Road Trip: Darwin to Rockhampton

Audio books and “Africa” by Toto. What else do you need for a good road trip? With 30+ hours of driving to do, Jo and I were ready to leave the dust, mosquitos, and flies of the centre for the beaches and surf of the east coast.

We said farewell to the waterfalls of Litchfield National Park and headed to a campsite outside of Mataranka Thermal Pools. On my way up to Darwin, I had stopped at Mataranka but hadn’t gone to Bitter Springs.  Of course, everyone told me I had made a mistake, so I needed a redo! We went in the morning and experienced what I can only describe as a natural hot tube lazy river. 

Bitter Springs | Photo Credit We Are Explorers (I left my phone in the car when we went!)

Needless to say, I needed Jo to drag me out of the water to head south as we had a strict timeline to get to Tennant Creek. Julia and I had been messaging about recommendations in the centre and northern Australia as she had just gotten a cattle ranch job when we realized if we timed things correctly, we could cross paths. We arranged to meet at a side of the road campsite, but had to hope plans would magically work out since service is almost non existant on the road. Plus I lost my Australian phone so could only rely on wi-fi and Jo sharing a hotspot on his phone…It has been nice to be able to digitally disconnect but can make travel arrangements more complicated.  

I’m sad to say I didn’t see Julia’s handwritten sign at the roadhouse telling me where to go, but did come into service enough to get her facebook message. We pulled into the campsite right before sun set. At this point, Jo and I have a rhythm and were able to quickly set up camp and begin making dinner - pulling resources from Julia and her travel mates to make an amazing nacho bean cheese dip with a dessert of chocolate chip cookies. The camping dream. 

Me and Jo, road trip ready

Me and Julia, hugs all around

The next few days were full of long roads and colder weather. The stars were incredible, which made up for the fact that the sun set so early. We saw what has to be one of the only Blockbuster’s left in the world in Mt. Isa, listened to a full audio book, and played a lot of Would You Rather. I only terrified Jo a handful of times as he patiently improved my manual driving skills. 

After a cold camping night wearing all of the layers we could, we made the decision to have a long driving day and get to Emu Park. I made arrangements with a hostel in Emu Park for work for accommodation and secured a BBQ and free night stay when we first arrived. Goodbye road trip and hello beach!