On leaving Darwin we went noodling at the following place, as we were heading south:
* Berry Springs - then lunch at Berry Springs Tavern
* Edith Falls - after breakfast
* Katherine Hot Springs - after lunch
* Bitters Springs - to finish off the day and then back the next morning, to start the day.
Stopped at Daly Waters Pub to buy a couple more stubby holders then stopped the night 90k east of Daly Waters Pub on the Carpentaria Hwy.
We stopped for two days at King Ash Bay and were wishing we had the boat here. The road in was rough for the first 5km but fine after that, as a grader had just recently been through and roadworks are currently happening. While here we contemplated travelling through to Burketown (510k) via a dirt road, but after speaking with a few others, decided against it.
So we headed back to Cape Crawford and headed south on the Tableland Highway towards Barkly Homestead Roadhouse. This highway is a one lane highway, we rock n rolled down this rickety old road. It was a game of cat and mouse with all the on coming traffic. Trucks = cat and DABUS = mouse. Other times both parties pull off the road bit and cruise past, yet other times there other 4x4's that just fly past spraying DABUS with stones......
At one stage we hit a few big bumps in the road.... the co-driver was driving at the time... and put her foot on the brake.... the bus must have been airbourne... as the tyres hit the bitumen.. the tyres screeched as they came back on the road....
Some stages of the road... it felt like we were following in the tracks of the explorer of the Barkly Tablelands... William Landsborough.....it was like getting stuck in wagon wheel ruts......
Crossing the Barkly Tableland was just an amazing.....the road itself was an adventure but the landscape was forever changing. We came across river gums, massive treeless open plains, wattles... and heaps of cattle.
We headed east from Barkly Homestead....arriving at Camooweal Queensland and set up camp beside the Camoonweal Billabong.