Camooweal
Camooweal is right near the Queensland and Northern Territory border. We stopped there for petrol and to have a aussie pie. A nice mural is painted on one of the buildings. As we were having our pie and chocolate milk, traffic stopped while a huge mining machine was transported through town.
The Aussie pies were so hot that Allan had an idea to hold his outside the Jeep window so the wind would cool it off. A huge bird was in waiting and almost took Allan’s pie out of his hand. Allan then just let it cool naturally….
My first up close view of a road train occurred across the road from where we parked.
Northern Territory
Points west of Camooweal in Northern Territory with fuel are Barkly's Roadhouse and the Stuart Highway, which is the main north-south road from Adelaide and Darwin. We stopped at Barkly's Roadhouse because we want to go north to Cape Crawford, which is known for having the 'Heartbreak Hotel'. We were going to see if Elvis has been seen there.
Barkly's have a nice facility, with rooms and camping with and without power. It is nice and shady and clean. The bar is a nice place to meet the staff off-hours and perhaps a 'character' or two. The feel after you cross over the border west of Camooweal is that you are really in the Outback. In winter, dry grassland as far as you can see lines both sides of the road to Barkly's. We met several cars with the hoods (bonnets) bent in from hitting kangaroos. Roadkill is all along the roadway at creek and dry river crossings.
If you travel at night....you are out with the roos...and a good bullbar is very necessary. Accidents on the roads around Barkly are attended to by the staff and take the injured to a small airfield west of the camp for airlifting to Alice Springs if necessary. Specialists from Adelaide come up to Alice Springs as necessary.
Allan and I assisted a bloke who traveled the Camooweal-Barkly road after dark and had hit a 7 foot roo...of course his bumper was smithereens and he needed a screwdriver to get his license plate off the broken plastic bumper so we could hang it on the shell of the nose of the car that was left. He was one of the carnival workers that were at the Mt. Isa stock show.
Cape Crawford is at the end of the Tablelands highway. On the southeast corner is the Heartbreak Hotel. There is caravan parking and a pub and roadhouse. Fuel is no more expensive than at Barkly Roadhouse or at Daly Creek. Borroloola is an aboriginal town northeast of Cape Crawford, which has fishing available in the McArthur River and also is near a fishing club on the Gulf of Carpenteria. A market is available in Borroloola with meat and vegetables.
Heartbreak Hotel according to some staff got its name from the original pub, which was called the Triangle Pub. A newly wed with his bride stopped in on their honeymoon. 'ringers (cowboys) visited the pub from the cattle stations regularly. According to the tale, the new bride took a shine to one of the ringers and disappeared with him. As each day passed...the bridegroom..became more and more heartbroken....so the Heartbreak Hotel got its name.
Helicopter rides are available to see the unusual sandstone formations in an area over the mountain called the 'Lost City'.
I met Janice, the barmaid. She was 22 and had been all over before coming to the Heartbreak Hotel pub. Jobs in the outback are available but as she described it, it is just being at the right place at the right time. She said that she was "available"….J .
Mataranka Resort is a first class facility which has a full range of accommodations. A thermal pool is available and bush walks down the Roper River. We spent Tuesday night there. The Roadies, a husband and wife team entertained with audience participation singing and dancing. The safari tour buses stop over there as well as the other transportation buses. The Elsey National Park is in the same area as well as Territory House.
The town of Katherine has a nice shopping district. Internet access is available at the art gallery on the main street. Also available on the main street is a nice shopping center with a Woolworth's grocery store. If you are travelling, stock up on meat and veggies there...and don't forget the cordial.
We stayed in Katherine Gorge at Nitmiluk National Park, Wednesday night. We took the boat ride up the Katherine River through the Katherine Gorge. The cost of the boatride up the Katherine Gorge was $29 per person for the two-hour trip. During the dry season, the two-hour trip requires a 700-metre walk over rocks to the second pool and boat with gorge wall paintings viewable along the way.
Salt-water crocodiles are dangerous. One was found on the Katherine River in the park. The rangers trapped it and reopened the river for swimming a few days before we arrived. The fresh water (estuary) crocodiles, which are plentiful in the river, use the sandy banks on the river for laying eggs.
There are seven pools in the gorge. Canoes can be rented which are easy to move through the rocks and rapids to the next pool. The Katherine Gorge is very scenic.
On the boat trip, Zane was our boat driver and guide. He also writes travel stories and has had four published, one of which was in the Malaysian Airlines inflight magazine.
