Borroloola was a little oasis where the caravan park had a nice swimming pool, electricity (to run the air conditioning – 36 degrees+ in the shade) and a friendly pub up the road for a cool drink and a meal. Another plus was meeting some new neighbours from WA who had a wealth of knowledge on what to see and do while travelling northern Australia. We did an early morning 2 km walk in Caranbirini Conservation Reserve (46 km west of Borroloola) where the rocks are stacked in a similar way to the Bungle Bungles, and the walking track takes you around and through the middle of the area known as the Organ Pipes, reminiscent of an ancient cathedral. A billabong with a bird-hide was a great place to spend a quiet hour spotting the many species of birds.

Dust and dirt and more dirt roads?

Having hit the dirt roads in Northern QLD and the NT it makes for interesting driving and experiences. These observations are all part of travelling and are enjoyable/ engaging or annoying!
We are on Highway 1, the main Highway around Australia, but that does not mean the roads two lane bitumen highways. Some have two lanes each way, some only one lane each way, others only one bitumen strip down the middle (move over to the left into the dust and gravel when passing or being passed) and others are gravel roads in various states of disrepair. The main route for travelers to Darwin seems to be on the Flinders/Barkly highways through Mt Isa and then up the Stuart Hwy to Darwin in the north. The way we went was further north on the Savannah Way through Burketown, Hells Gate and Borroloola which had much less traffic. Wow, when we hit the Stuart Hwy near Daly Waters to head north to Darwin there were so many caravans! We knew we had re-joined the nomad convoys.

Argh!! the glorious red dust! Would not be the same without it. It just gets everywhere even when you tape up every opening and vent on the caravan. It is all part of the experience so you just have to sweep it up and mop out at every stop. Obviously the ruts and corrugations did not help with all the vibrations. The corrugations varied in spacing so plenty of speed adjustments are required to get the smoothest ride. Often the same vibration at 30 as 60 kmph , so just have to travel at the optimal speed if possible! Ruts out of  river crossings were sometimes 400 deep so you need to keep some speed up and don’t get bogged in the soft sand. And then came the road trains. These are trucks with 3 – 4 trailers and can be up to 53 metres long. Not so many on this section of road but when encountered we pulled right off the road and stopped to let them have the crown of the road. We continued after the dust had settled. Phew!
The different animals and wildlife was evident as we move west. Obviously we were in cattle country with so many large brahman herds. We saw more wallabies than kangaroos,  the odd goanna and snake, great flocks of black cockatoos, many black kites and now wedge tail eagles – the wedge tailed eagles are magnificent, majestic and talk about giving you the evil eye! Wild bush cattle, wild horses and also brumbies were also common.

There was a lot of burning off for kilometres. This is normal for this time of year and clears the undergrowth allowing for new fresh shoots, germination of seeds, and improving the area for hunting. The black kites love this time and are colloquially known as ‘fire birds’ because they have learned to pick up sticks which are on fire and drop them on the fire front to keep it going which flushes out their small prey.

What broke? Anything PVC on the underside of the caravan but all good with the stone guards on. Often a collection of screws which had worked their way out inside the caravan on the floor. Funny working out where they all came from. Even the knob on top of the teapot unscrewed!

John.

The river crossings were all in 4WD-L as it was not possible to check depths – the ‘passenger’ objected to being a croc dinner. Not sure why? Really enjoyed this part of the trip on Hwy 1.