The Last Leg : Off to Mount Isa Rodeo!!

 I've been very slack about doing my final blog and  we're nearly home.  I haven't posted for ages and we really have seen so much.. .

After leaving Adel's Grove we headed for Mount Isa with a few stop offs on the way. First stop to be Camooweal Lagoon but to get there...

 Over 200kms of nothing but dirt!! and some creek crossings

 This sign was at the end of the road!!! Not the beginning..

Bit of a disaster crossing this causeway... The wheels of the caravan came off the right hand side of the causeway and lent over 40 degrees OMG! what a scare but Steve kept his head and kept on driving and it followed us back up and nothing came out of the cupboards. All good.

Camooweal Lagoon was a nice two night stop over, very peaceful with heaps of birdlife - brogas, spoonbills, ducks and pelicans. Plus we caught our first and last feed of red claw. Also a few interesting places to visit including a Drovers Museum and a sink hole cave. It's just amazing to think it was under sea 25 million years ago. I t makes one realise just how insignificant and fleeting our lives are.

Next stop was at West Leichhardt Cattle Station. Top stop and fancy our mates from back home, Bob & Chris turning up on the site right next door!

Smally hypnotising the Brahma just like Crocodile Dundee...

We finally arrive at Mount Isa for the largest Rodeo in the Southern Hemisphere. Camping  in the front yard of my cousin, Ros and Steve's place for 3 days. After spending plenty of time washing and cleaning the caravan and ute are just about unrecognisable with out the patina of red dust covering everything. Now to enjoy ourselves.

Wednesday night there's a street parade and plenty of street food stallsfor us to sample.

 Then 3 days of Rodeo fun but even though we love it one night is enough for us.

On the road again for a few overnighters and one magical place 50kms out of Winton. Right off the highway but next to a rock formation.

Great for climbing to the top, exploring, spectacular views and oh what a sunset

We stayed a couple of nights in Winton where we met up with some mates which we have met on the road . Winton is famous for dinosaur fossils and Banjo Patterson wrote Waltzing Matilda there.
We  had a great evening in the fabulous North Gregory Pub, where they have chook races. its hysterical but raises plenty of money for charity. This is followed by a bloke reciting Banjos poetry and telling of his life.

The swagman from Waltzing Matida.

We also played on the musical fence.. what a hoot.

On our way between Winton and Longreach our first stop was "The Age of Dinosaurs" Museum. We just did a walk all around.













and then on the Matilda Highway we dropped into the Blue Heeler pub, where there were brolgas wondering around. Gave me a bit of a fright as they wouldn't let me into the ladies loo and a staff member had to take a broom at them. LOL!!!

Last stop was Longreach. There is so much to do and see here, We only got to see the QANTAS museum and the Thomson River where we had planned on doing a sunset cruise and show. As luck would have it that didn't eventuate.

Unfortunately on  our first night there we received a phone call that cut our amazing holiday short...
Problems with tenants and an investment property at Queanbeyan which just couldn;t be ignored.
So an 1800km  dash back there taking two and a half days. Going from 30 degrees to minus four degrees!!

Next winter we hope to be off again and I'll start up this blog then. To those of you who have said they enjoyed our stories and photos I thank you and I can't wait to see my family and friends again.

Going to Hell...then Doom and on to Paradise!!

Yes we went to HELL or actually Hells Gate, just an overnight stopover at the Hells Gate Roadhouse. Love the name and had a great night there catching up with a lovely couple who we'd met on the road earlier... and then we travelled another 80kms and passed  through DOOMadgee ( this is just a small Aboriginal town)

Anyway backtracking to when we left Lorella Springs, we headed off to Borroloola which is another 150kms of corrugated dirt road. I'm starting to forget what bitumin looks like!
Although on the way many beautiful billabongs and creeks to cross.

