Saturday night, Camooweal, 19 55 S, 138 07 E: 1600 k onward
And watching the spectacular sundown over the grasslands at 18.50, half an hour later than in Undara – a measure of how far westwards I’ve got since then – and tomorrow I cross the Queensland/Northern Territory border just 13 km west of here and have to throw away all fruit and veg AND put my watch back – yes – half an hour!
An easy drive here – the guide book threatening one-file asphalt much of the way, but massive improvements the last two years ) and almost zero traffic on a Saturday afternoon, cruising happily at 110 k/hr, first thru hill country almost like Californian coastal range (but no people!) and then into undulating bush and grassland, not quite as monotonous as “back there” – this is the beginning the Barkly Tableland....all hundreds of thousands of square km of it.... and almost nobody....
Camooweal itself a nice little place (popn 320) , with some character – don’t quite understand some sour blogs – but they were from people coming eastwards – which suggests I have great things to come! Pleasant people at the roadhouse, all feeling sorry for a Dutch guy who had lost control -?tyre explosion – overturned at speed, but survived with only scratches, although his van a total write-off. Interesting cameraderie between truckies, locals, not so local ozzies and us furreners on a Saturday night in a remote roadhouse somewhere in the middle of it all – and I finally got my beef pie and chips.....
(I would have loved to have seen the caves in Cambrian limestones just 8 k south of town, but it’s a tribal area, permits needed etc - and for those of you wondering about the name – it’s nothing exotic – Mr Weale, the first man to bring camels into the district around 1880).
Banka Banka Station, Sunday night, 18 48 S, 134 02 E, 2140 km on...
Now, with this name, I just couldn’t resist stopping here for the night (and the guide was ever so positive too) – Local tribal language – banka=water, so here there’s lots of sweet drinkable water, all gushing up from the underlying Cambrian limestones (yes the same as way back there in Camooweal – I’ve just travelled over an immense expanse of them) The locals maintain that it’s the same aquifer as in Papua New Guinea – I note my reservations..... (The locals being the station manager from (UK) Chester, still with a strong northern English accent, and a local prospector who believes there’s more gold to be found in them thar hills....
I finally get my questions answered about these cattle stations – Banka Banka is now part of an amalgamated unit – Helen Springs Station – which has an area of 15,000 SQUARE KM and runs 65,000 head of cattle................... All with a workforce of about 30...... “Quite an average size these days” asserts the manager.... That’s an area of 100 x 150 km, with just those cattle and people – put that on a map of Europe and think about it.....
But how did I get here? The most barren and relentless part of the trip so far – over the Tablelands, slightly undulating grass and shrubland, first 260 km to Barkly Homestead, with only 1 police post and a cattle station (but no fuel or any other house, hut or anyfink) on the way, then another 190 km of nothingness to “Three Ways” – a functional description for a junction where you can head 573 km southwards to Alice Springs (no thanks), 635 km eastwards to Mount Isa (been there, done it) or 642 km to Katherine and then Darwin (yes please).
It was such a relief to get to Three Ways – the trip over the Tableland seemed to have been endless stretches of straight road, disappearing in a heat mirage forwards, then every 10 minutes or so a tiny dot looming out of the mirage about 6-8 km away, slowly becoming a passing car or roadtrain, finally passing at (very) high velocity and a friendly wave.... Then – Oh My God! A slight bend in the road – how do I manage that???? Hard to concentrate, especially in the heat and light, pretty tiring – I start to understand why my Libyan drivers were so exhausted by similar trips through vast hot areas of nothing.....
Now heading north on the Stuart Highway towards Katherine, still a long way to go, but interesting things to see – this was the site of the first telegraph line between southern Australia and London – I took a picture of Tennant Creek Telegraph Station built in 1872, cutting communication time from 6 months to 7 hours..... Also lots of WWII sites - this highway was developed then to maintain and build up military response to a feared Japanese invasion of Darwin and the north. Lots of things to see, maybe at about 100 km intervals or so, back to normal....
I’d planned to get further today, but Banka Banka just got the better of me....
