Renner Springs - Newcastle Waters - Daly Springs - Larimah - Mataranka

411(3732) kms

Campfire singalong

It was our customary early start - pre dawn - and whilst Sue prised the sleep from her eyes, I caught some nice early morning light photos of the pink sky and a giant windmill in silhouette on the film camera unfortunately for you. We were on the road by eight, still with a day to catch up and health issues for me still unresolved. The asthma puffers were giving me a share of nasty side affects which I would have rather avoided.

Our 411kms today took us north to Mataranka. On the way there we called in at Elliott for fuel - as desolate a place as it was on our previous visit in '95. Houses were either half built or half torn down and the residents here and there seemed lost in some sort of dream haze which didn't register visitors. We didn't see Day Waters, as it’s off the Stuart Highway to the west and beyond it, the Tanami Desert, but we stopped in the shade of a tree for morning tea. They have extended their buildings at the roadhouse to include more motel space for the passing trade.

Mataranka Resort was reached just before 1:00pm leaving us all afternoon to kick back and relax in the thermal pool. The pool was lovely - cleaner than I remember it - but then it is managed by the National Parks. The area enclosed inside the NP fence is crossed with walking trails and all sorts of little nooks and crannies, although every track we went on we got looks from grannies. The resort which adjoins it is managed by a private group and it has become a dirty echo. Decay is obvious in everything from the service, to the entertainment, to the campground (luxurious grassed sites in 95 are now deep dust bowls) and the amenities. Sue rates their toilets and showers as the worst we have seen.

Still, you make the most of things and we had a few cleansing adult soft drinks, ordered dinner (Sue's first night off) and listened to a local lass singing to Midi-files!

We walked hand in hand after dinner, finding our campsite in the moonlight before crawling into our swag and letting the possums sing us to sleep.

TODAY'S PHOTOS

For the record, they were better at carrying a tune and their Midi files sounded like real leaves rustling in the lazy warm breeze.

We should sleep well.

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.