TOD TOUR 2.0 Day 38 - Camooweal to Barkly Homestead

Buck you bastard, buck

Fuel, up this way, creates quite a shock at the bowser. Unleaded 95 was 1.87c/L when we filled in Camooweal this morning, although having driven this track twice before, I know bigger shocks await.

I had a run in with Camooweal's famous Bullaroo not long after, trying my hardest to recreate the deeds of rodeo riders but instead looking more like a rodeo clown.

A few minutes drive and Queensland was behind us. We stopped for the obligatory photo of the border sign. The Queensland sign behind us was neat, tidy and to the point. The NT sign was heavily defaced and covered in tags and a bizarre collection of stickers. I determined not to stand still for too long.

The 260km drive was uneventful, generally flat and without the headwind that signs warned us of and we arrived shortly after noon. Barkly Homestead - a fancier name that Barkly Roadhouse but basically the same thing - has certainly changed since 1995, when we stopped here for fuel on the Australia Under Canvas Tour with our three children. Actually, follow the link for an interesting comparison with today. On that day, we stopped for fuel at Barkly and I was complaining about paying "an exorbitant 95c/L. The fuel pump read 209.9c/L when we pulled up today. In the 1995 report I am bragging about our best fuel consumption figures for the trip of 12.9L/100km. Today, I average 10.8. A more than two litre/100km better result for an engine nearly 40% less capacity and towing a vehicle that is twice as heavy!

Powered sites are near full at Barkly Homestead

The van sites at Barkly are red dirt, but we have power and water and good ablutions (they were amenities in Qld). There is a well maintained pool but the water is still too cold for swimming. The roadhouse has a restaurant, a bar and the obligatory gift shop. Motel units are also available.

In 1995, there was a lot less on offer in terms of facilities and service. We were so unimpressed after '95, that we filled a jerry can in Mt Isa in 2008 and drove straight past in what would prove to be a disastrously long day, when accommodation fell through and we were forced to drive 800km.

Click for today's photos

Apart from the sound of the generators which power the roadhouse - some days using 700L of diesel - its a quiet night as largely full campground settles down. No TV or radio reception so a quiet Saturday night.

TOD TOUR 2.0 Day 37 - Camooweal

Caravan parks, outback style

We cracked on early, despite a few mishaps before we left Mt Isa - a speed hump I didn't see and forgetting to take off the handbrake on the van. However, as always, we muddled through.

It was a great run to Camooweal, with sensationally low fuel consumption figures we haven't seen on this trip so far.

Our digs tonight are behind the Post Office Hotel at Camooweal, which is closer to the NT border than any other Queensland town. The caravan park is a new addition since out last visit in 2008. In fact, the whole town seems to have had a coat of paint and tidy up. The sites of the park are a 4 out of five but the amenities, which look like ex shearers or miners prefabs, are a two at best.

Our reason for stopping was a visit to the Drover's Camp, a museum put together by volunteers, many of whom where long time drovers. One of them, Tom, met us on arrival and let us know that they weren't running tours this lat in the dry season, as there are not enough people. He then spent 45 minutes with us in front of a map of Australia's famous stock routes, explaining each and dropping in some rich anecdotes, many of which were personal. The displays are well catalogued and it appears that part of the tour is a sit around an imagined camp fire while tales are told. In the end, we didn't feel like we missed out. Tom was very generous with his time.

We had a short commune with the bar of the pub during happy hour with an unhappy, very bossy and aggressive French barmaid. Yeah, right. A French barmaid in Camooweal. One drink was enough.

Click to see today's photos

On to Barkly Homestead tomorrow and as luck would have it, the chance to watch Alison Forbes play her last gig before moving on.

Mount Isa - Camooweal - Barkly Homestead - The Three Ways - Renner Springs

Fuel at Camooweal

Mount Isa - Camooweal - Barkly Homestead - Three Ways - Banka Banka Homestead - Renner Springs 773(3321) kms

Finally a day which felt like we had the holiday on track! After the frustrations of the week since
Yamba we have both become increasingly discouraged and a wee bit anxious that we were getting nowhere.

We started today in Mount Isa in the worst end of any caravan park in a working man’s town ... among the residents. Sue in particular felt uncomfortable for much of the night. A party raged across the road which at various times had racing cars, screaming young women, foul language and the issuing of threats of violence. At one stage, an older voice tried to ask for calm, only to be very impolitely told where he could go. Despite all this, we did manage some sleep snug and locked in the Forester.

We were up before sunrise again and out of the park by 7:45 am to find some shopping items and petrol. Our target was Barkly Homestead, about two thirds of the way across the Barkly Tableland in the Northern Territory. Given the reputation of fuel prices in those areas, I decided to fill my additional fuel tanks, which effectively doubles my fuel capacity. By complete luck, I found a United Petrol Station selling fuel for 160.9c/L. I soon snapped that up. I was told later in the day that the major companies were selling for 171.9c/L in Mount Isa.

