Bourke & Wills Roadhouse, Qld

At 00.30am o’clock we dragged ourselves up to Mt Isa Base Hospital. Judy had developed a sharp pain behind the knee during the evening and was now in excruciating pain with the slightest movement. We went in almost straight away and the doctor had a good old poke about and declared that it wasn’t a DVT or anything life threatening and suggested a shot of some wonder anti-inflammatory drug and an x-ray in the morning. One the drug started to work the pain eased and we snuck back to the van park at 3am.

Bit slow to start this morning, but got on the road about 10am, skipping the opportunity to get the x-ray, and headed east again, stopping at Cloncurry for some fuel and an ice-block. From Cloncurry we headed north into the great unknown. The map shows a ‘developmental’ road all the way to Normanton about 300km. A developmental road is a single lane of bitumen with varying amounts of dirt road on either side for passing. The plan is that when you see the other vehicle, you drive half off the road, slow down until they pass and then drive back on again.

We almost felt cheated, good dual lane bitumen all the way to the Bourke & Wills Roadhouse, which is where we decided to call it a day. The B&W Roadhouse isn’t much, just an old building with a few pumps and a ‘caravan park’ out the back. The park is a big dirt compound with about 50 or so ‘dongas’ for the itinerant workers and a a few sites with power for your van. No water mind you, it’s unfit for human consumption but feel free to shower in it. Anyhow, I didn’t care, we both slept all afternoon and retired early. 

Snaps.

Big bums. Bourke and Wills Roadhouse, Qld