Not a great deal happening but I thought I would catch you up on what’s been happening since my last missive a little while ago now.
I left Barcaldine on 14th April heading to what I thought was a small town of Torrens Creek, but this turned into a bit of trek, and the town consisted of approx 5 houses and a Hotel with camping facilities which was closed. Anyway this was a trip of approx 350kms with the last 25kms or so of unsealed road. Now normally an unsealed road is jut gravel and or sane with a few potholes and some corrugations, but this was next level. The had rain in this area a week or so before which was fairly heavy and this had played a bit of havoc with the road. Very bad corrugations, sand drifts over a metre deep, lumps of concrete (or old bits of the road) hard to tell the difference. This stretch of road took over 2 hours to get through and caused a couple of problems in the passing. Firstly the car was shaking and vibrating so much the UHF aerial snapped as it was whipping around so much, and the caravan rear view camera gave up the ghost as well. I think the camera was being shaken so much something has come loose inside as it flickered for a while before it blanked out. I reckon if it was the cable snapping it would have stopped working instantly. I was very glad to get back on the tarmac after that little episode. I found a great free camp site about 12kms outside Torrens Creek in an old gravel pit. Only one there and it was very peaceful.
Next morning I back tracked as I didnt want to head any further East as that would have been heading towards where the Covid19 was having some affect on the population. It was getting hard to find campsites open, or if they were it was only for essential workers. I did manage to find one in Julia Creek which was happy to accept me but only for one night, so off we trotted on another 350km plus trip but this time tarmac all the way and a very uneventful journey, Got myself booked into the site in Julia Creek after filling in two pages of forms for the local council. A very nice caravan campsite with over 80 sites and I had the pick of all of them as I was the only one there. Found a nice spot right next to the showers and bathroom, saved me some walking. It seemed a nice little town but most things were closed so had a quiet night before packing up the next morning.
From Julia Creek I decided to head North as I wanted to go up to the Gulf of Carpentaria and get some sea air. The trip North was mostly on a single track road, with nice flat level borders either side of the road which was handy as I met quite a few road trains coming the other way. I spotted on particular roadtrain coming from towards me for over a kilometre, I was on an uphill section and the borders had a bit of slope to them. Well this chap was coming straight down the middle of the road, and certainly wasnt slowing down any I moved off the road until just my off side wheels were running along the edge of the tarmac, yes with hindsight I should have just stopped. Anyway this train passed me with about a foot to spare, and whether I turned the wheel too sharp and or the wind off the truck hit me, but the caravan slipped further down the bank and the top rear corner managed to clip a tree branch. Heard the bang, and managed to stop. Picked up a couple of pieces of trim from the van. I couldn’t do much till I got to my next location. I ended up at Burke and Willis roadhouse and they were happy to have me stay in on their site. I managed to get my ladder out and look at the damage, I think optomistically, it looks worse than what it is. So after a bit of glue, sealant and a hefty dose of masking tape, hopefully it will hold until I can get it sorted, probably an insurance job. The next morning while having my breakfast somebody knocked on the caravan door and on opening I was faced with two police officers and two soldiers. After a pleasant and friendly chat I was told to pack up and leave as I wasnt allowed to go any further as there were roadblocks stopping anyone coming and going from all the local towns. I was a bit miffed to say the least but fully understood the situation. This area had a high proportion of Aboriginies and they were very susceptible to the infection. So on the 17 April as I knew it was open I decided to drive back to Barcaldine and park up for the duration. So 791kms and 9 hours later I arrived and have been here ever since. So basically I travelled 1730kms and ended up exactly where I started.
If anyone is interested as to where I am staying, you can look up Roses n Things on google or Facebook and it will show you. Lovely gardens and tea rooms,
So im afraid there aren’t any pictures to end this as Ive not been out and about to take any, and there is not really much in town worth photographing.
When I get back on the road again, hopefully sometime in June I will let you know, but it looks like the interstate border won’t be opened until September.
I do hope everyone is staying safe and well during this horrible time, and obeying all the rules, even if the politicians dont seem to be able to.
Geoff1511 Travels 