10^th June: Julia Creek

We have spent today rolling across seemly endless flat, black soil plains that stretched as far as the horizon and beyond. The road of course was undulating as a result of this self-mulching soil and the road construction gangs were out in force, rebuilding 5 km stretches every 10 kms. Apparently, (one of the workers lives in this caravan park and we were chatting), these are experimental builds in order to find a way to stablise the foundations of the road – a formidable task given the size and weight of some of the trucks. They are removing the bitumen, scaping up the dirt underneath, laying down lime, then the dirt they had removed,then a layer of rocks and then adding more dirt and bitumen. 41/2 months to complete 5 kms!

We were grateful for the road works as it broke the monotony of 300 kms of straight, featureless road. Some cattle were nibbling despondently at scattered round tufts of inedible-looking grass in the dust. It is so dry from before Richmond to here. The creeks are empty sandy gullies! They absolutely depend on underground water for the cattle and the outlook is very depressing! All these small country towns are built on a square grid pattern with extremely wide streets, a hangover of the bullock teams of the past. (You need a lot of road to turn a bullock dray!)

Two emus,dozens of kites and eagles were dotted along the way as well as some road kill. The trucks drive 24/7 and they are huge – 4 and sometimes 5 full trailers (dogs) behind. We don't pass them; they pass us - faster than us – carrying cattle or ore in closed containers. No wonder the road sinks!

Many of these caravan parks have good camp kitchens and we are using them when we can, meeting other interesting people as we cook and eat and wash up. There were two young men there tonight and they wereaskingabout places to visit on their travels. By the sounds of it, their map was inadequate and they were relying on Google maps. Technology is not always the answer! Maps are good! Especially when going to Lawn Hill Gorge (of which they had never heard) and then on the Savannah Way through the wilds of NT!