Sep 8-11 (Day 220 - 223) - Burketown (Qld) to Mataranka (NT)

Tuesday 8 September

Burketown is a fairly small town, however it’s also the headquarters of Burke Shire which covers a large part of the north western Carpentaria region, so it’s a little better appointed than some of the other smaller towns in the region, like Gregory.  It has two shops, one of which is part of the post office we’d been to a few days ago, one fuel station with pretty expensive diesel ($1.85/L), as well as the main reason for our visit - the library.  Rural Libraries Queensland has been a great service for us – we first used them at the library in Mossman where we set up our account, not really expecting to be going anywhere else, yet we have since been to member libraries in Cooktown, Weipa, Normanton, and now Burketown, borrowing books from one and then returning them at the next.  Being able to source books from all over the state and have them transferred between libraries while you travel has been really good too, and we’d collected another full load of books in Normanton.  But Burketown is the western-most public library in Queensland, so we had to clear out our account and return all the remaining books we had on loan in anticipation of leaving Queensland later today. Special thanks to the lovely lady at Weipa library who organised for some books to be sent to Normanton especially for our kids so they could finish the sequel of the Rosewood Chronicles. She certainly went above and beyond to help!

 

This cute setup was at Burketown Caravan Park.

 

No that little aqua 4WD isn't an old LandCruiser -
believe it or not, this is an old Nissan Patrol!

 

 

I had rather a surprise while visiting the gents this morning - a green tree frog appeared in the bowl after flushing! It had evidently been sleeping under the rim of the toilet and was dislodged towards the end of the torrent of flushing water. Needless to say I had the shock of my life when Freddy the Frog appeared out of nowhere and stared up at me unblinkingly!

I also popped a new air filter into the Pajero as the old one was looking distinctly red!
 

Travel Plans

It’s looking awfully unlikely we’re going to be getting into WA on this trip :(. So our plan now is to head into the top end of the Northern Territory until about the end of September, well basically until it starts getting too hot and humid. From there we plan to either drive straight back down the Stuart Highway (which runs right down the middle of Australia from Darwin down to Pt Augusta in SA), or to come back into Queensland and drive down the Birdsville Track (which runs from Mt Isa in western Queensland down through the north-eastern corner of SA, passing highlights such as Lake Eyre). We’ve not done this corner of SA before so this has some appeal, although it will depend on the condition of the track which we still need to research.

In the more immediate term, our intention had been to head up into Arnhem Land after crossing the border, but there only appear to be two main roads into Arnhem Land, both of which start at the Stuart Highway near Mataranka and Katherine.  This means a long drive into the centre of the Territory and then a 500km drive back out to the north east.  Given we needed to find a larger supermarket to do a full shop, and now that we needed to get to a hardware store to return our vacuum cleaner, we decided we’d plan to head straight across to the Stuart Highway at Daly Waters, then up to our beloved Mataranka, then onto Katherine, Darwin, and out to Arnhem Land afterwards.

 

So back onto our journey out of Burketown.  The drive west took us back along the road we’d come in by last night, but this time we continued straight west rather than taking the south junction down to Gregory, and then onto our first planned stop of Doomadgee.  Doomadgee is an Aboriginal community a couple of hundred kilometres from the Northern Territory border, and unlike Burketown has a decent sized supermarket. The road was in quite good condition today, it was sealed all the way. Doomadgee sits on the northern bank of the Nicholson River, which like the Gregory is a freshwater river that drains into the Gulf of Carpentaria, however unlike the Gregory which is apparently fed by a spring, the Nicholson seems to rely purely on rainfall, so in the dry season it would normally be dried out.  To prevent this, a low dam wall has been constructed just downstream from the town which holds the river at a fixed level once it drops to a certain point. This means the river becomes a freshwater lake during the dry season (not dissimilar to the Torrens River, but with no outflow at all).  Highway 1 runs across a concrete causeway probably about 400m long with the floodplains on either side and the dam wall about 100m to your left as you approach Doomadgee from the south east.

