the unmade road of about 20km to the Bing Bong road. While we were driving through the camping area, the half graded road had been completed on one side and most of the corrugations were nearly gone. At Bing Bong the beach could only be seen from a lookout tower at the entrance of the shipping terminal where the ore was being piled up. Along the side of the compound we found a dirt track and followed it for a couple of km over soft sand and corrugations until we came to a boat ramp. This led down to the McArthur River just before it got to the coast. It was very wide and there were a couple of fishermen fishing from it and a couple of boats being loaded onto trailers. It seems that there aren’t many fish being caught because the water is too cool.