North and west to Katherine

[humdingerslammer]

Having done my time in Lawn Hill NP, which I thought was very nice and I could easily visit again, I followed the Gregory Dev Road back down to The Barkly Hwy and headed west to Camooweal where I filled up with fuel and steered westward for about 70kms. Here, I turned right and headed north up the Tablelands Hwy and eventually to Cape Crawford. This “highway” is a 377km long single strip of bitumen. It is heavily used by 3 and 4 trailer road trains carrying cattle and all sorts of other things. And they don’t slow down and they don’t give way.

The road sides were very wet and sticky with thick gooey mud. The first road train that I gave way to, I made the mistake of pulling completely off the bitumen to let it go by. Without realising how sticky the mud was, I found myself slipping ever further down the embankment. The wheels started to spin as I began pulling out of the mud. I thought “Shit. Not stuck again”. Fortunately, I had not moved that far from the edge of the bitumen so I quickly put the JKU into 4Low 1st gear and gunned it. Much mud spraying, much noise and suddenly a front wheel grabbed the bitumen. I was out of that shit like a shot.

Lesson was: “Don’t pull completely off the bitumen”. So, now when I saw a road train or caravan approaching, I found “floodways” made of concrete or bitumen and at least two tracks wide and sat there to the side for the approaching traffic to pass by. Only 1 caravan of very many radioed through to say “Caravan travelling south on Tablelands Hwy. Can you give way please?” Fair enough, so I did. Would have done anyway.

The Tablelands Hwy was in OK nick but very bumpy and wavey. It was not one that I felt safe going fast on. The many floodways were deep enough to bottom out the JKU if it hit them too fast. It wasn’t worth going too fast and breaking things. Despite this approach, at some point on this Hwy the shocks shat themselves in unison (Bilsteins that were not meant for such rough treatment).

And there was a lot of traffic that you had to be careful of. The road trains acted as a law unto themselves. At one blind corner I had to hit the anchors and give way rather quickly as 4 road trains tailgating each other whizzed pass. They really were an accident waiting to happen.

At Cape Crawford I filled up and bought lunch at the Heartbreak Hotel, which serves as a be all and end all in the settlement. There were many vehicles here that were covered in mud (see pics) from their route out of Lorella Springs Station. I wanted to visit there for a couple of days but decided not to go there given the wet and muddy conditions caused by recent heavy rain. I had visited a few years ago in the dry, which is a more sensible time to visit. One car had been stuck in deep mud for 4 hours before someone stopped and towed it out. So much for the spirit of the outback!

From Cape Crawford, the same single lane hwy (now called the Carpentaria, and 260km long) takes you to Daly Waters, a somewhat over-rated place in my opinion. The landscape along these 2 Highways is nothing much to write about: mainly dead flat floodplains, some mesas and smaller jump ups here and there, flat plains of Mitchell grass and sclerophyll forest and savannah, much like anywhere in the top part of the top end. And cattle.

I am sure that if you have the time and inclination, flora and fauna excursions would be worth their time. Still, it was worth the trip, especially if not seen before. But I would definitely recommend travelling this route in the drier weather.

Taking this north and west route, instead of getting directly to the Stuart Hwy by travelling west from Camooweal is interesting but unnecessary. It's longer in time, rougher, more isolated and probably more dangerous. That being so, it was ever onward, once I reached the Stuart Hwy. I headed north. I spent the night camped on the road somewhere and pulled into Katherine in the early morning. I had 5 days to kill before I was able to access the Central Arnhem Hwy and travel on to East Arnhem and Nhulunbuy (Gove).