Tues, 17th Dec, 2019 Avon Downs Rest Area, west of NT-Qld border to Gilbert River Rest Area, east of Croydon, Qld

5.30am 31.3 degrees with a nice breeze. A cloud is blocking the sunrise.

Campsite photo.

I found this plaque explaining the police presence and the story of this station. It is also famous as being the destination of Australia’s longest sheep droving trip in the 1880s.

Headed off towards the sun which the cloud is still covering, thank goodness. Getting close to Queensland the road is getting rougher!

Lost another half hour as the clock changed on my phone to Qld time. Thankfully the clouds are rising with the sun keeping it covered and out of our eyes.

More open grass plains as we near the border.

Welcome to Queensland. The sun is out now and shining brightly. Last time we crossed back into Qld at Birdsville it was raining.

Across the dry Georgina River into Camooweal.

Continued on towards Mt Isa with clear blue sky. Spotted a couple of wedgies here too.

Back into hills as we near Mt Isa. Pat not happy with all the climbing up and down the hills.

Into Mt Isa to top up with fuel. We feel like we are back in Kalgoorlie with all the mining equipment – just no gold. Stopped for a cuppa.

Imaginary wave to Sam who started working here recently – I wonder how he is enjoying the heat.

The Leichardt River was dry too.

‘Pat’ hit 300,000 km in very hilly country so I had a hard time trying to take a photo as the odometer clicked over.

Rolling hills continued as we near Cloncurry.

Turned left before Cloncurry onto the Burke Developmental Road to Normanton. Back into flatter grazing country.

Stopped for lunch at the old Quamby Hotel known as The Pub in the Scrub – derelict now. 40 degrees in the van.

Lots of dead roos and wallabies on this stretch so more crows, hawks and wedgies to contend with.

Passed the Burke and Wills Roadhouse.

Funny to see a ‘Welcome to Tropical North Queensland’ sign as it isn’t very tropical here.

Onto a single lane bitumen road – lucky the traffic is light. Maybe that is why it is called a developmental road – still being developed. Obviously there has been some rain here recently too.

Grey sharp pointed ant hills and the t-shirt brigade have been here too. Santa’s elves have been here too as half a dozen ant hills have new Santa hats.

Stopped for a cuppa at Bang Bang Rest Area as the air conditioner has frozen up due to the heat. Like the cooling fins in the fridge – just not happy Jan! 43.5 degrees in the van. I open the windows and vents and put on the extractor fan every time we stop to try and help the cause but it is just plain hot. Poor ‘Pat’ and ‘Nova’ – one more day and they can have a big rest.

Clouds are gathering in the north. A storm is forecast for Normanton this afternoon.

There is water in the Flinders River waterhole at Walkers Bend.

Into Normanton for fuel. Got a photo of the Big Barra at the Gulfland Motel.

Retraced our steps back to the turn off for the Gulf Developmental Road which is part of the Savannah Way. 702km to Cairns.

Next town is Croydon. Across the Glenore Crossing over the Norman River – saw water and lots of trees.

Travelling parallel with tracks of the Gulflander Railway.

Found where all the roos and wallabies are – eating the grass by the road.

Through Croydon – lovely old building. One day we will do all these towns in detail when we explore Queensland.

The sun is getting low behind us as we continued on to a rest area by the Gilbert River. I think we found all the new joeys too as there seems to be hundreds jumping around here.

Crossed over a narrow bridge over a dry Pleasant Creek then we turned into the grey dirt clearing on the western side of the Gilbert River.

Parked under some trees well back from the road. Opened up the van as it is really hot. The cicadas are louder than the engine and haven’t stopped when we pulled up. Hope they don’t go all night.

Poured a drink and wandered down to check out the river. Spotted some plaques on rocks at the entrance to the camping area. Getting a bit dark so had to use my flash.

Just enough light to show the one lane bridge over the dry river bed.

Had dinner then heard some thunder and watched the lightning flash around us. It started at 9pm, thermometer had cooled to 37.3 degrees. 9.15 a few drops of rain fell then the wind increased which cooled things down then came the rain. A big clap of thunder overhead and windy rain blew onto us that I didn’t bother closing the windows so we could cool down. 10 minutes later it was all over and the rumbling disappeared into the distance. Unfortunately the coolness didn’t last!