Escape to Queensland

Three Ways is at the 'T' intersection of the Stuart Highway (north - south) and the Barkly Highway (East). Almost regretfully we pulled out of the Three Ways Roadhouse and turned left onto the Barkly. This is our first new road for awhile and it feels like the adventure has begun again. The land is flat and featureless but getting flatter by the minute. The vegetation is stunted mallee, grey strawlike grass and the occasional coolabah tree. Apart from the road signs declaring the distance in decrements of 10k and the odd warning about headwinds and wearing seatbelts, the scenery is disturbed by two only road signs in the first 180k run across to Barkly Homestead. The first is 'Crest' at 85k and seeing as it's a slight hump in an otherwise flat track, seems a little ridiculous. The second is a left curve sign at 127K and i suppose might grab your attention if you were nodding off and in disbelief that there is an actual curve, otherwise it is totally superfluous to the well being of road users. I wondered if the sign putter-uppers thought that they had better do something to claim that they were actually working that year... Anyhow, first stop is the roadhouse/tavern/restaurant/caravan park called Barkly Homestead. It's not the actual homestead, its just taken the name of the station upon whose 1,000,000 acres the road runs across. The roadhouse is a bit different to others in that it appears to be a modern, clean, presentable shop/cafe/restaurant/tavern/petrol station/caravan park. Judy was impressed that they had taken the trouble to advise their honoured customers that the high prices were justified by the fact that they use 500litres of diesel a day just running the generators to keep the lights on. We weren't complaining, just happy that they are there to supply the service, in our case a coffee and cake and a pleasant seat in the sun from which to relax and enjoy it.

Pushing on we stopped for lunch at Avon Downs, a free camp area, where again we are surprised to find people settled in with their generators and satellite dishes for the night or for weeks, by 1PM. Apart from the incongruous presence of a large Police Station opposite, there is absolutely nohting here and nothing for heaps of kms in any direction. Going east and up onto the tablelands proper, the vegetation gets even sparser and the view from my seat is one of a black strip pushing out dead straight into the distance where it meets the horizon, the demarcation between dark land and azure blue sky stretching out of sight in either direction. The road itself disappears into a permanent mirage of silver heat haze splitting the infinite, featureless horizon in two.

One can't help but stop at the border crossing into Queensland and take a snap, in my case four snaps, one in each direction to illustrate the country we've been cruising through. Just over the border is Cammoweal, still 189k from Mt Isa and our stop for the night which turned out to be a shaded, grassed powered site behind the BP Roadhouse.

Snaps of the day

East

North

West

South