We finally reach Borroloola and it's quite civilised, we even went out for dinner to a nice little restaurant...Typical outback fare : crumbed cutlets and chicken parma still it's always nice to be served and not have to cook.

We explored another 50 kms up the road and finally we saw the ocean again. This is Bing Bong in the gulf of Carpentaria . We have now travelled over 13,000 kms since we left home.

Booroloola is on the McArthur River and is famous for it's fishing. It's the closest town to King Ash Bay ( a fishermen's paradise) which is where all the fishermen stay but we liked the town so decided to stay for a few nights there and just take a fishing charter which left from King Ash Bay.

What a great day we had, the weather was perfect on the river but unfortunately way too windy outside the heads, where it's supposed to be teeming with fish. Oh well we had a great day.

                                         How glorious is this...I mean the picture below! 

Guess who caught the first fish??? A nice little queenfish which was followed by a few more plus Steve caught a little shark, catfish and a barracuda as well. Naturally we had fresh fish for dinner. Then as luck would have it the caravan park owner gave us a big bag of frozen jewfish. How good's that! We'll be eating fish all the way home..

 After leaving Borroloola ( only 350 kms of dirt to go). Next an over night stop at Calvert River Crossing , then on to HELLsgate & DOOMadgee .

 This is the  Calvert river crossing, look how steep the road but the river itself is lovely.









 Next stop Burketown which is supposed to be the Barramundi Capital. Not so, we were very disappointed. This place has been handed back to our Indigenous brothers and they have put up fences everywhere and now charge $35 a night for camping on the river which use to be free plus $25 a day for a fishing permit! There are no facilities whatsoever at the campsites, so whoever is advising them are so greedy that no-one goes there and I can see Burketown turning into a ghost town. Such a shame.

The only interesting thing to see at Burketown was this....Any ideas what it is???

It's a bore, drilled back in 1897 and pumps out artesian water at a temperature of 68 degrees which is full of minerals making these amazing colours. It was once used for a  public bath house right up to the 1960's!

These bloody dirt roads!! Some are so bad we met a guy who lost a wheel off his caravan and I don't mean the spare!

Not to mention we have to dodge cattle, wild pigs, camels, horses etc...

Now this is when we hit PARADISE. Gregory River river camp and we were very lucky to get a river frontage site. We were going to stay 2 nights but loved it so much we stayed for 6.

Swimming everyday in these pristine waters. Laying on our yoga mats and floating down the river, it was fantastic.

Every night is happy hour and because when people arrive they don't want to leave, we made many good friends, in fact we were like family!

There was always the pub to go to or the general store which would be the littlest, well stocked store I've seen.

We even had a street party, everyone bought food to share and it was just the best.

Here's a few photos of the beautiful Gregory River which we explored and swam in everyday. No crocs!

We drove 95kms down the road passing through Savannah country, just grass plains as far as the eye can see.

Where we spent a day at Lawn Hill NP. Paddling down through the Law Hill Gorge. Just magnificent

Swimming in waterfalls and seeing cute little critters in the emerald water.

Back for a few more days at Gregory River where there was this sign:

But this is the reality. Caravans lined up right along the river and as soon as one left another would take it's place!

We spent two nights at Adels Grove, which is only 10kms from Lawn Hill NP swimming, hiking and exploring these beautiful emerald green waters, which are so clear as they are spring fed through limestone. It truly is like paradise!

Steve diving into the emerald green waters. 

  There's always something to see, like more red cliffs .

During one of our walks at Lawn Hill we came across Gollum clawing his way out of the ground.

Only problem with this little slice of paradise is the bats. Luckily they are only on one part of the river as the colonies are so large they stink like crazy!

Tomorrow we will be heading south so we expect the mornings and evenings to start getting a bit fresh. Oh well it has been like an endless summer so far, I feel a bit sorry for friends & family back home in the cold. Anyway bye for now & I'll blog again after the Mount Isa rodeo, which is the biggest in the Southern Hemisphere.