Day 8 – Tuesday 27 July 2021 – 652km

We were away from Corella Dam before 9am and on the road again through more mountains and rocky outcrops. As we came over the rise into Mount Isa the two really tall smoke stacks from the mines are very prominent, one belching a large amount of smoke. The mine workings are prominent above the cityscape. The town is big with lots of similar shops like in any other big cities. We stopped at a shopping mall and bought a few food items from Coles. Lots of schoolkids walked past, probably off on an excursion.  We gave Sue & John a call to see how Sue is going. They are nearly in Dubbo on the way home, so disappointing they are not with us.

The road out of Mount Isa is more mountains & rocky outcrops (so exciting after the days of flat grass land but this excitement was short lived) before eventually becoming long endless plains with sparse vegetation but different in some areas with larger trees & denser bush something we haven’t seen for days.  There are lots of termite mounds on the red soils, looking like tombstones in a cemetery at times, there are that many of them. The road becomes endless straights disappearing into the heat haze in the distance. Outside temperature is 33 degrees. We eventually arrive at Camooweal & decide to stop for fuel & lunch, however the queue at the only fuel station is long and we decide to keep going.

At the Northern Territory border we were stopped at a police checkpoint to examine our Covid documentation and after checking it all, the nice policewoman allowed us through. We changed to Northern Territory time we are half an hour behind our normal time. We stopped at the next rest stop for lunch under the shade of a picnic shelter before continuing our journey. We refuelled at Barkly Homestead and kept going before stopping at Bore 41 rest area about an hour before sunset. Lots of caravans in here as well.  We drove further into the bush before finding a nice spot & setting up camp for the night. We had dinner sitting outside.  It was a beautiful balmy evening just sitting & watching a gorgeous sunset & sipping on a nice red.  We sat for a while & enjoyed the huge sky full of stars, but after Ron driving 650 or so kilometres today tiredness overcame him.  One realizes how big this country is & how harsh an existence is for anyone or anything to survive out here.  Another great day.