And watching the spectacular sundown over the grasslands at 18.50, half an hour later than in Undara – a measure of how far westwards I’ve got since then – and tomorrow I cross the Queensland/Northern Territory border just 13 km west of here and have to throw away all fruit and veg AND put my watch back – yes – half an hour!
An easy drive here – the guide book threatening one-file asphalt much of the way, but massive improvements the last two years ) and almost zero traffic on a Saturday afternoon, cruising happily at 110 k/hr, first thru hill country almost like Californian coastal range (but no people!) and then into undulating bush and grassland, not quite as monotonous as “back there” – this is the beginning the Barkly Tableland....all hundreds of thousands of square km of it.... and almost nobody....
Camooweal itself a nice little place (popn 320) , with some character – don’t quite understand some sour blogs – but they were from people coming eastwards – which suggests I have great things to come! Pleasant people at the roadhouse, all feeling sorry for a Dutch guy who had lost control -?tyre explosion – overturned at speed, but survived with only scratches, although his van a total write-off. Interesting cameraderie between truckies, locals, not so local ozzies and us furreners on a Saturday night in a remote roadhouse somewhere in the middle of it all – and I finally got my beef pie and chips.....
(I would have loved to have seen the caves in Cambrian limestones just 8 k south of town, but it’s a tribal area, permits needed etc - and for those of you wondering about the name – it’s nothing exotic – Mr Weale, the first man to bring camels into the district around 1880).
Banka Banka Station, Sunday night, 18 48 S, 134 02 E, 2140 km on...
Now, with this name, I just couldn’t resist stopping here for the night (and the guide was ever so positive too) – Local tribal language – banka=water, so here there’s lots of sweet drinkable water, all gushing up from the underlying Cambrian limestones (yes the same as way back there in Camooweal – I’ve just travelled over an immense expanse of them) The locals maintain that it’s the same aquifer as in Papua New Guinea – I note my reservations..... (The locals being the station manager from (UK) Chester, still with a strong northern English accent, and a local prospector who believes there’s more gold to be found in them thar hills....
I finally get my questions answered about these cattle stations – Banka Banka is now part of an amalgamated unit – Helen Springs Station – which has an area of 15,000 SQUARE KM and runs 65,000 head of cattle................... All with a workforce of about 30...... “Quite an average size these days” asserts the manager.... That’s an area of 100 x 150 km, with just those cattle and people – put that on a map of Europe and think about it.....
But how did I get here? The most barren and relentless part of the trip so far – over the Tablelands, slightly undulating grass and shrubland, first 260 km to Barkly Homestead, with only 1 police post and a cattle station (but no fuel or any other house, hut or anyfink) on the way, then another 190 km of nothingness to “Three Ways” – a functional description for a junction where you can head 573 km southwards to Alice Springs (no thanks), 635 km eastwards to Mount Isa (been there, done it) or 642 km to Katherine and then Darwin (yes please).
It was such a relief to get to Three Ways – the trip over the Tableland seemed to have been endless stretches of straight road, disappearing in a heat mirage forwards, then every 10 minutes or so a tiny dot looming out of the mirage about 6-8 km away, slowly becoming a passing car or roadtrain, finally passing at (very) high velocity and a friendly wave.... Then – Oh My God! A slight bend in the road – how do I manage that???? Hard to concentrate, especially in the heat and light, pretty tiring – I start to understand why my Libyan drivers were so exhausted by similar trips through vast hot areas of nothing.....
Now heading north on the Stuart Highway towards Katherine, still a long way to go, but interesting things to see – this was the site of the first telegraph line between southern Australia and London – I took a picture of Tennant Creek Telegraph Station built in 1872, cutting communication time from 6 months to 7 hours..... Also lots of WWII sites - this highway was developed then to maintain and build up military response to a feared Japanese invasion of Darwin and the north. Lots of things to see, maybe at about 100 km intervals or so, back to normal....
I’d planned to get further today, but Banka Banka just got the better of me....
Dette ser fantastisk ut David, imponerende dagsetapper.
SvarSlettEnig med Rebecca, dette vekker reiselysten.
Hvor skal du videre, Darwin?
Fortsatt god tur!