Our journey begins

Well, five days and 1800 kilometres later we are at Longreach and caught up with our friends the Manns and the Priests.

In many ways the trip is uneventful, with fine weather, long, straight, flat roads, no traffic and very few animals to target or be targeted by. One difference we have seen on this trip has been the relative absence of road-kill.  In 2017, the road was quite literally stained red from  kangaroos attacking cars and trucks.

The travelling has been largely uneventful, though we did have to negotiate a massive cattle herd being pushed across to better pasture on the Western side of the highway. The road trains coming toward us were inching through, so we did the same. At one point when the road narrowed over a bridge, the poor cattle became a bit unnerved as they could not decide which way to go, even though the traffic had come to a halt to avoid spooking the animals. The herd looked to be about 2-3,000 strong.

We are towing our little Suzy in case we may need to have a separate vehicle. It turns out that this was a very wise decision, as we need to have  a very quick side trip to Darwin to attend to some family business.

Because we are making a bolt for Longreach, we don’t get the chance to see more of the towns en route, which is a shame in some ways, as these towns all have their special character, and of course it is good to spend a few dollars in these remote communities. Jenny has been very prepared, and has our meals frozen or ready to eat from the fridge. I can see however, that the rule about not spending money is being relaxed slowly, and at Barcaldine we visited the local bakery for a coffee and a hard-to-resist apple slice that Jenny insisted I have. And share.

Of course we are packed to the hilt, and using the Suzy to carry things of extra weight, to keep the truck below 4495 kilograms. I went over the weigh bridge to check weight and we were fine, though the operator bravely asked “how heavy is your wife?” and he seemed satisfied when I told him “45 kilograms.” For those who camp, caravan or motorhome for vacations will know, weight is an important consideration and Jen has taken to the weight reduction effort with some enthusiasm. This included the purchase of a special weightless container for the sliced beetroot. Unfortunately, being weightless means that it misses out on some other important characteristics such as  being able to secure the contents tightly. We discovered that a collapsible beetroot container carries inherent and very evident risk. Say no more!

Other than this, there has been little excitement, though Jenny came rushing in from the ensuite bathroom here at Longreach, ashen-faced and quivering with fear. “There’s a frog in the toilet!” My mind immediately went back to the bush toilet we had to use  at a national park on the Queensland coast many years ago, where Jenny was confronted by a giant cane toad staring up with some trepidation at what potentially confronted him. Now, I am hardly known as the expert in dealing with toilet-domiciled amphibians, but Jenny armed me with a spoon of all things, to remove the poor beast. Luckily (for him, I suppose) he had disappeared, or hidden himself securely under the rim. And if that is his choice for a home, good luck to him. I can’t imagine the passing scenery would be so pleasant!

We are here at Longreach for a couple of days and earlier today visited the Outback Hall of Fame. There was a passing reference to the First nations, but we felt that they could have done more to acknowledge  the Indigenous contribution to  maintaining  this beautiful country for millenia. One was given the impression that  everything began when the cattle and sheep became part of the landscape.

Tonight we are off to a river cruise on the Thompson River followed by dinner somewhere out in the Bush. It will be interesting to see the state of this river though there has been recent rains, so it should be replenished.

Sunday (tomorrow) we head for Winton (dinosaur country), then Cloncurry and Mt Isa, where will spend a few days and catch our breath.

We have been trying to get some documents delivered to us en route, but it seems that we drive faster than the post as it takes 9 days for mail to get from  Canberra to Mt Isa, 16 days to Katherine and a couple of weeks to get to Kununurra. This is why we are diverting to Darwin which as a capital city, has access to Express Post (allegedly overnight.) We are now much more sympathetic to the needs of rural and remote Australians.

Well, thank you for reading. I hope you made it this far. We will write again in a few days.