 

Some of the buildings in Doomadgee Community

So what’s it like in an Aboriginal community?  Well I guess they’re all different, but this one is a pretty standard ‘town’ layout – linear streets intersecting each other.  The houses all look pretty much identical as though they were all built together – light-coloured corrugated iron buildings, rather like a mining camp to look at.  Unfortunately there were probably a dozen wrecked cars sitting in the front of various yards, or cars up on blocks with their wheels missing.  There were also various cars driving around with bits of trim hanging off or broken windows covered up with clear plastic.  I guess out this way it’s harder to get things fixed or to properly dispose of old vehicles, but it does make the town look a bit messy.  

The Nicholson River, Doomadgee

We got into town about 11:30 but the supermarket unfortunately was closed for a funeral, to reopen at midday. So while we waited we went and had a brief look at the nearby Nicholson river. We didn't get too close to the edge as it was very murky and had warning signs around about crocs. We haven't actually seen any more since we last saw one in the ocean up on the Cape at Alau campground but it's still such an unknown when there is murky water around.

 

 

The Doomadgee Supermarket -
has pretty well anything you need!

 By the time we’d done a few bits and pieces 12pm had rolled around and we all trooped into the supermarket to stock up for the next few days until we get to Katherine.  The supermarket was really a ‘supermarket’ in the true definition of the word – not what we typically understand which is a large grocery store, but really a super-market! Yes they sold a slightly limited but surprisingly reasonable range of groceries, laundry products, pet food and all the normal categories you’d expect, but also a number of things you wouldn’t find in your local Woolies - rolls of fencing wire, radiator caps, spark plugs, barbecues, lawn mowers, even kids’ bikes and sofa beds! It was quite an experience wandering around and wondering what new category we’d find next!  While we were here we got chatting to one of the staff members who was originally from Coromandel Valley in SA! She’d been working in a range of remote communities for the past 15-20 years, including some time on Cape York and in the Torres Strait Islands, and was actually heading back to Adelaide to visit family in the next few weeks!  It was lovely to connect briefly with a local who knew Main Rd, Belair, the 5-way roundabout at Blackwood, and other spots in our own little stomping ground.

Guess who found a horse - again?!

 

We loaded up the poor caravan fridge with all its new supplies and headed on our way.

 

The road width varied from wide enough for three road trains to pass with ease, to about 1.5 lanes wide with savannah grass close to the edges.  In one of the narrower portions we saw a truck coming the other way so pulled over for him to pass.  We noticed he went through a bit of a dip, and when he’d passed and we started off again we saw it was a deeper dip than we’d expected but that half the bridge was closed for repairs!  As we’d been going slowly due to the truck having just passed us, we noticed some blown over 40kph signs which were evidently to warn of this hazard, but had we not stopped because of the truck we would have still been going 80 or so when we came across this deepish and VERY skinny crossing!  Thanks to God for keeping us safe in little ways like this!

 

Our next stop was the encouragingly-named 'Hells Gate' Roadhouse, which is the last piece of civilisation you encounter before the NT border. One can only guess the types of experiences colonial travellers had along this road which gave rise to such a name!!  We hadn’t bothered refuelling in Doomadgee at $1.75/L because we’ve got 50L in jerry cans, but at Hells Gate with another 320km to go and about ¼ tank remaining in the Pajero we decided to play it safe and put in half a tank or so at $1.85/L.  The areas we’re going into are hardly the sorts of places one wants to be found without fuel!  As we've been driving we've been noticing the temperature rising. We are now having temperatures in the 30's most days. Thankfully most nights it has been dropping down nicely with a bit of a breeze but some nights it's been pretty hot.

Out here you clearly need a sense of humour to survive!

 

 

Panorama at Hells Gate Roadhouse. Pretty much just the roadhouse and lots of red dirt!

After Hells Gate the road almost immediately narrowed and went into dirt.  The condition was pretty average in places, with moderate to reasonably bad corrugations, but not as bad as Bamaga Rd, which is still our benchmark for bad corrugations!  Some parts were being graded which were lovely and smooth.

Along this road we have come across so many crashed burnt out cars. Not suprising really because we were just talking about what it would actually cost to get a tow from out here if you did have any accident because it's so far away from everything and no wrecker to take the cars to so others can use bits of the cars.

