We've been in Cairns for over 6 months and now we are heading over from Queensland to the Northern Territory.
Tomorrow (Sunday 26th April) we are leaving Cairns with mixed feelings. Sad at leaving friends behind and some terrific places, but looking forward to moving on to the next place and finding out what's in store.
Today there was an Anzac Day Parade which we went on. The children are here with other pupils from their school.
Note the ever present 927m high Walshs Pyramid in the background.
We set off from Cairns and our first night was spent at the Toomulah rest area, next to this murky river...
...which had "croc warning" signs all around. In the morn I was chatting to a Kiwi who was singing the praises of the sea in the area just where this murky croc-infested river came out. He said it was great for a swim!
"What about the crocs and the stingers?" I asked, somewhat alarmed.
"Well. You've just got to have a quick look in the water before you dive in". !! Maybe that's why the population of New Zealand is so low ?!
Most of the driving is on lonnnggg very straight roads with telegraph poles and white lines disappearing into the vantage point many kilometers ahead.
Thankfully though, I didn't have to do all the driving, as Kaya often took over whilst I had a snooze.
And after a snooze, what could be better than a wonderful Driver Reviver stop. These appear intermittently on the highways, free tea, coffee, and juice and biccies for all to break the journey. The children are always on the lookout for signposts to them!
On the right is our roadside rest area where we spent Monday night. Whilst we get the caravan clean and set up camp, Kaya always heads straight for the nearest picnic table to do some cleaning up of her own.
We stopped at Charters Towers shortly after Townsville and it's a lovely place which came alive in the Gold Rush era in the 1850's to 1900's.
After Charters Towers, we were in
Dinosaur Country
A dinosaur museum in Hughenden...
...another dinosaur museum in Richmond...
It's a few hundred km between towns and even those that are on the map have small populations (Cloncurry 3600, Richmond 1000).
Every 100km or so you do pass a dirt road leading off our bitumen road.
...and we thought we were driving along isolated road. What must it be like to drive along another 160km of dirt road before getting home?
The first proper stop before heading into the NT may be at Mt Isa (population 25,000), but that's still 1300km from here and towing a caravan takes even longer.
We'll be in touch as and when we can...
...nearly there...
Friday 1st May
We arrived in Mt Isa yesterday after 4 days of travelling. Yipppeee !!
I had an interesting days teaching at the local primary school and Hayley and the children explored an underground hospital, built during WW2.
Then we set off on the Saturday. We were thinking of staying a while in Mt Isa, but after spending a whole day there, we decided to move on. Here are some views of Mount Isa and the picturesque mine. Some folk had said that the mine was right near the town centre. But we didn't expect it to be that near!
Here we are admiring the view of the town centre and the MINE. Photo on the right is the Mount Isa hotel...
...and the MINE.
[ Written on Friday:
But in the meantime, we're heading off to Tennant Creek in the Northern Territory tomorrow - probably arrive on Monday aft. There's no/little phone coverage so we hired a satellite phone in case of emergency. They cost a mere $2500 to buy !! So we hired one for $110 per week.
We should have contact when we get to Tennant Creek on Monday... ]
Monday
Yes! We're here. Photos and stuff to follow....
...follow the Forwards link below.
