Log Eighty Two – Epilogue and Lock Down

16 August 2021

All things must come to an end and so it is with epic adventures. We have completed 12830 kms over 105 days or a little over three months on the road. With the COVID situation worsening we decided with some trepidation to return home.

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We were close to the NSW border and thought we might take a few days to get home. Alas the COVID situation became more difficult and we were left with two long days of driving to get home a week earlier than planned. We are now left with the unpacking, cleaning and reflecting on the trip and where to next.

A quick summary in no particular order of the highs and lows of the past three months:

Best Quote:

From behind us at the Fred Brophy boxing tent we heard a lady in the audience cry out to her friend who was in the ring: ‘run away, run away‘. I don’t think this cry was ever heard at a Muhammad Ali fight although it might have been useful advice.

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Best Tour Guide

Stewie, the retired drover at Blackall was the most engaging guide of the trip. Stewie had no time for political correctness and could tell a yarn like the best of the old time story tellers. Alas I fear the days of the Stewie’s telling these stories of life in the outback are numbered.

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Best Butcher:

The Quilpie butcher is the best and the sign on his shop states he is the best butcher in Queensland. I think he is right.

Best Experience

The flight from Cairns to Cape York was a bucket list experience. A great way to see the wilderness of the cape from above and without the corrugations and the muddy roads.

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Challenging Experience

Replacing a flat tyre on the road out from Adeles Grove was a bit of a challenge until the ever helpful Phil turned up. Changing tyres isn’t a difficult chore if you have the right gear, its just inconvenient.

Probably waiting in Normanton for four days for a new tyre was the challenge.

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Not to be forgotten was our experience at the Augathella butchers. When we asked for lamb shanks and to be told a woman had just come in and bought them all. That wasn’t the shock. The butcher went on to say she bought them to feed her dogs! Yes, we were in shock.

Worst Coffee:

I won’t name the business and whilst Tambo might have the the best meat pies I have come across their coffee is not such a positive experience. I am sure this is only a temporary situation and they will get better.

Best Artesian Baths

The old bathtubs set up on an outback cattle station were probably the best. Hoping into a hot bath under the stars at 3.00am with a glass of wine was a most memorable experience.

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Best Pizzas:

The chefs at the Hotel Corones in Charleville presented the best pizza in our travels and they were not expensive at all. Recommended.

Worst Road

The journey of 470kms between Charters Towers and Emerald is a challenge. The road is sealed however the impact of road trains and flood has left this stretch of road full of undulations and gutters in the surface that mean there is no opportunity to relax. Its an exhausting day’s drive between these two towns.

Most Expensive Fuel:

At $1.96 a litre the fuel in Innaminka was the most expensive. However when you are that remote and the nearest competition is hundreds of kilometres away who is going to argue. In fact out there a full tank is the very definition of happiness.

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Most Useless Thing Packed:

We carried wet suits, snorkels and masks and then primarily travelled through the western plains of Queensland.

Best Meal:

A seafood dinner on the Esplanade in Cairns was the high point for culinary delights. The Coral Trout was outstanding.

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Best Customer Experience

This is a tough call. We experienced some amazing instances of customer service that was so bad it made us laugh and we had to retell the experience over and over. In many instances other random travellers told the same stories about the same organisations.

As for the best there were so many. A couple of examples come to mind including the husband and wife team that run the Outback Oasis Holiday Park in Charters Towers. They owned the park and were outstanding operators. The manager at Lara Wetlands just out of Barcaldine was full of energy and knew how to run a remote camp.

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For entertainment value the Quilpie butcher and the ladies at the Quilpie bakery who had their 80 year old dad out back in the kitchen baking. He was in fact the baker.

Phil, the man who helped me change a tyre and then vanished into my memories.

The lady who collected the camping fee of $10 at Lake Dunn will be remembered for her ability to share personal details and family stories just a little too much, maybe way too much!

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As an aside I think I might have been taken to the cleaners for a bit of welding I needed in Winton. I rationalise the experience as my effort to inject some cash into a remote country town.

Most Surprising Experience

Finding the Cob and Co stagecoach that ran from Queanbeyan to Cooma fully restored and on display in Herberton was a surprise. Seems to me it should be on display in Queanbeyan but I don’t think we would ever get it off the folks at the Herberton museum.

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So now we are thinking of where to next and when that might happen. Maybe a quick adventure within NSW before the warmer temperatures of summer. After that who knows, a remote adventure into central Australia…..