 

One of the many sad reminders of vehicles which didn't make it

About 3pm we crossed the border into NT, thus ending what has been an amazing five and a half months in Queensland!  When we started out on this trip we certainly did not intend to spend anything like this amount of time in Queensland.  Obviously with the COVID-19 restrictions our movements have been somewhat curtailed. But it’s meant we’ve had time to explore more parts of this enormous state, and spend much longer than we otherwise would have in simply delightful places like Woodgate, Wamuran, Mossman and Coen.

 

There were no police, army or anyone waiting for us at the border, so after our obligatory photo we simply cruised on along our way with our border passes safely stowed away for whenever we get stopped (if indeed we do).  Not long after entering NT we saw a slight change in the landscape, with some tall rock escarpments on one side of the road, which immediately reminded us of the West MacDonnell Ranges just west of Alice Springs.  It was an appropriate welcome to NT given we’ve spent two blocks of time in the West Mac’s.  About 4:30pm we stopped at a roadside rest stop in the area of Calvert where Mim cooked up yesterday’s bought prawns for dinner!  

 

Anyway we made it safely to a rest stop for the night and had dinner did our readings and went to bed. 

At a random rest stop along Highway 1

 

Wednesday 9 September

Out this way the road wasn't great compared to some of the roads we had been on. We had to be more aware of what is called 'dust' holes. At one point we came across a huge dust hole and the kids asked to hop out and feel what it was like so we all hoped and stretched our legs for a few minutes.

The dust is so fine it gets into everything, any gap or vent possible. But that is the joys of travelling parts of the outback of Queensland and Northern Territory.  Nothing quite like this red dust. 

 

Uh oh. Checkpoint time!

 

As we drove westwards in the region of Calvert Hills, we came across the border checkpoint (being at least 100km west of the border). It consisted of a police car parked sideways and a marquee set up with two NT police officers and a soldier waiting for cars to come past so they can check. It's manned 24/7 which would be a horrible job just sitting there in this heat. But they have to do their job.

As we pulled up the police officer came over to the window and asked for our forms and drivers licenses. He seemed pretty stern to start with but once we chatted for a bit and joked about the sign they had on the side of there marquee which read, 'For Sale' he seemed to loosen up a bit. We asked them about the road condition and anything we might need to look out for to which they said the road condition was pretty good but a few river crossings to be aware of down the track. After chatting for a while I asked if they minded having a photo with us which they were more than happy to do. We hadn't seen to many people travelling along the road behind us but we had seen quite a few going the opposite direction which these guys wouldn't have needed to do anything about because the borders from NT into QLD are open.

Us with the officers at the QLD/NT border checkpoint

After chatting with the police we carried on along Highway 1 and through 3 fairly tame river crossings. Nothing above Greg's knees.

 

 

 

The beautiful Robertson River

Checking the depth of the Foelscke River - this was the deepest of the three

Preparing to cross the Foelscke River

 We stopped off at Borroloola to get petrol and have lunch. Borroloola is another Aboriginal community although a little bigger than Doomadgee.

We were passed by this roof-less Nissan Patrol! People work their own ways out up here!

Around 3pm we pulled into Cape Crawford roadhouse (thinking of you Dan!), to get some cool drinks and stretch our legs. Interesting here that they had so many cows just roaming out the front on the grass! Perhaps these are next week's rump steaks at the roadhouse??!

The local cows at Cape Crawford Roadhouse

 Time was getting on and we could see we weren't going to be getting to Daly Waters, so we found a free camp for the night and set up. Greg discovered the caravan fridge wasn't working on 12V while we were travelling so spent a few hours sorting that out. 

Running repairs on the 12V caravan fridge wiring

While Greg was doing the wiring Bek did some painting. She has really excelled in her artwork and creativity this year and also grown a real love for animals. We have particularly seen this with dogs that she had come across and also horses. While we were camped here we noticed heaps of flies. They are the annoying sort that just stick to your face when you have both hands full and you give a little blow and they still stay. Ahhhh!!!

Our budding artist!

