Bradby Trip - 4-12 Setember 2009 - Travelling across WA,NT, Qld + Barrier Reef

4 to 7 September 2009 Days 78 and 81 – Travelling Across WA, NT & Qld --Lake Argyle to east of Daly Waters to Leichhardt Falls (east of Burketown) to Greenvale to Airlie Beach.

The past 4 days has seen us traverse this big country of ours from Lake Argyle in the eastern Kimberleys to Airlie Beach in the Whitsundays. This has added up to around 2900 kms of which just over 1000kms was on dirt roads.

From Lake Argyle we took the bitumen to timber creek and then headed down the Buchanan Highway (400kms of dirt) through Top Springs to Dunmarra. We spotted the Camel Man just outside of Lake Argle. This is the fourth time we have come across him in our holiday. Apparently he is is a road dweller travelling around Australia with the two camels pulling his small caravan. The dirt road was generally in very good condition and we averaged around 75km/hr for the trip. We fuelled up in Daly Waters ($1.72c/ltr) and then headed a further 90 km east to a free camp just off the highway along with a couple of other campers.



Next morning we drove through Cape Crawford but did not fuel up, we had been warned it was expensive ($2.25c/ltr) and headed for Borroloola for fuel ($1.58 at the last servo as you head through town) and then back on the dirt for the 500km drive to Burketown. The road again was in pretty good condition although a few of the dips were rough and had sharp exit angles. We were excited to come back into Qld. We arrived at Burketown around 5 00pm but decided to continue on to a free camp at Leichhardt Falls, a further 80 km towards Normanton of the Savannah Way.

Leichhardt Falls is a very scenic spot and a great overnight camp. We headed into Normanton and made a few Father’s day phone calls before heading to Lake Belmont at Croydon for lunch. The picnic area at Lake Belmont is excellent and well worth breaking the drive to have lunch overlooking the lake which is Croydon’s water supply.


We turned off the bitumen at Georgetown and headed to Forsyth and Einasleigh on the dirt before meeting the bitumen at The Lynd Junction and then onto Greenvale for an overnight stop in the caravan park.

We headed into Townsville to fuel up ($1.16c/ltr – cheapest on the trip so far) before heading down the Bruce Highway to Airlie Beach.

8 September 2009 Day 82 - Barrier Reef

We arrived in Arlie Beach on Monday 7th September early afternoon and checked into Arlie Cove Resort & Caravan Park. We enjoyed the grass and showers after travelling over the past few days. On Tuesday we headed out to the outer Barrier Reef on a day tour. Jack tried scuba diving for the first time. It was a tourist dive for 30 mins accompanied by a dive instructor. He is already negotiating for his dive ticket. Linda was keen too, but was not approved due to medical history. Linda had more crosses than ticks! Watching Jack gear up for a scuba dive was very exciting, and we snorkelled over the top of where he was diving so got to enjoy it with him. They took him down about 4 metres and were up close with a big fish (see photo). Afterwards all three of us spent about an hour snorkelling around the reef. There was lots of coral a fish. A great day, particularly after not being able to swim for so long because of crocodiles in WA. There was also a glass bottom boat and submersed tank so Michael and Jack headed out on that. The pontoon had a slippery dip – great fun for the kids and adults.



9 September 2009 Day 83 – Battery repair in Mackay

After Arlie Beach we continued heading south. We have had ongoing problems with the car fridge due to the 40C heat and many dusty roads. The fault light came on regularly overnight, even though it had been charged all day during the drive. After many phone calls R&G Auto Electrics in Mackay were found, and fitted us in that afternoon. It turned out the problem was dust in the connections. While we there, we updgraded the set up and had a multistage battery charger installed. We went for the Redarc brand. It is delivering its promises with our voltage now improved from 12.7 to 13.9 during travel, and maintaining above 12.7 overnight. We expect to get more than 3 days from a full charge, when camped up. With the solar panel we will be set for our 2 weeks on Fraser Island without power. A tip for others when doing lots of dirt driving is to regularly clean the plugs and connections, plus I would recommend the booster if intending to go north into a hotter climate.

10-14 September 2009 Days 84-88 – Lake Monduan

Thursday the 10th we arrived at Lake Monduan for a four night stop before heading over to Fraser Island. This is a great fishing camp with excellent facilties. Camp kitchens, shading sites and lots of friendly campers. Lake Monduan is stocked with Barra so we are keen to hook up. Hopefully photos to come. We are booked on the Fraser Dawn car barge next Wednesday 16th and will be on the Island for 2 weeks. The Jones are meeting us there for a few days, on the way home from their desert trip. The Caseys and Angela & Tiff are also planning to join us to later in the fortnight.

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