8/7 Leave Katherine after some shopping. Bottleshops don’t open until 2pm, which is a pain for tourists. Backtracking down the Stuart Hwy. Stop for lunch at Rinner Springs as we did on the way up, and find ourselves back at Daly Waters pub for the night. Happy Hour again, same entertainment and the best bowl of chips, they were huge.

9/7 Walked around the local Heritage Trail before heading off. Regular signs with excerpts from Stuarts diary when he explored the region. They were constantly on the lookout for water, and both the men and horses did it very tough.  Stopped at 3 Ways roadhouse for the night. 

10/7  Long day on the road. A roaring headwind which makes driving tiring, and you could see the petrol gauge dropping.  Interesting how the countryside changes and it’s reflected in the changing colours of the termite mounds. One minute they are the orange of the outback, next thing they are a washed out grey.  Also amazing variation in size from little things the size of an ice cream cone,  to things like the Marshmallow Man in Ghostbusters (perhaps not quite that big).

Some are also very well dressed.

Cross into Qld where a few rubber necks are getting their photos next to the state signs. We wouldn't stoop to such a tourist cliché.

Free camping on the Georgina River at Camooweal, just inside the Queensland border. The river isn’t flowing, just big pools like billabongs. There are thousands of noisy corellas, and a variety of water birds, including 4 Brolgas. It’s quite cool and I’ve had to put a windbreaker on for the first time in ages, and I’ve started to get a crook throat. Rose just tipped the remainder of my stubbie down the sink. She thought it was empty. Must be time to trade her in. We’ve been tossing up which way to go to Lawn Hill NP, and been getting conflicting info on road conditions. Decided we will go via Mt Isa and Cloncurry. A lot further but mainly bitumen.

11/7 Froze overnight. It got down to -1 just up the road.  Apparently temps across the region were 10 degrees below average. Off to Mt Isa this morning, head wind again but not as bad as yesterday.  Quite a lot of road kill in this section and plenty of wedgetail eagles. Arrive at Mt Isa to see a large opencut mine right in the middle of town with a couple of huge chimneys.

Call in at the info centre and get a $7 all day breaky. Great value.  We decide to prop here for the night. Driving around town, a lot of the houses are pretty old and run down. Discovered  The Irish Club in an out of the way spot in town. Nice cold Guinness for medicinal purposes. Hopped aboard the Guinness Tram which was set up in the club.