The wiring job took some time so we had a bit of a scattered dinner of 2 minute noodles for some and fruit and greek yogurt for others. After a while I just sat and chatted to Greg while the kids did the dishes. They had a wow of a time in the van. It was so lovely just listening to them all getting along and having a good laugh. This has not always been the case as when you are living altogether 24/7 - some things can get the better of you and we all can get snitchy from time to time!

Thursday 10 September

Morning light on Highway 1

Our camp on Highway 1

 

Nice quiet morning coffee before breaky and then heading off. We hope to get to Mataranka today.

Some giant windmills at the entrance to a cattle station

As we drove along we came across these pretty impressive wind mills at the entrance to a station. It's a bit hard to get an idea of the size here (we probably could have hopped out to get the perspective) but they were none the less pretty impressive to see and well worth a photo.

Not a ton of passing room here...!

As we drove the road seemed to be getting skinnier and skinnier. As you approach cars you generally pull half on and half off but with some you have to just go full off. At one stage we were coming around a corner and there just before us was a huge road train. Greg quickly swung into action (not too quickly but quick enough) and veered off onto the gravel safely while the 4 carriage road train roared past. Phew. Thank you to God for keeping us safe. We all breathed a sigh of relief and chatted about how some of us where feeling the affects of adrenaline.

Taking our extra passenger a few kilometres down the road!

As we drove we came across a fella waving at us so we slowed down and then turned around to see if he was okay. He was near a road tractor of some sort and explained it was over heating or something and did we mind giving him a lift back to his car which was only about 5kms away so that he didn't have to walk all that way in the heat. So in he hopped while I hopped in the back with the kids for the short ride back to his ute. 

Not long after dropping off the guy we finally reached the end of the long drive west we'd been doing for the last few days, where we reached the junction of the Stuart Highway at Daly Waters Roadhouse. If you're new here, the Stuart Highway is the long road running up the middle of Australia between Adelaide and Darwin.

Just back from where the Savannah Way meets the Stuart Highway

 

Pie time at Daly Waters, on the Stuart Highway

We stopped and had a pie and drinks and then hit the road again. We were now on bitumen. Wow what a lot of dirt roads we have been on up this way. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It wasn't too long after that that we could say 'Yay we made it to Mataranka!' This was one of the highlights on our last trip as we had never been to any hot springs before. It's such a beautiful place in the middle of nowhere. You drive down the road and you have fairly dry trees to start with and then gradually you come across more trees and then palms and it turns very tropical. We quickly set up and then headed for the hot springs and just sat in there for the afternoon.

Arriving at Elsey National Park, home to Mataranka Homestead and the hot springs

Oh what lovely clear water! This is Rainbow Spring, where the water flows out of the aquifer and into the Mataranka pool. You can't swim here, but you can at the pool about 50m away which this spring runs into.

Enjoying the crystal clear water of Mataranka hot springs!

The water was definitely a lot clearer ths time compared to the last time we were here! Did you know that Rainbow Spring, which feeds these pools, delivers 30 million litres of water each day?! Even though the pool is reasonably large you can feel the current moving slowly through!

A number of lovely peacocks where wondering around the park.

Friday 11 September

Yesterday and today have consisted of hopping in and out of the hot springs and doing some school and business work. 

 

Dinner at Mataranka

Later on in the evening we went over to the restaurant for dinner and the evening where Mr Nathan 'Whippy' Griggs put on a performance showing his whipping skills. He's a world record holder for being able to whip the longest whip of 100.47 metres. Quite incredidle how he can coordinate 2 whips at once. (This is written after having bought a whip and tried to whip with just one - that sort of co-ordination is so much harder than it looks!)

 

Greg was called up as a 'prop' in the show
and Nathan whipped the whips either side of him. Don't move, Greg!

Nathan showing us how to make whip 'crackers' after the show

Bek's artwork, signed by Nathan!

During dinner and the evening performance Bek was busy drawing. We didn't know what it was until the end of the evening that she had been drawing Mr Griggs in action and the surroundings. We then showed him after the evenings performance and he loved it and asked for a copy and signed it for her.