I left Ilfracombe pretty early in search of the Shell servo back in Longreach as the caravan park receipt includes a 4cent off fuel discount there. The roads were very quiet and it was a nice cool morning. The shell servo was located after a second pass of the town then followed by one last quick stop off at the supermarket to buy another 15L of water, a poweraid and one of them new dark Cherry Ripes.
The road to Winton, as you leave Longreach kinda feels a bit like the road North out of Port Augusta. I traveled alone on the road there for what felt like sweet forever before some fellow travelers caught up and overtook me. Finally i was starting to feel like i was getting away from it all.
Coming into Winton, some beautiful little hills appear in the distance off to the West. I guess they are part of the Bladensburg NP.
Winton seemed like a nice little town, and fortunately for me i arrived there dead on lunchtime so i set out to find the local Bakery to treat myself, having already covered some 200km i thought why not have a decent brake then try and push on a bit further north. The bakery itself looked brand new and the sales girls were all 'trendy' looking young girls with heavy accents. No idea where they were from but i would have expected to see them on Clarendon St in South Melboune not out there in Winton! I quickly had my pie then hit the road. Stepping out of the cool air conditioned bakery into the midday sun was a shock to the system.
Next stop, Hughenden. 216kms away. The road out to Hughenden really is just a little backroad! I loved it! Most of it is a single width sealed road, and about 10minutes out there i encountered my first obstacle. A bloody huge oncoming road train so i quickly jumped on the brakes and pulled right off the road, as i passed only then did i see a fool towing a huge caravan right up behind the road train... What the hell, not like he's going to be able to overtake the road train why not just pull up and let it go. The landscape out to the NE of Winton is bloody spectacular also.
But there really is a whole lot of nothing out there once you pass these 'hills'?
The road is also pretty straight, slowly you inch ever closer to another hill, then once you pass it, a whole lot more nothing.
Just after Corfield i passed a bloke cycling, he was heading down, and given the town would have been in his sights i decided not to stop for a chat or to offer water for him to top up his supplies. I really think perhaps later in my life or in the next, i would love to ride (pushie not motor) or even walk across this country. Even in my slow old car i cannot help but feel like our country is so bloody small.
Next stop Hughenden, and boy i wasnt impressed! What a dry, dusty, harsh old town, i couldnt wait to get out of there... Only problem was i was planning on staying the night.
To make matters worse, i couldnt even find my way around the town. The signage was absolutely hopeless and i was driving around in circles hot and bothered to say the least.
I decided to hell with the place and after topping up with some fuel Hughenden was in my rearview mirror! A few km's out i stopped and quickly phoned the wife to tell her i wasnt staying in town and most likely wouldnt have phone reception again until the next day or evening. Plan B was the next marked overnight stop in the Camps 6 book... Porcupine Gorge NP.
It was only an hour up the road but boy what a difference an hour can make. I honestly didnt expect to see anyone there but the place was nearly full!!!!!! Fortunately there was plenty of 'tenting' sights left but the camper trailer etc. sites were full. I ignored the advice of one of the camper trailer users and didnt rush out to claim a camping site and i parked the old cruiser in the shade, grabbed the camera and set out for a short, very short walk to the gorge lookout.
With less then an hour till dark i thought id better climb back into the hot cruiser one last time today and move it into a camping sight and the far end of the 'area'. Once this was done i realised i should have actually gone and filled out my camping permit and payment before having parked the old girl up for the night. Not wanting to get back into the stinking hot cabin again, i decided to go for a nice walk all the way back to the entrance and fill out the paperwork and pay for the night by depositing the supplied envelope and paperwork into their locked container. The cost was iirc, about $3.60 for the night.
Shortly after arriving back at camp my nearest neighbor had come over to say hello and talk about the old Landcruiser. He was a bloody great older bloke, and we ended up talking for quite a while. He was in the Air Force, had been since he was old enough to join. I really enjoy heading old stories about the good ol days and he didnt mind sharing a few with me about some of the air strips around the top of Australia and the drug runners who use them, dont get me wrong either, he seemed like a really humble bloke and was happy to chat with me as i jumped from topic to topic. He was in a Subaru Forester Diesel, absolutely identical to my wifes car that i had been in, in that accident just before id left for this trip.
I ended up setting up camp, if you can call rolling out the swag that. And cooking in the dark. I really was enjoying myself there and could have easily stayed right there for quite a while. So much so that i found myself having pretty much my first proper few 'drinks' on the trip. Hmmm, yep i got drunk however it wasn't until i tried getting up quickly having heard something scurrying around in the bushes behind me that i realise just how pissed i was.
I scrambled for my torch, and then for my camera. This little bloke tried running directly through me! Then hung around just long enough for me to try and get a photo, however it didnt turn out the best and not because i was drunk! Its hard when your blind trying to manually focus, adjust all the manual settings and hold the torch on it for a photo
- Tom
