Journey East

Wed 10 June… Just another day at the office again today on our way East. Our main objective at the moment is to get to the coast but it will be a couple of days or more of travelling through the outback. We left Mount Isa with it’s extra large chimney still belching smoke and smelling of bad eggs, to go along the Overlander Way which is the route from Broome to Cairns. A stop at the small town of Cloncurry which boasts Australia’s best annual show and Rodeo this coming weekend. From what we could gather we would put it on a par with Newbold Village fete. We decide not to wait. They also claim to be the first destination for Quantas, but so does Daly Waters in Northern Territory, Both have the original hangar! On to Julia Creek which has the world famous Biannual “Dirt and Dust” festival, which we all know about don’t we! Anyway the campsite is fine with a nice view over the outback, but no communication signals of any description.
Thurs 11 June… Last night was the coldest night we have experienced since we came to Australia, it’s unbelievable how the temperatures have changed in the last few weeks. It dropped to 3 degrees last night and hasn’t been much warmer for the last few nights. We wake to bright, sunny, cloudless skies, but it’s still perishing! It warms up by about 10.30 to 11 o’clock. By 3.30 it’s probably about 25 degrees, but as soon as the sun starts to go down so does the temperature. We are still cooking outdoors but retreating inside to eat. Still refusing to wear long trousers or socks, but the soft Aussie guy in the van next door was wandering about in tracksuit bottoms, what looked like a donkey jacket and a beanie! Us Brits are made of sterner stuff.
It’s been another pretty boring days driving across the Outback, we have followed a rail track for about the last 400Ks as it runs parallel to the road, that shows how flat it is. It’s just Prairie and the only thing that has changed is the size of the dead kangaroos at the side of the road. They are bigger here and more reddish in colour. We have arrived at a place called Hughenden which is like many other camps, clean tidy but just a transit camp. Still, it gets us nearer to the coast.