Road trip from Alice Springs to Townsville

Sooo, now we are already on another road trip. This time it's a bit longer, but the landscape is also more diverse. We already knew the road, as we drove it in a southern direction, and we only stopped again in Barrow Creek to visit the old telegraph station. We didn't do that on the way there, but by now, the significance of this old telegraph line through the center of Australia was clear to us and I wanted to take a look inside. It was pretty cool because you could just walk through the house, look at the rooms, and read the information boards. Everything was still in its original condition, so it really felt a bit like being in 1900.

After Barrow Creek, it wasn't far to the Devils Marbles, where we wanted to spend the night. From Alice Springs, it's about 410 km. We arrived just in time for sunset and were able to take beautiful photos. The Devils Marbles are large, round stones that are just lying around in the landscape. It looks totally unreal. Some of the stones are really perfectly round, and elsewhere they are stacked in such a grotesque way that you think they're about to fall down. The spheres were formed by different layers of rock and erosion and were a very important ceremonial site for the Aboriginal people. The site was even shared by 4 different tribes who met there to dance and eat together. Very beautiful. In the meantime, it has become (like many things) a tourist attraction and the campground is located right between the stones. The evening sun illuminated the rock spheres beautifully orange, and the sunrise the next morning was equally impressive.

For dinner at the Devils Marbles, we had lamb chops, pork steaks, and salad. It was a really delicious barbecue dinner without a grill :D Just as we were eating, a car pulled up next to us. It's not like there was no space for miles in the campground. But the older couple was also pretty strange, and the woman just looked stupid when greeting. Well, there are people like that everywhere. The man just slept outside on the ground with only a sleeping bag. I wouldn't dare to do that in Australia! Even less so after I saw some kind of wild cat darting across the campground...

The next day, we walked around the stones a bit before and after breakfast and then continued driving. The next stop, after just over 100 km, was Tennant Creek. There we withdrew money, bought tissues, used the internet connection, and then went to the visitor center to get information about the route to the east. The north-south route is called the Explorer's Way and the stretch from Tennant Creek to Townsville is called the Outlander's Way. The Australians have turned these otherwise boring routes into exciting tourist discovery tours :D Well, exciting is relative because you certainly don't have to stop and visit an "attraction" in every small village. But at least you get an idea of what there is to see along the way.

A little after Tennant Creek, we had lunch at a rest area. In Alice Springs, we bought toast and fresh ingredients so that we could make delicious ham and cheese sandwiches with lettuce, tomatoes, and feta. When we arrived in Australia, I thought I would never be able to eat untoasted bread, but when we found out that Aussies like to have sandwiches for lunch, we wanted to try it too. And it was really a success. Toast is the cheapest bread in Australia, and I always thought we couldn't use it without a toaster. But it worked really well!

The rest of the afternoon we drove east until Camooweal. On the way there, the landscape changed from bush and tree desert to large green fields with lots of cattle. The road was no longer straight, but rather up and down. We crossed the border to Queensland about 20 km before Camooweal.

In Camooweal, there was a billabong where, according to Wikicamps, there is a free campground, and that's exactly what it was. We parked right next to the water in a very idyllic spot and set up our camp. Because of the water, there were lots of birds, and we were able to watch herons and pelicans fishing. For dinner, we made a delicious pasta salad with cucumber, tomato, spring onion, ham, and cheese. It was delicious!!

The next morning, we had a beautiful view from the car window of the sun rising over the billabong. It was really great. Then Andi pointed out to me that it wasn't half past six (when my alarm went off), but already seven because we had crossed into a new time zone with the border crossing. Andi has internet far more often than I do, especially in rural areas, so his phone adjusted automatically. Mine took a little longer and only adjusted in the next major city. So we went to that city right after breakfast, and it was called Mount Isa. It was much bigger than we expected and comparable to Alice Springs! Since we were already hungry and it was almost lunchtime, we drove to Lake Moondarra, which is about 15 km outside of town and supposed to be quite nice. And it was, although not exceptionally so. We thought we might be able to go swimming, but it was still a little too cold or the water was too algae-infested. We preferred to have a leisurely lunch and then used the free showers there to wash and cool off. This way, we could spend the next night at another campground without a water connection.

After the relaxing break at Lake Moondarra, we made a short detour back into town to buy some backup crispbread and fill up the gas tank. Then it was time to hit the road again! The next town on the route was Cloncurry (funny name!), followed by Julia Creek. There was a campground by a small river where we spent the night. It was already evening, and since Camooweal, we had covered 450 km. That wasn't much due to the long lunch break, but still pretty good. You also have to always keep in mind that in Australia, you don't whiz down the roads at 140 km/h or more, but on average, you drive at about 100 to 110 km/h. In the Northern Territory, the usual speed limit on highways is 130, but in the other states, it's 110. And often there are sections where you have to drive slower due to road conditions or construction sites.

So in Julia Creek, we set up camp again, made ourselves a vegetable-egg-rice skillet for dinner, enjoyed the starry sky a bit, and then went to bed. The next morning, we left before breakfast and had breakfast in the car. The flies outside were just too annoying. But eating in the car made the time go by much faster, so the first 150 km to Richmond flew by. There we stopped at another lake, brushed our teeth, filled up the gasoline canisters, and cooled off in a small water park for kids. There was hardly anyone there, except for one jet skier, even though it was Sunday morning, and the water was really refreshing. By now, you could already feel that we were leaving the desert climate and entering a more tropical area, and the sun was definitely stronger. After splashing around, we got back in the car.

After another 115 km, we reached Hughenden, where we had lunch with the leftovers from the previous day. Then we continued on. The landscape had changed again to the extent that there were more small towns and you could see a house here and there. More small towns means that there were only 50 instead of 150 km or more between the towns :D

On the way, we passed the White Mountains National Park, where we actually wanted to make a short detour and see the white sandstones. But the signage was so bad that we couldn't find the way into the park. On the main road, there was a lookout where we stopped. From there, we could see the rocks a bit and had a great view. Since we didn't feel like looking for the other road into the national park, we just continued on the highway. It was also really, really hot...

From Hughenden, it was another 330 km to Reid River, where we wanted to spend our last night of the road trip at a rest area. The next day, we would only have to drive the remaining 50 km to Townsville. In the evening, we made delicious ham noodles, and we could even sit outside because it was warm. Finally warm again in the evening, after sunset! Unfortunately, Andi was still a bit worried that it might cool down later at night and he would be cold in bed, so we slept with the trunk closed again. We couldn't leave any windows open either, otherwise hundreds of mosquitoes and other small creatures would have gotten in, so it was really, really hot at night and Andi even slept next to me without a shirt the next morning :D We actually wanted to treat ourselves to sleeping in, but at 7 a.m., the sun was shining so directly into the car that I had to get up. But it wasn't a big deal, I was already wide awake.

After breakfast, I called Alan again, and he said that as soon as we arrived in Bowen, we could start working the next day. So we decided to drive straight to Bowen :D We skipped Townsville and drove the 2.5 hours south from the rest area to Bowen. Now we're here and we're going to see Alan in person right away, let's see what happens. We're excited to see what kind of work and adventures await us there :D

P.S. The odometer showed 2200 when we arrived in Bowen. That's quite a lot...