Mt Isa – Sunday

Today was a day of driving, approx 550kms, back to Mt Isa, it was the only way to minimise the amount of dirt road. We believed that disabling the power to the Sway Controller would eliminate our problems when towing the camper but we weren’t sure. Neither of us were game to say anything as the kilometres went by without a single jerk, not until we were actually back in Mt Isa could we believe it had worked. Tomorrow it will get tidied up by the Auto electrician.

There was road kill so today we saw many Wedgetail Eagles dining with the Whistling Kites and Red Kites.

Wedgetail Eagle

At the end of our 75 kms stretch of dirt road we stopped at a funny little General Store at Gregory. It was a little shed outside the front of his house and he offered, “The best coffee in the Gulf Savannah” and free use of his compressor if you bought a coffee. The tyres needed to be pumped up after being on dirt roads so how could we resist? The roads were actually the worst dirt ones we’ve been on so far, we blamed the big mining trucks. Billy Hanger was a very interesting man who liked cooking, Alex enjoyed his pineapple muffins. If you were in town on the right day you could help him make cheese from sour milk using the BBQ or construct pizzas with the “home made” cheese and whatever else he decided to include. Alex agreed the coffee was great and it was a bonus not having to retrieve the compressor from the back of the car to reinflate the tyres.

Click on an image to see it full sized.

Gregory General Store – it was tiny.

Thanks, mate.

You can pack quite a lot in a small space

Our next stop was the “Burke and Wills Roadhouse” a place we stopped at many years ago but wouldn’t have recognised. Last time Alex had a giant bacon and egg sandwich but we didn’t stop to eat this time just had a drink then moved on. There were butterflies flitting all over the Bouganvilleas out the front of the roadhouse.

Can imagine the Bull Bar gets a bit raucous

Butterfly on Bouganvillea

A REAL cork board

Butterfly on Bouganvillea

We refuelled at Cloncurry then continued on to Mt Isa, there was a lot more traffic than we’d seen all day. There is evidence that the “Grey Nomads” are starting to flock, every nice riverside rest area seems to have clusters of caravans, some look more like a Caravan Sales Yard.

Tonight we’re staying in a “Studio Room” at the Caravan Park so we don’t have to pack up the camper before 7:30 in the morning. We also feel we’ve earned a little bit of indulgence after a freezing cold night and a tiring day.