Outback Adventure 2019
Day 18
Karla Karla (Devils Marbles) - Tennant Creek - Threeways Roadhouse - Barkly Homestead - Cammoweal - WW2 Historic Site (Barkly Highway)
It was quite a hot night last night at the Marbles and so all the windows were open to let in the breeze which picked up to a gale during the night.
We awoke at 6.30 to the most magical colours of the sunrise and so were quickly out of bed to watch what would materialise. Like last night- it didn’t let us down. It was quite a spectacular sunrise. Got some good photos!
Today was about getting some serious kms out of the way. We left Devils Marbles at 7.15 without breakfast - that would come later. We fueled at Tennant Creek and then drove onto Threeways where we stopped for a break and breakkie. That was the most Northernest point of this trip and so we turned right off the Stuart Highway and into the Barkly Highway.
Ever since we left Alice Springs the termite mounds have been growing more in numbers and also in height. They have kept us amused for the past 2 days on the road at how people have randomly adorned them! Some are ‘dressed’ in bra’s, some in sling dresses, quite a lot just in a singlet but some are very creative with full hi-vis outfits and hats! One most memorable was dressed in the local footy jersey. It was located just as we passed a community and it held a sign saying ‘Go to School’ . They had a couple in that stretch the same. They are still with us half way down the Barkly as well!
The crosswinds on the Barkly Highway are very powerful and it causes havoc with any fuel economy you are trying to maintain. We rolled into the Barkly Homestead and had a quick break and then it was back on the road .
We then crossed the QLD border and farewelled the NT for this trip before limping into Cammoweal with the fuel light on and 30kms to spare!
Having fueled we drove on a further 130kms to our campsite tonight which is an historic WW2 memorial site about 50kms from Mt Isa. It commemorates the road that was built between Mt Isa and Cammoweal during the war to get men and supplies to the Stuart Highway to support the war efforts in the North. They had 1000+ vehicles using it per day by the end of 1942.
We passed lots of 4x trailer road trains (the big 53.5m ones) and lots of empty cattle trains - someone is offloading a lot of cattle! Maybe to Nth Qld after the recent cyclone and floods?
524kms driven today and tomorrow we head to Mt Isa and beyond.