Townsville to Katherine

Day 1 Townsville to Campaspe River Rest Area. - 11/6/13
Did some shopping at Vincent Village, stocked up on sausages from Sheehans so Jeff could have a fix as we travelled. We are going to use the Engel as a freezer so we can stock up and keep costs down. Lunched at Charters Towers and motored on to the Campaspe River Rest Area (Q 288). Stayed here before but it has got a lot noisier with the extra trains going along one side of the site and the extra road trains along the other Not the best night's sleep.

Day 2 Campaspe River Rest Area to Cloncurry. - 12/6/13
Found out why there are so many cattle trucks on the road. They are moving 6 million head of cattle from central Queensland out to the coastal areas because there is no feed. Travelled through Hughendon, Richmond and Julia Creek and stopped at Cloncurry Caravan Park so Jeff could watch Storm on TV. They didn't show it! Ah well we all have to make some sacrifices on the trip. (Some day we will get satellite TV on Glen.) Happy Mother's Day.

Day 3 Cloncurry to Soudan Bore NT. - 13/6/13
Travelled to Mt Isa, did some shopping and then onto Camooweal for lunch. Crossed the border and the road deteriorated (usually better on this side). Got to Soudan Bore Rest Area (NT 2) had a good night's sleep.

Day 4  Soudan Bore NT to Newcastle Waters Rest Area NT. - 14/6/13
Had breakfast at Barkly Homestead, as we were travelling along the highway one of the many  reminders about havng a rest - Pull Over If Sleepy - had the "Over" covered over! Jeff said that would keep you awake. Wish I had of had taken a picture of it. We had a little chuckle. Lunch at 3 Ways. Luckily we got to Newcastle Waters (NT 95) early because it was full by the night. Met some people from Victoria who were going in the opposite direction so we compared notes.

Day 5 Newcastle Waters to Vince Connoly Crossing NT. - 15/6/13
Left early and pushed our way up to Daly Waters for breakfast.  Got to Katherine to shop and then travelled along the Victoria Highway to the Vince Connoly Crossing Rest Area (NT 192). Lovely spot, Jeff marvelled at the odourless and flyless drop toilets and wondered how they they achieved this. He is worried about the house batteries and thinks one may be dead. The freezer seems to be drawing a lot of battery power when we are stationary. (A thing we didn't think about when we decided to use the Engel as a freezer.) More about this in the next entry.