Return to Queensland

16th May 2025

Larrimah to Threeways

Distance: 468 Km

Fuel: 51 L

The wind has been my enemy, the fuel consumption has gone through the roof, headwinds all the way.

Stopped briefly at Daly Waters Roadhouse to stretch my legs, bought a Dagwood Dog to eat as I drove.

Filled up at Elliot at the unattended truck stop – reasonable at $2 a litre. Visited the Elliot WWII Staging Camp.

The rest of the journey was through changing landscape

Finally arrived at Threeways where I paid for a night’s stay.

17th May 2025

Threeways to Camooweal

Distance: 450 Km

Fuel: 91 L

I considered going south from here but the 0° night time temperatures in Alice Springs put me off.

So turning left it was!

One fairly long delay due to roadworks.

First stop was Barkly Homestead for fuel, by then I had less that a quarter tank because of the crosswinds, have made such a difference to fuel consumption, much worse than the last trip to Uluru.

The rest of the journey was uneventful.

Checked into the Post Office Hotel Caravan Park instead of the roadhouse, it cost $5 more than the latter, not sure it was worth the extra except that pub was closer.

Once set up spent the evening in the pub. Had a pleasant enough meal there.

To the edge

6th May 2025

Distance: 451 km

Fuel: 46 L

Julia Creek to Camooweal

A long drive today (and tomorrow) so early shower and breakfast. Packed up relatively quickly before setting off.

Another lovely morning with a beautiful sunrise. Pleasant drive through changing scenery.

Only one town to get through today – Mt Isa. At I approached the industrial mining scope of the city became clearer, from a faint smoke smudge on the horizon to the industrial complex.

Stopped a couple of times in rest areas along the way but still arrived in Camooweal at 1pm.

Checked into the roadhouse caravan park, with hindsight I should have tried the pub’s caravan park as I have stayed at the roadhouse before.

Once set up I filled up with fuel then walked down to the pub for a couple of beers and to enjoy their aircon. Apart from the roadhouse and the pub the town has pretty much closed down though there are some tourist attractions nearby.

Spent the late afternoon reading and listen to music on Spotify.

Camooweal is about 12km from the NT border, tomorrow I will be in a different state. and time zone

Turning East

25th May 2024

Distance: 592 Km

Fuel: 68 L

I think that the Renner Springs Roadhouse is the worst caravan park I have ever stayed at. I am sure there are showers with hot water but I couldn’t find one. Could not wait to leave so packed up as quickly as possible, had breakfast, a cold shower and was on my way by 7.30am.

My first stop was at the John Flynn Memorial (founder of the Royal Flying Doctor Service) just a short distance from the turn off toward Mount Isa.

I waited until I had completed 200km before finding a rest area to stretch my legs and empty the 20 litres of fuel that I was carrying into the fuel tank. This meant that I had a nearly full tank to get me to Camooweal without refuelling.

The road itself was in a very poor state after the summer floods with some sections full of pot holes and even whole sections of roadway missing (replaced with gravel)

For the first time on my travels I didn’t stop at Three Ways however did stop at the Barkly Homestead which has had a facelift since I was last there but not for fuel only for a snack and a rest.

The road from the homestead onward was much better and very easy driving and I arrived at Camooweal Roadhouse just after 2pm having entered Queensland a dozen kilometres before and gained the final half hour to be back on AEST.

Booked in to the Roadhouse and set up my camper, rang a caravan park in Cloncurry to book for tomorrow night before having a lovely warm shower and settling down for the afternoon and evening. Filled up with fuel while I was at it, not cheap at $2.23/L but much cheaper than Barkly Homestead or any of the roadhouses on the Stuart Highway.

Today should be the last really long drive of my trip unless I decide NSW is too cold and do a long dash home.

10th June 2017–Camooweal to Cloncurry

Distnace: 324 km
Fuel: 36 L

Cold again this morning (of course), had a shower at 6.30am; the good thing about a roadhouse as a caravan park is that they are open at ridiculously early hours (if they are not open 24hrs) so I was able to buy ice and milk straight away. Once this had been done I got back in the camper to watch an episode of Cold Feet to allow the morning to warm up a bit before I started to dismantle my ‘camp’.

Left Camooweal before 9am even with my late start, easy drive to Mount Isa where I only stopped to fill up with fuel. Didn’t visit the city centre because it is only a year since I spent several days here.

Continued on to Cloncurry and found a caravan park on the highway about 1km from the town centre – I checked in and unhitched the camper.

Went back to the shopping centre and discovered they have a Woollies; so stocked up with some fruit, cheese, nuts and other bits and pieces before looking round the town.

Apart from an art deco civic centre and some typical country pubs there was a museum to the Royal Flying Doctor Service which they claim was started in Cloncurry by John Flynn. Not a particularly big museum but it had his car, a quarter scale model of his plane,”The Victory” and various examples of bush radios including pedal powered ones. The RFDS started off as the Australian Inland Mission so there are obvious religious overtones. The museum was only open until 3pm and I arrived at 2.30pm (it’s Saturday) but I had enough time to see everything.

9th June 2017–Barkly Homestead to Camooweal

Distance: 263 km
Fuel: 32 L

It was bitterly cold this morning; only 9’C in my camper according to the gauge – there was some delay while I plucked up the courage to get out of my snug bed. By the time I showered, ate my cereal and had my coffee my hands were frozen and I had to dig about in the back of the car for my warmest jacket. Because it was so cold I was off pretty early – in fact before 8am, by far the earliest to date I think.

As I drove along the Barkly Highway I found myself reflecting on how much I enjoy looking at the Australian bush to the point of almost Dorothea MacKellarishness (though less poetic).

A lot more traffic on the Barkly Highway of course – ‘a lot’ being a relative term meaning that I had to overtake about five caravans and a couple of road trains and saw a couple of dozen vehicles passing in the opposite direction.

The head wind of the past few days is playing havoc with my fuel consumption. It is a very cool wind too, coming from the south east, I wear my light jacket even in the mid afternoon.

Today my journey crossed into Queensland from the NT and a different time zone so I was able to take a picture of the border from the NT with my car half an hour ahead of me in Queensland.

Fortunately this time difference also meant that I didn’t arrive at the caravan park at quite such an absurd time of the morning than would have otherwise been the case.

Now I am back in familiar territory I am consciously trying to stay at towns and roadhouses I have not stopped at before because often in Australia there is only one road between distant places and the tendency is to stay at the same places. Camooweal is one of those little border towns half way between Mt Isa and the Stuart Highway where you need to stop for fuel and not much else though it does have a fair sized pub and two caravan parks.