Another successful visit to IOR for refuelling and the Gregory Highway to Charters Towers awaits. Today is our shortest distance to travel, only 380klm, however, with the exception of a fuel station at Belyando Crossing there are no townships along this stretch. We had been warned by caravanning friends, David and CathyAnne, that the road is “the worst they had seen” (pussy’s) and we expected the journey to take over five hours, and in truth there were a few ordinary patches but we completed the trip in much less time than that.
Charters Towers is a really interesting, quaint and quirky township full of grand old buildings and homesteads. This is our fourth visit so it held no surprises for us. Being a Sunday, and arrival at about 1pm we stopped at a park on the way into the centre for another of Evi’s homemade delights for lunch whilst we scanned WikiCamps for camping suggestions. The outcome for us was to continue northwards on the Gregory Developmental Road for about 50klm to Fletcher Creek adjacent to the Dalrymple NP, a privately owned camp reserve managed by the local Shire Council. An area of about 50-60 acres of pleasant parkland along the creek bank. Tall gum trees provide plenty of shade which suited us fine as the temperature had climbed to 29º by mid-afternoon. We set camp but left the Sahara connected to the van set for an easy departure in the morning.
Tonight we setup the Weber BBQ and treated ourselves to a delicious Fillet Steak and a bottle of excellent Shiraz….celebrations for three big days on the road! After dinner we laid back the camp chairs and just enjoyed the huge outback night sky! One more day to go!
Australia. Dust, Fire, Flood & Pandemic 