We had to start making our way west.
We headed on through the rolling hills of Atherton stopping to restock on some of their fresh produce -grapefruit, mandarins, sweet potatoes, pink papaya and avocadoes. All grow locally and are cheap and delicious. No Woolies or Coles needed here!
Our first stop was Mt Surprise then across the Savannah Way - a developmental road often with one tarred lane only - through Croydon, Normanton. visited Bourke and Wills Roadhouse and onto Cloncurry and Camooweal at the Qld/ NT border. As we travelled we saw first hand the severity of the drought in western Queensland. The land everywhere is dry, dry, dry - it must be hard being a farmer....or a cow. When we listen to "Country Hour" on our beloved RN everything makes sense.
It took 3 days to cover this leg of our journey. We managed to free stop each night which always has its charm..... bush, stars, sunrises and sunsets, also radio as AM picks up a few stations at night. I love it!
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| Bush basic at Mt Surprise. |
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| At Mount Surprise before our upcoming 3 bush stop. |
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| Heading onto the Savannah Way. |
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| Please wait for us as we cross the road. |
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| Made it safely. |
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| Lake Belmore, outside of Croydon on the Savannah Way. "The nicest thing to see here" said a local backpacker working in the area. |
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| Croydon in the distance. |
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| Our bush stop on an old WW2 airfield. |
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Another bush stop.    We got caught behind a huge convoy of ADF trucks driving to Darwin. Here they were filling up with fuel.  Filling up with precious water for our bush stops.     
Going up......
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| Diesel.....more expensive than up north. |
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| Bourke and Wills Roadhouse. |
