Week 3 – Purposeful Meandering around Oz

Mt Isa – Camooweal – Barkly Homestead – Devils Marbles – Alice Springs

Kilometres          3119 – 4673 km

As week 2 finished we were stranded out in the bush with a broken van. So bright n early on Monday I headed into Mount Isa in an attempt to repair the drum brake on the van. With a little luck and a lot of cash we ended up  with a new hub and drum which is pretty good for such an isolated town. After 150km and a lot of blood, sweat and tears we were on the road again and heading to Mount Isa and our trip was back on track. We chose to only spend 2 nights in Mount Isa as this kept our plans on track, get the washing up to date and take in a few of the local attractions. The “School of the Air” being the highlight of our time in Isa. The school teaches 160 students from prep through to year 10. We got to sit in on a year 6 lesson and got a greater appreciation of the remoteness some families are faced with. One family in particular live 250km from their front gate!

Running repairs for the van

Leaving Isa we drove to Camooweal, which is just inside the QLD/NT border. Here we visited a Drover’s Camp museum and learnt the dying art of cattle mustering. Its a trade that is all-but extinct due to road-trains and helicopter mustering. That night we headed out to a beautiful billabong and enjoyed a night under the stars. The serenity of the spot made it our best overnight location to date. The birdlife was amazing with brolgas, pelicans, ducks, eagles, finchs, budgies and kites all feasting on the billabong. To our surprise we witnessed some traditional people come to the billabong where they fished for a few hours catching their night’s dinner.

School of the Air - Teacher delivering a Year 6 lesson

WWII Underground Hospital

Our location on the billabong was too good to leave but we had to press on and we soon crossed the border into the Northern Territory. As with all our border crossings we stopped for the obligatory photos and time to reflect on the vast emptiness of this area. Back on the road and with some 300km to our nights destination we were amazed to come across 2 separate pushbike riders who were taking in the scenery at a much slower pace than us. By mid-afternoon we were setting up the van at the Barkly Homestead, this oasis for travellers swells each afternoon as people like us make it home for the night. A welcome sign greets everyone but it also reminds everyone that the prices are inflated as you are in the middle of nowhere. Here we paid $2.09 for fuel but with little option you just cop it on the chin. The weather was nice enough that the kids had a swim in the pool. We were pleasantly surprised to catch up with our friends Greg & Judy who were on the homeward stretch of their WA holiday. We shared plenty of stories and laughs over a few drinks that night.

Camped by a billabong

Kids on top of this roadtrain at Barkly Homestead

Pushing further west the next day we got to the end of the Barkly Hwy and then headed south down through Tennant Creek and onto the Devils Marbles (Karlu Karlu) where we spent the night in a somewhat crowded campground. The marbles which weren’t what we expected, sit precariously atop one another are very impressive and the changing colours at sunset were a photographer’s paradise. We heard howling dingos throughout the night and by early morning we seen our 1^st dingo. The overnight low temp of 16deg was very balmy.

Some of the Devils Marbles

The busy campground at Devils Marbles

On the road again, we had some 450km into Alice Springs which passed by easily. The roads were good and we stopped regularly for highway geocaches. At one of these stops we were surprised to learn that we were over 750m above sea level, hence the cold nights Alice Springs experiences. Once in town we quickly restocked on essential items before the shops shut for the weekend. We setup camp in one of the many van parks in town and enjoyed a relaxing night with modern facilities. We are constantly drawn to the amazing views of the MacDonnell Ranges which seeming butt right up to the edge of town.

Alice Springs and the MacDonnell Ranges

The Todd River

As expected, Sunday Alice style is at a much slower pace and we took the opportunity to do the same. We took in the sights of the town from the ANZAC lookout. The kids struggled to grasp that the dry sandy parkland that snakes through town was actually the Todd River. We saw “The Ghan” which was in town and a few of the other sights. Late in the day we caught up with some old school friends who I hadn’t seen for over 20 years. We laughed and chatted about old times and digested what we’d done in recent years.

We finished week 3 by going out to dinner with a few local geocaching teams.