Day 9 28/05/2013 Boulia to Jervois Station
We were up early, and on the road by 7.30am. We enjoyed our short stay in Boulia......... home to the mysterious 'Min-Min' lights and annual Camel Races. Typical of most Outback towns, Boulia has a fuel Station, a pub, a shop and an Information Centre. Because it is the headquarters of the whole Shire, there were also Council offices and a medical centre. If you take the time to say "G'day", the locals in any country town are very friendly. However, both in Boulia and Tibooburra , we found that the term 'local' is used loosely. We were served, (in the pub and the corner store respectively), by young women with English accents.....one from Bristol and one from Leicester. On chatting to them we found that both were on working visas and doing their mandatory length of time in the 'bush'. They were lovely young women with a great sense of adventure.
We travelled today on the Donohue Hwy(QLD) and then the Plenty Hwy (NT). Of course the term 'highway' is a bit of a misnomer, since the road is unsealed for most of its length, (around 500km), until it intersects with the Stuart Hwy near Alice Springs. The road advisory sign read 'High clearance 4WD vehicles only', but the conditions were much better than we expected and so we were able to drive further today than planned. We called in for fuel at Tobermorey Station, just across the border in the NT. This cattle station covers 1.5 million acres!!!!
The road surface was mainly dry and dusty, but there were some 'chewed up' sections.......fortunately not boggy. We did not see another vehicle until about 11.45 am except for 3 empty road trains coming towards us, not far from our start point. We had a very close encounter with a 'roo, but fortunately managed to avoid it.
We decided to stop driving at around 2pm and camp at Jervois Station, another cattle property further down the track. We are on red desert sand, beside a dry river bed with lovely gum trees all around. Another couple arrived not long after us, with a roof-top tent. The flies are back.....but not as many as in the Diamantina.....thank goodness!!! We had a relaxing afternoon. The middle of the day was quite hot, but it was another cool evening. We enjoyed sunset drinks and nibbles with our fellow campers and after dinner spent the evening chatting and star-gazing around the campfire. Absolutely fantabulous !!!!