My bed is a section of square concrete
culvert – one of half a dozen that have been dumped at the rest
area to use a picnic tables. It is flat and level and perfect as a
raised sleeping platform. There is an exceedingly small chance of
rain and the ground is less than ideal for pitching a tent – so it
is a night under the stars. The concrete has retained its heat from
the day so provides a heat source until the early hours of the
morning.
Morning sky is blood red from all the
smoke from the fires we'd passed through the day before. A quick
breakfast before we head off to Camooweal. Last stop in Queensland
before we cross the border and gain ½ an hour. After fueling up I
order a second breakfast (scrambled eggs on toast with fired tomato
and hash browns with toast and black coffee while I charge my laptop
in the roadhouse. Marco & Ursala sit outside under a tree and
brew up their own coffee.
The Barkly Highway deteriorates after
Camooweal. Lots of road works and chopped up bitumen. Country is more
open with less bush and huge skies. Once we cross the border into the
NT, the road improves. (Evidence that one the benefits of being a
territory rather than a state is that you get extra federal funding
for infrastructure such as roads.)
Stop for lunch at Barkly Roadhouse –
a welcome oasis on this long stretch. Our destination for the day is
another free roadside campsite – 41 Mile Bore – about 70 km short
of the 3 ways intersection on the Stuart Highway. No facilities
except a picnic table under cover with a water tank. We sleep on the
concrete floor next to the picnic table.
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