Hughenden, QLD

06/09/16 Day 102 (Tu). By 0900 yesterday, Lib and I were out the gate of the CP to get a second opinion on our options with thermos fans on Bess. We drove out to the north side of town and spoke to two more mechanics who were both fully booked for the next week and a half to two weeks. One fellow did give us another idea which was to remove the four bladed fan and replace it with a plastic six bladed Commodore fan. It would appear that with the Nats just finishing that weekend, the mechanics in town are now catching up on a back log of work and are extremely busy so we will have to try our luck when we get to Mount Isa.

Barrow Creek WWII Staging Area, NT

When we returned to the CP I tried to get one of the bolts out that hold the fan in but there is no room to manoeuvre a socket or spanner. The radiator will need to come out to fit another fan. We relaxed for the rest of the afternoon.

Sunset Through The Scrub, Barrow Creek, NT

Having Fun

This morning we were on the road by 0800 and drove 320 km’s north of Alice to camp just off the highway at a WWII staging site approx. 30 km’s north of Barrow Creek. It is a massive area with the only relics from that time being the concrete slabs left behind. It would fit probably 50 or more vans at a time but tonight we are sharing with only one other who thankfully went down the other end out of site. As it was a beautiful warm, sunny day and a warmish night, Lib and I ate outside for dinner by candlelight and then afterwards extinguished all light in the camp ground. Lib, Mum and Dad and I relaxed watching the stars over a cuppa. What a way to finish the day!

Wycliffe Well Roadhouse, NT

Stars or Meteors?

09/09/16 Day 105 (Fr). Wednesday we drove the remaining 180 km’s into Tennant Creek. It’s funny how you don’t really need to drive that far up the centre to get back into the warmer weather. In Alice it was like the start of spring with warmish days and cold nights and mornings. By the time we’d driven 500 km’s north Lib and I were back in the pool. It was 32C by the time we got there and so we checked into the CP, went for a quick dip in the freezing cold pool and then spent the reminder of the day relaxing. I did go for a ride at one point to Auto Pro to get some oil for Bess but it did nothing to alter my first impression of the town.

Yesterday we drove 250 km’s and set up camp in the Wononah Bore Rest Area. It was another very warm day. But that didn’t help my head cold which was making me feel the worse for wear. Also when I put my water bottle in the freezer with warm tank water in it, it didn’t help an already struggling freezer. All that accomplished was to partially defrost our meat. AWESOME!

QLD/NT Border

Today we crossed the NT/QLD border and are spending the night in the mini CP behind the Post Office Hotel/Motel at Camooweal. Lib and I went for a swim after lunch and then enjoyed a couple of quiet beers and a few games of pool in the air conditioning. When we returned to camp Barry and Judith were just making their way up to the pub and so we did an about face and returned for another beer. After dinner I hooked Barry up with free live AFL so he could watch his precious Geelong play in the finals series.

QLD/NT Border

Australian Darter, Mt Isa, QLD

White Faced Heron and Chicks, Mt Isa, QLD

14/09/16 Day 110 (We). You will have to excuse me for being really slack with writing this blog over the last week as I would have preferred for someone to walk up and just shoot me I was feeling that miserable. I caught some bloody head cold in Alice and since then got steadily worse until today. Today is the first day that I have not taken drugs to make me feel somewhere human again. The only downside is that because sharing is caring, I’ve now managed to pass it onto Lib, Barry and Judith.

Dusky Moorhen, Mt Isa, QLD

Dusky Moorhen, Mt Isa, QLD

Nest Building, Kite, Mt Isa, QLD

Whitebreasted Woodswallow, Julia Creek, QLD

Whitebreasted Woodswallow Feeding Chicks, Julia Creek, QLD

In the last 5 days we have travelled from Camooweal through to Hughenden. We had a brief stopover in Mount Isa over the weekend so we could take Bess to a mechanic on Monday morning to get further advice on our cooling system. As a trial he adjusted the angle on the fan to try and give it a bit more oomph. It is a short term solution at best but we’ll try it for a week to see how she goes.

Whitebreasted Woodswallow, Julia Creek, QLD

That’s about all the news for now as you don’t really tend to do much when your crook. Although I have continued on with the bird watching since Mum left us in Alice and we have seen another 5 or so species of new birds. As it is spring some of them even had chicks in nests. The best of these being the White Faced Heron.

Our big news though is that over the weekend I bought my first motorcycle! It is a 2010 Kawasaki Versys 650. It is awaiting our arrival back in NSW but it is all bought and paid for. We’ll pick it up in Penrith on our way back through to Temora. Ordinarily I wouldn’t buy anything sight unseen so I had my brother Trav go and take it for a test ride for me. As a novice I know nothing about them (yet), but Trav has been into bikes his whole life so I chose him as my resident expert. Woo Hoo!

My New Ride!