Darwin to Three Ways - 927km
Set off at civilised time - no early mornings for the unemployed! Or so we thought..
Not really planning to get so far, until we realised how many one pony towns were along the way. Dont go looking for the Katherine Gorge unless you know its Indiginous name - Nitmiluk - Dont ask for help at the Katherine Visitors Info Centre - they are not really interested, in fact - dont even stop. Thought Mataranka might have been good for a thermal swim - think again - move straight on. Daly Waters Pub (the legend) - wont be staying there for the night - no no no, not for us, no thank you!
Daly Waters PubTravelled through Barkly country - very flat and not much to see. Thank God for Apple - I-Pod. Possibly our best purchase ever. Lukily we had spent some time before departing loading lots of music - Thanks Mitch for helping update the Evans/Fanshawe music selection.:)
Three Ways for the night - had been told to give Tenant Creek a miss. So ended up at what we would best describe as a trucker stop that had 3 styles of accommodation. No camping or dongas for us - so we booked into what they call a motel room - bad inventory managment if you ask us - it was a shabby donga with single beds, that you could barely swing a cat in. Anyway a burger and a couple of beers and off to bed.
Three Ways RoadhouseFriday 3rd December 2010
6.30am start - to cross the Tablelands heading for Mt Isa. Petrol is nearly $2/L at this stage - so economical driving speed paramount today - no 130km/h - 100 km/h to save a few dollars. Friday saw the start of the Ashes series - lovely that ABC were able to broacast to us - but very uninteresting very quickly as we listen to Australias demise. Back to Apple and some happier tunes.
More friendly and helpful people at the Mt Isa Information Centre - must be something in the water south of Darwin. Happily in QLD now. Mt Isa is a lot nicer that we thought it was going to be, gas is cheaper than Darwin and the trucks are bigger than Texas. Cloncurry looked like a nice country town with all facilities - clean and tidy little place. Made it through to Richmond - 1000km in a day - too easy on the open roads. Checked into the nicest motel in town - same price as the dump at Three Ways - but a whole lot nicer with a lovely pool and fabulous service from the owner/manager. Tons of friendly locals at the pub for Friday night drinks, all wanting to share their life stories of the outback with us. Scared us off for another early night.
Saturday 4th December 2010
Up early looking for petrol station - not open - so motored through to Hughenden - another nice little town with good services. Made the decision to get to Cairns. Feeling the need for coastal vibes. Made it to Sugar cane country with lots of strange "Bag Trees" covering the precious bananas. Rich is dying to take a photo to send to Miles and Nina to show them the bag trees that we have in Oz.
Note the Blue and Yellow bags - loads more at this time of year.
Made it to Townsville by lunchtime - straight past on the ring road. Really surprised how big Townsville is and certainly new roading in place for it to grow and grow. Lots of new sub developments. Might stop in on the way down to Airlie to have a better look. Motored up to Cairns - stopped just after Townsville for a bite of lunch - the new style. This involves sandwiches/rolls from the Super Duper. No more flash restaurants and cafes for us. That was our pact when deciding to take 3 months off. So far going ok... Arrived in Cairns to meet up with Lou and Andrew. Great to see them and be able to stay for a few days. IHG friends are the best hosts and they have a great apartment at Yorkeys Knob - which Rich likes to call Yonkeys Knob.
We made it to the coast!! A bit faster than we expected so proping here for a few days. Starting to relax and enjoy some time together - could get used to this!!
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