Day 27 - Threeways Roadhouse to Butterfly Springs.

A big day for us, we covered 710 kms, 156 of it on dirt roads. We left Threeways at a record 9.06am! We saved an estimated 20 minutes by not unhitching the trailer the night before. We pulled in to Barkly Homestead Roadhouse for not much more than a toilet stop. They don't sell bread either, it costs so much to run a freezer on the generator they mainly use it for meat and chips. From there we headed north on the single laned Tablelands Highway. The vegetation disappeared after Brunette Downs, barely a tree visible.

 

There were lots of cows though, at Playford River. The water isn't flowing, it looks more like a dam. It must be perishing here in Summer. It is hard to believe this is a tropical environment. We passed an "Overtaking in 20km" sign! It really should read Passing in 20 km as the road is only one car wide everywhere else. You have to hit the dirt on the side to pass any vehicles.

 

We stopped at The Heartbreak Hotel at Cape Crawford for arvo tea, $5 for an icy pole! Finally someone was prepared to sell us some bread, six rolls but not a loaf. The hotel was beautifully cool. There were four helicopters in sight, ready to take people to view the Southern Lost City, where we are headed. Around 4pm, a lot of workman came in and started eating dinner from the Bain Marie's. A bizarre time to eat a full meal, it's even worse than nursing home meal hours.

 

We pushed on, on dirt now. There was a controlled burn off we drove past that no one seemed to be controlling. It was smouldering in places, burning strongly in others.

 

We turned at the sign above at a junction in the middle of nowhere in particular. You may be able to make out the SOS message on the sign.

SOS 5 km (right hand arrow) BROKEN DOWN PLEASE SEND HELP.

We saw one vehicle only, from when we first hit the dirt to our desination, 150 km away, so I don't think they would have been rescued quickly. Once we were in the proposed National Park we saw plenty of Northern Territory's fauna symbol, the Wedge Tailed Eagle. Every time we surprise one to flight I'm amazed by their enormous wing span. It happens too quickly to get any photos. We saw a goanna on the road, he slunk away, also too quickly.

The termite mounds are a different colour up here because the dirt is lighter. I had to negotiate several water crossings on route, which was heaps of fun. We are in crocodile territory now so my imagination goes rampant when I consider the possibility of getting stuck midstream!

 

It was dark by the time we arrived, exhausted. We had some trouble with our map being inaccurate and couldn't find the southern route into Butterfly Springs. The road seems to have changed as we found an unmarked entry point closer than the northern entry 8km away. Undaunted by the late hour, we had beef fajitas for dinner, the girls finished the jelly. Hard to get ice cream out here.

 

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