Camooweal was our first stop for morning tea – 188kms from Mount Isa. The fuel here was 193.6c/L, making the Isa purchase a highly profitable one. We ate and drank quickly under some shady vines, whilst admiring a statue of a bullaroo – a mythical creature of these parts which is half kangaroo, half bull. Having seen the statue, I’d say there was more bull than just half!< Onto Barkly for lunch at 1:00pm and we were making very good progress, although driving well under the NT open road speed limit of 130km/h! I tipped in the first of the jerry cans to avoid paying the 240c/L charge on offer! We decided we still had a lot of day to drive in and couldn’t see much point staring at an unchanging horizon for the afternoon at Barkly, so headed in a further change of plan and the chance to catch up one of our two lost days. Sue took over and drove 150kms of the distance to The Three Ways – a Shell service station at the junction of the Barkly and Stuart Highways. We reached there at 3:45pm and decided to pass up the opportunity of staying at the Three Ways or heading south to Tennant Creek (25km). Every petrol station in north western Qld and the Territory seems to also offer accommodation Often, they are also a hotel. We set our destination for Banka Banka Station, a working cattle station that shows tourists what they do as part of their $6 a head charge for a piece of grass to park on and a hot shower. A phone call confirmed that no booking was necessary and that there was plenty of room at the inn, so off we set on the final 73 km.

Just after 5:00pm, we pulled into the driveway of Banka Banka to be met with a “house full” sign and a rather rude instruction to not discuss it with the management! Now we had a problem, as these outback roads are not to be driven from twilight on for fear of damaging the wildlife and in the process, inconveniencing your front grill and radiator. The nearest spot was a roadside stop where several vans had already gathered about 35kms earlier but being intrepid and more than a little foolish, we kept going forward to Renner Springs, 62kms to the north.

We made it as the sun was setting and completed a 791km day, surprisingly fresh and happy at our progress. I doubt we will drive many other days on this trip for as long but strange as it may seem, it didn’t seem a hard day, despite being nine hours from start to finish.

Hot showers, cold beers, a sizeable feed of vegies and rissoles and it was all I could do to complete my chores and then sit down to write. It’s a full moon this evening and it looks down on us outside the Desert Hotel at Renner Springs and readies us for bed. Its moonbeams will tuck me in tonight in the Northern Territory, content in the thought that most of the rushing is now complete and from now on we have lots of time to enjoy what we drive through and to.

TODAY'S PHOTOS

It’s after 10:00pm and Sue’s first snores are frightening the wildlife and the sandman is whispering in my ear that the moonbeams have other to attend to. Goodnight.

AUC 1995 - Camooweal (Qld)

Camooweal (Qld)
(Barkly Highway) 188 kms

Main street, Camooweal

The wind had changed direction and this appeared to bring at least some of the contents of the fumes from the copper smelter over the city. My coughing got worse as the night wore on and at midnight I had to get up or keep everyone in the camp awake. With sinuses ablaze, I was guaranteed a weary day to follow.

However, that aside, we completed our pack up and were on the road by 9:30 am.

We had been warned the road to Camooweal was very poor, but the first 70 kilometres proved to be
excellent bitumen. However, after this, the conditions did indeed deteriorate to virtually single lane bitumen, but as we were in no hurry, this did not worry us.

Following our morning tea stop at a road side rest station, we came upon a character by the name of Jacob Baldwin, a Cerebral Palsy sufferer who is travelling around Australia by Route 1 in his electric wheelchair. He is raising funds for a multitude of causes, but mostly is doing his Ability Trek because it is there. His support crew gave us a pamphlet explaining his cause and we donated a small sum to assist him. As he had started in 1992, this has been a long endeavour, but he is currently on the second leg of the journey, having previously completed the Sydney to Perth stretch.

It was on to Camooweal and lunch. We took a cabin for the night as we had a long drive to Tennant Creek to face on the morrow. The kids appreciated the "veg out" time infrontofTV, having been away from the boob tube for three weeks.

We had planned to visit the Camooweal Caves NP to the south, but the 40 kilometre return trip did not seem justified as we would have been unable to do anything but view the cave openings. As the caves are sink holes, we were neither experienced enough or equipped to venture into them.

Business sector Camooweal

Camooweal is a very small village which has the claim to fame it is Queensland's western most town. It was formerly known as the gateway to the Northern Territory, but this claim has been usurped by Mount Isa. In fact, we were able to learn that Camooweal falls under the jurisdiction of Mount Isa City Council, hence the Guiness Book of Records recording Mount Isa as the world's largest city by area.

Milk was $3.20for a two litre bottle and our accommodation was only $6 cheaper than the high quality units we had booked for our time in Adelaide and believe me, it was nothing to crow about!
The sticker which was added to the collection on the trailer was about the most impressive thing in the place, but will evoke less significant memories, in the long term. The humorous saying "I spent a week there on afternoon" came to mind and both Sue and I had a far greater appreciation for the truth which often lies behind words said in jest.

Even the sticker proved to up to the standard of the place. It had peeled off by Alice Springs.