Schoers' Travels: 07/26/13

The rolling Mitchell Grass plateau of the Barkly Tableland is 100,00km² in area and stretches from Mt Isa in NW Queensland to Tennant Creek in the Northern Territory and north to about 100km from the Gulf coastline. The character of the region is shaped by the local Aboriginal cultures, mining, the cattle industry and tourism.

The roads are straight and stretch to the horizon with the caravans of grey nomads appearing like covered wagons in the distance.

Grey nomads were out in force once we hit the Barkly and Stuart Highways

They emerge out of shimmering mirages and tend to congregate in mutually supportive herds in the ‘free’ camping spots along the highway. Everyone is settled by 3.30pm – 4.00pm as camp stools are drawn into tight circles for ‘happy hour’.

Formal campgrounds are scattered every 200km or so along the highway usually behind a roadhouse or on a cattle station. Powered sites are always at a premium and the rigs of newish x4 wheel drives and shiny vans sprouting TV and UHF aerials, start to vie for these prized sleeping spots by mid afternoon.

A grey nomad settled in at Daly Waters

Like all herd animals their camping behaviours are interesting to observe. There is always a determined search for a patch of grass on which to place the picnic table and a shady patch in which to unfold the aluminium chair from which to watch the late arrivals and to enjoy a cold beer, held in a souvenir stubbie holder of course.

A delivery by a beast

I am proud of my Stars and Stripes beast

We settled into the remote camping site of the Daly Waters pub. So remote in fact, that we share the dusty space with about 150 other campervans, tents, camper-trailers and caravans. Every traveller has pulled in for the night to enjoy the idiosyncratic character of the pub and to enjoy a country western concert and a feed of ‘beef or ‘barra’. Our neighbours are about 1.5 metres away – perhaps there can be too much of a good thing! The evening concert of bush songs, bad bush verse and corny jokes only had a limited life span for us before we abandoned it, it was pretty painful.

Daly Waters pub

Sustenance for the beasts at Daly Waters

A big "happy hour"...with entertainment at Daly Waters pub and campground

That's beef and/or barra after a beastly day travelling

No, kids. We are eating at Daly Waters tonight! Some nice beasts are for sale.

Spoils of rough nights at Daly Waters

I purchased a good leather belt, tanned traditionally by Wattle bark...and "GAZ" is stamped on it...a most valued outback souvenir

David and Goliath at dawn at Kynuna

The biggest beasties in the world of this highway are the road trains – the lifeblood of the region. They carry stock, fuel, mining equipment, food supplies, minerals, beer, vehicles and every other imaginable item needed by the locals. They roll down the highway at 100km/hour – all 53 metres of them and carry 2000 litres of diesel when tanked up. The drivers sport thongs, blue singlets and tatts and perform daily miracles of skilled driving to stay on the bitumen and avoid annialahting the grey nomad caravaners who try to overtake them at unsafe speeds.

A beast leaves the campground at Kynuna at dawn

Another long day's haul starting

An explosive beast...we stayed well-clear when passing

We passed this monster rig of mining machinery in the dirt and got a split windscreen for our efforts...a three day delay in Mount Isa as a replacement came from Townsville. What a beast!

A large windmill turning slowly in the breeze or the frame of a solar powered artesian bore pump are a sure indicator of a cattle watering point from a turkey nest dam along the stock route or on a station bordering the highway. The cattle wander in largely unfenced paddocks and are of Santa Gertudis and Brahmin breeds – with other variations unknown to the eye of this city slicker. We occasionally pass the bloated carcass of a beast that has come to grief in the path of a road train.

Windmill and Ghost Gum

A pump used to obtain artesian water from a non free-flowing bore. This water is not an infinite resource and levels have fallen since the Artesian Basin was tapped over a century ago.

A mixed herd of Brahman and Santa Gertrudis (bulls)

The raptors are well fed along the highway from the carcasses of road kill, eg kangaroo, wild pigs, feral cats and foxes. Wedge-tail eagles hold to the meat until the last second before a vehicle flashes past and they soar into the sky and settle on a nearby dead tree branch to eye the road and wait for their next opportunistic dive into the animal sacrifice on the bitumen.

An "ex-beast" pursued by scavenging birds.

Wedgetail Eagle scavenges instead of hunts when road kill is plentiful

Which political beast is this disguised as a termite mound?

A cool termite beast in the Top End of Australia

Two wheeled beasties certainly demonstrated courage and a sense of adventure, usually ridden by bronzed Viking looking young men – it is a long way between cold drinks on the Stuart Highway. The best pedal power machine was a creation of ingenuity, capturing solar power to assist his legs. (<facebook.com/solar shift>)

A solar bike at Katherine

A combined solar power cell array and shade source

Spreading the word about our necessary alternative energy futures

The campground at Katherine Gorge (Nitmiluk NP) is a sanctuary of cool shaded sites, swimming pool and lots of birds – sheer bliss. So much for the remote outback and the hope of getting away from one’s fellow human beings. Yet another myth is exploded – we are just another beastie taking to the road.