Day 24 - Hell's Gate to Borroloola

 (Kate)

Day 24 - Hell's Gate to Borroloola. We woke up to helicopter noise. There is a scenic flight helicopter parked out the front of the roadhouse, but there was another helicopter in the air towing a large circular frame. Another camper thought it might be something to do with the local mine.  When I posted the photo on facebook, a friend posted back this comment "Looks very much like an AEM. Airborne ElectroMagnetic survey. They can image different ore bodies down several hundred metres below surface. Expensive to run but, used when they want to define drilling targets. Buy shares in company that organised the survey!"

We fueled up and headed west, reaching the QLD/NT border in about 50km. The road to this point was smooth and easy to drive on. There was a beautiful big sign at the border welcoming us, but nobody asking to see our paperwork. But after driving on the NT part of the road for several hours I can understand why. Corrugations, unfriendly holes in the road, and patches of bulldust that plastered a fine coating on everything behind the front wheels of the car. FAR. OUT. The corrugations were so bad that Keith gave up playing games on his screen It was enough to rattle all your teeth loose.

We made it to Borroloola and settled into the McArthur River Caravan Park. Showers were beautiful and plentiful. Washing machines were $6 but worth every cent. We had to wash the billies and kettle before using them for dinner, to get the dust out of them.

After our day on this road, we changed our trip plan. We were going to drive to Mataranka in 2 days via Roper Bar, on the unsealed road, but instead we decided to set an alarm for 6am and charge to Mataranka on the bitumen.