PSSSSHHHHHHHHHHTTTTT……WHAT A DAY......

We ended up knowing most of the folk at the Sunset Caravan Park in Karumba, a couple o f families turned up half way through our 4 day stay and all the kids got on well together, quite a community feel to the place. There was a lady down the back called Betty who is travelling with her husband in their caravan, they live in Kuranda, near Cairns and run a wildlife shelter there, as well as a home made ice cream business. They were already caring for two baby kangaroos they had rescued along the way when Dave and Sally arrived with a little Joey they had found on their way. Travelling at 90 clicks, towing a caravan, Dave noticed a couple of little legs moving from the pouch of his dead Mum in the middle of the road. Pulled up about 150 metres past and ran back and pulled the baby from the pouch. Lucky little thing. We left Karumba at 7.45 this morning, an early start for us but is what we are going to have to do for the next month or so to beat the stifling heat of the day. We drank about 20 litres of water between us all today, the water in our 400 litre tank got so hot, the fridge was working overtime to cool our bottles down. How do people live out here? It isn’t even summer yet… So we were cruising along the road to Cloncurry, a 400km long road made up of long straight sections joined together by a few curves and one place in the middle of it to break up the journey, the Burke and Wills Roadhouse where we eventually had lunch. Suddenly, about 120kms into our day, a mad hissing sound erupted from the engine compartment, we pulled over and found a junction in an air line had come apart and all our air pressure was escaping. We were right in the middle of nowhere, which is pretty much where we have been for the last week and where we will be for the coming few. I got a few things together and started to try and fix the problem while Helen juggled the kids, she is pretty good at juggling! The first car that came by stopped and Kevin offered his help, when we thought we had it fixed he left and then the sleeve we put on split. Along came Alan and Sandra. Alan and I worked out a way to bypass the problem and we got back on the road again. Good old bush mechanics. Out of the ten cars that went past us 9 of them stopped to see if we were ok, which really impressed us. Not long after, our army of hitchhikers, the bloody ants, made their first salvo of the day. After much spraying and whacking we got them under control and continued. They are a fair sized little beastie with a black head and abdomen, but luckily they do not seem to bite, they hang around in groups of about 100 and when agitated they go into a bit of a frenzy, they’re quick little buggers. They appeared down beside my feet a bit further on and then near Jarra’s seat, each time requiring us to stop the bus and start whacking, sweeping and spraying. What adventures we are having, eh??? Being cattle country we give most of the cows a toot hello on the way past, while commenting about the amount of roadkill, always fascinating conversation in our bus, Quite some variety around here though. Saw about 5 dead, black, hairy pigs, a few white, bloated cows, lying on their backs with their legs sticking up in the air, while dodging these huge road trains and trying to stay a bit cool, it was 43 degrees today. Still so much nothing, vast expanses of dusty, red earth, dotted with rocky outcrops and straggly trees, although in some parts some very green grass defied all logic, and grew in the face of the arid conditions. Areas full of termite mounds, subtley different from the previous types we have seen, not as smooth sided, their sizes and the way they were spaced reminded me of a graveyard. How is this for a name? A small hill on the LHS of the road was called Bang Bang Jump Up. We were looking forward to finding a sign to get a picture of, but unfortunately there wasn’t one. Stopped a pub at 4.30 for a break before the last leg. A lovely old pub with a couple of really rusted old pick ups out the front. Kerry, the lady who runs the place invited us to have a swim in their pool, which was so kind. We had a ridiculously pleasant time in the pool. It has been a day of people being very good to us. We finally made it to Wal’s Camp in Cloncurry, better late than never. Off to Mt. Isa in the morning to get the head retensioned and oil changed. By the way, our fishing charter was not as great as I thought it might be, the day before us and the one after they caught heaps, its always the way. I did catch a good grunter and a 70cm jewel fish which made it worthwhile. Along with the 2 kgs of prawns we bought our freezer is now chock a block with seafood. A badly spray painted sign on the way into Karumba said, “God Bless the Outback”. I wonder why???? We have had no access to the internet for ages now and no mobile reception, but the blog is back on track and we hope you continue to travel with us. We are heading for Victoria, and all going well, we might even make it back for Christmas.