DAY 33

Week 5

CLONCURRY (Queensland, AUS) to MAREEBA (Queensland, AUS)
via Four Ways, Normanton & Undarra (Queensland, AUS)

Friday October 15th, 2010

TODAYS MILEAGE – 668 miles or 1075 kilometres
TRIP MILEAGE – 6549 miles or 10540 kilometres


Sneakin' on in to "The Tablelands".

Today's plan was pretty much a day of driving the 1075 kilometress (668 miles) up to Fluxy & Sonia's 80 acre (33 hectare) block in Mareeba (Queensland).

We were up at sparrows fart, to try and sneak out of Cloncurry (Queensland) as it was going to be a long day in the saddle. Our complimentary "Continental breakfast" at the Gidgee Inn was basically coffee, tea and toast. We bailed on that idea and headed over to the servo for bacon and egg rolls and ice coffee ..... breakfast of champions.

The quickest and easiest route was to head north of Cloncurry (Queensland) for 382 kilometres (238 miles) to Normanton (Queensland), up near the Gulf Of Carpentaria. From there, we hang a right and continue 447 kilometres (278 miles) into Minnamoolka (Queensland) then hang a left and head North again into Mareeba (Queensland), a winding 201 kilometres (125 miles) jaunt.

The only mishap so far for the entire trip, happened as we were leaving the Undara Volcanic National Park (Queensland). As it was pushing 4PM and the were closing the walk at 5PM – which takes 2 to 3 hours, we decided to keep pushing on up to Mareeba. A suicidal kangaroo decided it wanted my portion of the road and came off second best. That's not to say my insurance company came away unscathed, as Skippy cost them $3900,00. Thankfully none of us in the vehicle were hurt and luckily it was still drivable, so we kept on going after making sure the ute was safe to continue,

We got into Fluxy & Sonia's around 7:30 that night with no more dramas and I can tell you that the first cold beer went down quicker than a two dollar crack ho.

• CLONCURRY ~ Gidgee Inn (Queensland, AUS)
• FOUR WAYS (Queensland, AUS)
• NORMANTON (Queensland, AUS)
• UNDARA ~ Volcanic National Park (Queensland, AUS)