Burke & Wills

6th July – Monday

Today we headed for an overnight stop at Burke and Wills Roadhouse, halfway between Cloncurry and Normanton.

As we had been told that the road to Normanton was single lane in places, it was decided that the copilot would take the first shift, driving on the main highway from Mt Isa to Cloncurry. This road proved to be very twisty, hilly, narrow, poor surface and have lots of traffic – ore carrying road trains in particular. Another large chip/crack in the windscreen didn’t help, either. A rather stressful 120 kms and it was a race to get into the caravan at the Cloncurry rest area.

We are definitely in croc country now – just last week a 4.5 metre saltwater crocodile was discovered in the recreational lake at Cloncurry. Cloncurry is over 400 kms from the Gulf!

The supposedly “bad” road north from Cloncurry was flat, wide, long straights and a good surface. Not hard to guess who drew the short straw! We came across some brolgas on this section of the road, the first we have seen this year. Also LOTS of roadkill – I think we saw more this morning than the remainder of the time we have been on the road.

Burke and Wills has a roadhouse, with a camping area behind it, and a rather unusual odour, rather like raw cauliflower or cabbage. Found out it is the gidyea tree (pronounced gidgee) that makes the smell. Evidently the place really swings on a Friday and Saturday, when the locals arrive in their helicopters and 4 wheel drives. Sorry we are here on a Monday, but we do have an Elvis impersonator in the caravan beside us. No mobile phone coverage or television, so it will be back to the crib tournament tonight. Someone is still trying to catch up!