TOWNSVILLE Qld to 3 WAYS ROADHOUSE NT (Part 1)

 This trip of around 1600 kms will take us around 2 weeks to complete. We tend to travel only about 150  to 200 kms a day and sometimes stay more than one night in places that are of interest, or simply just to have a rest for a while. Except for a couple of Caravan Parks we stayed in Free Camps most of the time. As we move west the country becomes more arid with plenty of red dusty soils, dry grasslands and at times sparse scrubby vegetation. very rarely there will be some rocky outcrop or low ranges to break things up a bit. Interestingly, the roadside scenes seem to change every 50 kms or so, alternating between the  types mentioned above so I always have something to look at . This at least breaks the boredom of the long straight stretches of Hwy when if wasn't for Led Zeppelin or Cold Chisel on the stereo or the occasional overtaking Road Train I could almost fall asleep
  There are plenty of Free Camps along the way spaced about 150 to 200 kms apart along with the odd Town here and there. Most of the Camps are small and dusty populated with up to a dozen or so other Caravans or Motorhomes. We tend to leave around 9 or and travel only until about 1 or 2pm when we look for a place to stay for the night. We never travel near dawn or dusk as the frequently sighted road kill attests to the danger in doing so.
  I will attempt to give you some insight into what each camp was like in chronological order in this and the next couple of posts.
  We leave Townsville and travel the Flinders Hwy SW until the Town of Cloncurry where we intended to stay in a Caravan Park and freshen up. The downside of free Camping for me is that showers are usually at least a week apart and so a Caravan Park stay is sometimes very welcome. The other 2 motorhomes have aboard showers so its not such a big deal for them. Our first stop is Park, a large treeless and dusty Camp beside and old Railway bridge spanning the Burdekin River which was bone dry. In wet times the Burdekin, I am told, can be a raging torrent many metres deep and the Camp can become a dangerous place to stay. In fact, Billy and Jules related such a story to me about the last time they were here. Although only about 120 kms from Townsville it is popular and there were already a half dozen others here by the time we arrived at around 1.30pm.

Macrossan Park

  The next day and a short 40 km journey to Charters Towers for a look around and a bit of shopping before continuing on another 90 kms to the next Free Camp at Campaspe River. Charters turned out to be a busy little Town with a short and what seemed to me to be an unnecessarily narrow main street. Charters Towers historically was a gold town and boasted a thriving Gold Exchange that traded in the sale of claims and mines around the district. Being an old Town i managed to find a few historic buildings that were worth a photo.
  I would have liked to spend more time at Charters to learn more of the history but the others were anxious to move on. About an hour later we made in to the Free camp at Campaspe River Rest Area. the camp was small, just off the road next to a small bridge over the waterless river. Qld is definitely in drought as ground water seems not to exist out here at the moment and any rain feels a long way off. It was almost full when we arrived and park in the only 2 spots left.
Now listen to this coincidence. Billy went for a stroll to look around and would you believe stumbled across another "Grey Nomads" Forum member that he had met moths ago. Eventually, Jules and I were introduced to Mel (msg) whom we both new from the Forum but had never actually met. Well after chatting for quite a while, Mel has decided to come along with us for the rest of the trip to Alice Springs and Uluru (Ayers Rock) . So from this post on until further notice assume that when I refer to "Us" I am now including Mel.
Nothing much else can be said about this place except that it is a safe site to sleep for the night.
I will continue the description of this journey in my next post.

Charters Towers

Campaspe River