Aus Day 21 - A Rude Awakening

Sunday October 10th    Aus Day 21


I was woken at about 02.15 by the sound of loud music and drunken voices shouting. This turned out to be the rag end of what had obviously been a very good night in the Barkly Homestead Bar. I thought the place had been pretty busy when I had my evening meal of ‘egg & bacon burger’ in there. However, it had been relatively quite when I left at 7.30 pm.

Anyway, soon off back to sleep, to arise this morning at 07.30. Shower, Breakfast, and hit the road after refuelling by 09.00 with an original destination of Cape Crawford at the north end of the Tablelands Hwy, Route 11. I had already identified a further potential destination of Borroloola, along the Savannah Hwy towards the Gulf of Carpentaria, depending on time available.

The Tablelands Hwy is a 380 km, single track sealed road that connects the Barkly Hwy with the Carpentaria/Savannah Hwys. One of the constant hazards on the road is wandering stock. You have to be continually vigilant for stock standing on or crossing the road. I took this photo early on but others were literally in the middle of the road drinking from rain water pools. Part of the difficulty was that you couldn’t predict what they were liable to do as you approached. One young steer ran directly in front of the van but I had taken precautions and was able to stop in time. Traumatic, all the same.

Just Cleared the Road in Time

The Tablelands are rightly named in that it is a vast expanse of very flat land with the cattle farms, or Stations, covering enormous areas. You might think it was boring to drive through this landscape but, I found it fascinating, always looking out for the next point of interest. There were many predatory birds, cruising the highway due to the large number of road-kill carcasses lining the road. Unfortunately, as ever, they were always too fast for me to get a decent photo, by the time I had stopped the van they were miles away.

Tablelands Highway

Van on the Tablelands Highway

Which Way is it Now???

At about 10.55 I was crossing the Playford River, what I thought would just be another dry riverbed when I spotted that there was actually a pool remaining which was being visited by numerous cattle and also a variety of bird life, including Pelicans. I stopped a little way past and tried to sneak back with camera at the ready. Unfortunately I didn’t get too close before the pelicans spotted me and took off in unison an were soon circling about half a mile away. However, I waited patiently and eventually, one of them returned along with a couple of herons and some cormorants.

It Definitely Says River - Not Pond

Where did those Pelicans Go?

Oh! One of You Came Back Then?

Leaving the birds and cattle to their water hole I pressed on against the overwhelming traffic (lol) but as I travelled the scenery was gradually changing and I started to see more and more of the Termite heaps across the landscape and at 11.15 decided to take a shot or two to show you. As you can see they’re a bit like East London Tower Blocks.

Quick Fred - Build Another One!

At 12.00 I stopped again for a quick drink, one has to keep one’s liquid intake up. By this time, I had been driving for 3 hours and covered 243 kms with another 137 kms to go to reach Cape Crawford and the landscape had changed again and I was now driving through a wooded environment. Not very tall and not very thick but, definitely trees.

See, I Told You Trees Hadn't Been Banned

Mustn't Loose The Van Amongst All These Trees

At about 12.30 with approximately 90 kms to go, a veritable rush hour developed with three vehicles rushing past me in the opposite direction. This entails passing vehicles to travel half on the sealed surface and half on the unsealed, hard shoulder and hopefully slow down to a reasonable pace. Unfortunately for me, the first of these three vehicles, a large pick-up truck pulling a trailer with a boat on it, hurtled past, completely on the unsealed surface, and flung up a shower of stones, one of which put a 1” diameter star-chip right in the centre of my windscreen. Luckily, it didn’t shatter but it gave me a hell of a shock and there were one or two expletives expressed. This incident over, I was getting close to Cape Crawford and the terrain was now getting a bit more undulating and I even stopped to get a photo of a rocky ridge, through the trees.

An Outbreak Of Hilly Stuff

13.30, and I arrived at Cape Crawford Roadhouse at the north end of the Tablelands Hwy. As with most roadhouses, there was nothing else there and as I had time to spare, decided to nip out to Borroloola, just because I fancied the name and because I could. I know I will simply have to retrace my tracks tomorrow but hey! It’s my holiday. So, having refuelled, at some exorbitant rate close to 112 pence per litre, and stocked up on diet coke, I headed off in an easterly direction along the Savannah Hwy. The first 10 kms or so, were pretty much like the Tablelands Hwy, i.e. Single track but then it broadened into a two lane highway apart from the odd stretch here and there. This was an uneventful run and I arrived in Borroloola at 15.00 having totally forgotten that it was Sunday so was unable to stock up on beer which I am down to my last can. Hey Ho!

Selected a nice shady spot in the caravan park and set-to to complete my notes.


Nice Shady Retreat At Borroloola

Borroloola seems to be a jumping off place for fishermen with much advertising of Barramundi and all sorts of fishing tackle. However, I don’t think I will bother. I would like to have made it to ‘Bing Bong’ on the Gulf of Carpentaria but time is now against me, so will have to forego that opportunity. In any case, in my travels I am realising that it is not necessarily arriving somewhere and ‘doing’ things that attracts me but, the simple fact of travelling and witnessing new things every day. Apart from that chap Zebedee, who seems to spring up wherever I am. “And so to bed!!!”