Our time at Lorella Springs had come to an end and it was time to hit the road again this morning. We packed up and said our farewells to our newest friends whom we had shared a fire with over the last few evenings. Wendy attended to the gate openings as we left the station behind and made our way back to the Savannah Way. Just after turning left on to the main road we spotted what looked like black cattle off in the distance on the side of the road. As we got closer it became clear we were approaching 3 large water buffalo. Fortunately they spotted us and trotted across the road and into the scrub as we continued to approach. They gave us a glance over their shoulders as we passed by as they trotted deeper into the scrub.
The journey from Lorella Springs headed initially south towards Cape Crawford until we reached the short-cut to Borroloola that cuts over 100kms off the trip. We hit the bitumen about 25kms west of Borroloola – quite a novelty after many days of nothing but gravel tracks and dust.
Borroloola was going off when we drove into town. The football ground was bustling with lots of players and supporters ringing the ground; either playing, on the interchange, or waiting for the game to finish so the next could start. The only code played in these parts is AFL, with non-players getting around in their team colours – the Dockers seemed to feature a bit. Closer in to town the women and younger school kids were involved in softball and netball games within the school grounds. Again, a large turn out in clean, crisp team tops.
Borroloola has apparently turned the corner and taken charge of its destiny since we last visited two years ago. There was a different vibe to the place. The place seemed tidier, work was underway to expand the servo and general store, and the appearance and demeanour of the people we observed seemed more positive. We checked out the price of diesel at the three servos in town. The prices varied from $1.76 up to $1.92. It pays to shop around, as we needed 115 litres to fill up! The small general store had some reasonable-looking, but expensive, fresh veggies. We purchased a lettuce, capsicum, cucumber and cherry tomatoes to top up our dwindling supplies of fresh food.
We took the opportunity to make a few phone calls to let people know we were still travelling OK (and to get news from home). We also took the opportunity to upload the most recent blog entries that had backlogged since our time at Lorella Springs. As we continued on our way we passed the turnoff to Seven Emu station which was a highlight on our previous trip when we camped on the backs of the Robinson River. We wondered if the large and ancient croc that patrolled the billabong below our campsite was still their feeding on the plentiful barra that we sighted in the river. We subsequently crossed the Robinson River further upstream on our journey south east.
We stopped for a late lunch at the Foelsche River crossing and were intrigued to watch 5 or 6 vintage cars (including an Austin and a Willies, all of a 1940s vintagelk) travelling in a north westerly direction pass us by. None of the river crossings they would have negotiated today have been very deep, but it seemed that the role of the navigator in a vintage car includes walking across the river crossing to check the depth – not very sensible in croc-infested waters!
The remainder of the journey today added to our tally of river crossings with today’s tally up to 7 (based on Wendy’s definition of a crossing, where the water must be flowing and be the full width of the Prado – not just a puddle regardless of how large or deep it may be). We did note that the road kill on the side of the road today did not include the normal mix of kangaroos, cattle or galahs – it was feral cats, at least three of them that we could recognise. It seems from our observations and discussions on this trip that feral cats have overtaken cane toads as the number one enemy in the bush. They seem to have exploded in numbers and are obviously inhabiting all sorts of country from desert to the tropics.
We have made it to a bush campsite above the Calvert River crossing and are sharing it with 4 large caravans also heading in the same general direction as us. It seems there are 3 couples travelling in convoy and the other couple are, like us, travelling on their own. We don’t need any TV or radio coverage to keep us entertained tonight. Our new best friends seem to be hearing impaired and every word of their conversation is crystal clear. Hopefully they hit the sack early!