Aug 11,12 After crossing into the Northern Territory, we free camp for one night at Frewena (the middle of nowhere) and then overnight at a small oasis of a caravan park at Banka Banka. It is an oasis because there are unlimited supplies of the freshest spring fed water you could wish to find. Time to give the car and caravan a treat with a complete wash down. The obligatory evening campfire was highlighted by another camper with his piano accordian. Great evening. (Bob cannot take credit for the camp fire).

A small mention must go to the Barkly Homestead who take a small advantage of their unique position of being the only fuel stop for miles and charging $2.06 a litre for diesel. Up until then our average cost per litre had been less than $1.50.

We take a small diversion to look at the famous Churchill Stones – supposed to look like Winston Churchill – looked more like some stones to us. Another interesting local habit – they seem to like dressing up the termite mounds in NT.

Aug 11 After 83 days and over 7,000 kilometres driven, we finally manage to escape our home state of Queensland.

Here are some interesting facts about Queensland :

• With an area of 1,727,000 square kilometres, Queensland is the second largest state in Australia. The biggest is Western Australia. Queensland is nearly 5 times the size of Japan, 7 times the size of Great Britain and 2.5 times the size of Texas.
• Queensland has 5 of Australia’s 11 World Natural Heritage areas. These include the Scenic Rim National Parks, Fraser Island, Riversleigh Fossil Fields, the Wet Tropics (including Daintree National Park), and 1 of the Wonders of the World—the Great Barrier Reef.
• More than half of Queensland’s population lives outside the greater metropolitan area of Brisbane—a large proportion compared with the rest of highly urbanised Australia.
• About 1/3 of Queenslanders are migrants or the children of migrants. Most settlers in Queensland during the 19th century were from Britain and Europe. In recent years there has been an increasing number of new settlers from South-East Asia.
• Queensland is home to more than 4 million people.
• The vast majority of Queensland receives an average of between 8 and 9 hours of sunshine every day.
• The multi-award winning Tjapukai Dance Theatre in Kuranda, North Queensland, featured in the 1997 Guinness Book of Records as the entry for the longest running show in Australia. The show ran from May 1987 to July 1996, with more than 7,000 performances and 1.2 million visitors.
• Queensland has more than 1000 species of native vertebrates, many of them unique to the region.
• The first Labor government in the world took office in Queensland in 1899.
• The international airline Qantas (Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services) was established in Longreach, Queensland, in 1920.
• There are over 200 national parks in Queensland, covering 6.5 million hectares.
• Four Queenslanders have been Prime Minister of Australia—Andrew Fisher (3 times: 1908–1909, 1910–1913 and 1914–1915), Arthur Fadden (1941), Francis Forde (1945) and Kevin Rudd (2007–2010).
• Free education was implemented in Queensland in 1870.
• The first Queensland railway opened in July 1865, from Ipswich to Grandchester.
• XXXX beer is one of Queensland’s well-known products and was established back in 1877.
• On 18 May 1907, women voted for the first time in a Queensland state election.
• Brisbane-born pioneer aviator Charles Kingsford Smith and his colleagues completed the first air crossing of the Pacific, from San Francisco to Brisbane, in 1928.
• Australian poet Banjo Patterson’s verse Waltzing Matilda was first sung publicly at the North Gregory Hotel in Winton, Queensland, on 6 April 1895.
• Queensland has the only State Parliament in Australia with 1 House, the Legislative Assembly. The Legislative Council (Upper House) was abolished in 1922.
• The Royal Flying Doctor Service started operating on 17 May 1928, when pilot Arthur Affleck flew the first flying doctor, Dr Kenyon St Vincent Welch, on the first official flight from Cloncurry to Julia Creek in response to an emergency call.
• The Australian Labor Party was formed in Queensland in 1891 following the bitter defeat of the shearer’s strikes of 1890–91.

Aug 10 Just 12 kms short of the Queensland border with the Northern Territories we overnight at a billabong free camp just outside Camooweal. A lovely spot with another opportunity for Bob to practise pyromania.

Aug 6 to 9 Mount Isa is a city in the Gulf Country region of Queensland. It came into existence because of the vast mineral deposits found in the area. Mount Isa Mines (MIM) is one of the most productive single mines in world history, based on combined production of lead, silver, copper and zinc. With a population of 22,000, Mount Isa is the administrative, commercial and industrial centre for the state’s vast north-western region. Although situated in an arid area, the artificial Lake Moondarra 19 km north of the city on the Leichhardt River provides both drinking water and an area for watersports, birdwatching and recreation. Locals often refer to Mount Isa as “The Isa”.

It just happened that we turned up at The Isa on the busiest weekend of the year – it was annual rodeo time (supposedly the biggest rodeo in Australia). If that is the case then I wouldn’t like to go to a small one !! But all the camp sites were full but we managed to free camp at the local golf course. We managed a game of golf but had difficulty actually finding the fairways (see pic of Siobhan who is in the middle of the 4th fairway).

Mount Isa has a great Irish Club where the Guiness is cold and poured correctly.

Aug 5 Cloncurry for an overnight stop before Mount Isa, with a coffee stop at the famous Burke and Wills roadhouse on the way. Cloncurry is the site of the first Flying Doctor flight and also the original Qantas base. (But not much else). There isnt even any water in the local river.

Aug 4 Back to Gregory Downs for one night at the free camp on the spring-fed river. See how fast it is flowing as Siobhan is swimming full pelt just to stay in place. Special thanks to the road train driver for the present of a large windscreen chip on the way in.

Aug 2, 3 Burketown is located 2,115 kilometres to the north west of Brisbane, with the nearest larger town being Cloncurry, 480 kilometres to the south. The town is roughly 30 kilometres inland from the Gulf of Carpentaria. It is located on the Albert River and Savannah Way in the area known as the Gulf Savannah. Burketown had a population of 173.

This is one town we thought we would not be able to make it to as the road from Gregory Downs was renowned as very rough. However, since the amount of mining in the area, the roads have been resurfaced and there is now only about 10 kms of dirt road which was quite passable.

Again, we find a fantastic free camp spot right on the Albert River with a 3 metere bank to discourage any croc visits in the night. Camp fires are allowed and we needed them in the cool evenings.