We left Barkley Homestead headed east back to our home state of QLD. There was talk of rain around, which was no issue, however we were not expecting a howling head wind which chewed our fuel. We were 80km out of Camooweal when our petrol light come on . At this stage we had serious plans on how we were going to first get off the road with a caravan and second pull someone over to get us some fuel. As it turned out, the long range fuel tank on my Triton paid off and we uncomfortably made it all the way to Camooweal (the fuel gauge was below the E). Camooweal is the Australian outback and the people who live there are the real Australia (strong, hard working, family orientated, humble and kind). There is a caravan park at Camooweal , which is nothing flash , however that is the flash part of Camooweal, nothing is flash. Seriously recommend having a beer at the pub and meeting a couple of locals.
We continued east to our first decent size town in a number of days (Mt Isa), the drive is easy and a few more trees start to appear , which is great for viewing , however brings in the added risk of hitting a kangaroo. Mt Isa is steeped in history, which mainly revolves around the mine which still runs today. Reports say the mine tours are a unique experience. We never got that experience, but we received 130mm in a 12 hour period, which was not unique for us, being north Queenslanders, but it did give our van a good test. So needless to say our travels to mt Isa were disappointing , mainly due to the rain and the lake we were placed in at the big 4 park. I think Mt Isa is certainly worth another go , even though our experience was difficult.
score
Camooweal 60 / 100
Mt Isa 34 / 100
Tip – ensure you always have a tool kit on board, which includes strong zip ties , WD40 and basic tools such as a shifter, screwdriver ect
