A beautiful morning with clear blue sky greeted us as we packed up to leave. We knew that today would be a long drive and it was very tempting to stay yet another day. 

We joined the Gregory Development Road, planning to head towards the Atherton Tablelands, knowing that it was going to take us a day or two. I had looked up a couple of reviews on the possible roadhouses that we would be staying the night at and with a description of the amenities as ” Third World country standards in toilets” I was definitely in no hurry to move!

We were driving about an hour into our trip when Ray spotted something by the side of the road, pulling the van over as quickly as he could. There by the side of the road was a deer! Antlers and all. I passed Ray the camera and we crept along in the car stalking it to get a photo. It kept disappearing behind bushes and trees so the photo isn’t the best, but when I zoomed in, we could definitely see it was a deer. 

We have worked out that possibly the only animal that we haven’t seen on our trip is an elephant (excluding Australia Zoo). The number of wild animals of every description that wander the outback and hinterland is just amazing. I was told today that there are over 100,000 camels wandering loose in the Australian Outback!  

We stopped for morning tea at a roadside toilet and got talking to 4 others travelling together from Geelong, Victoria. Our usual 20 minute stop turned into over an hour as the men discussed cars and fuel consumption and us ladies were entertained by Caleb and his gun slinging skills. 

We hit the road again, feeling like we were going nowhere fast. The road just kept going on and on and on, the landscape unchanging. 

Pulling over for lunch seemed to be in order to break the monotony of the drive. We pulled up finding Pam, Cliff, Daryl and Helen from morning tea also at the same stop. Lunch became another hour stop and this time Caleb managed to show them his new card trick and even roped Pam into playing “Fish” with him. Before we left, Helen presented him with a solar powered flying butterfly. He was so stoked and he allowed me to hold it for a total of 21 seconds with the promise of more time “later on”. 

What is it with this kid? If he isn’t scoring free stuff all over the place, he is charming the ladies and they are giving him their own stuff! 

I think I have mentioned the overwhelming amount of road kill on the roads in this area of Australia already. What I haven’t mentioned is the terrible gut churning smell that accompanies each and every one. 

As we continued travelling today Ray insisted on having his window down, as usual. This resulted in an afternoon full of the thick smell of decay. This didn’t seem to bother Ray at all but Caleb and I kept finding new and interesting faces to reflect the revolting smells that came in the window on a much too regular basis.

We arrived at the Oasis Roadhouse where Ray went to book us a night at the attached caravan park. We got to know our Victorian neighbours (on both sides of us) and settled in for a quiet night. There was no phone reception, internet or television to disturb the peace. 

Caleb’s teddy “Ted” was sporting 3 separate holes after a much needed ride in the washing machine a couple of days ago. He insisted on sewing it up himself. I literally threaded the needle and knotted the cotton and he did the rest, insisting that he had learned how to do it at school and not allowing me to help at all. Amazing, that of all the things he actually recalls how to do in its entirety, it’s sewing!

As the night wore on, one of the backpackers who worked at the Roadhouse pulled out his harmonica and played it sitting around the campfire, breaking the silence of the bush. 
Ray stood outside in the dark, spotting 3 shooting stars and noticing that we were directly under the Milky Way. 
It couldn’t have been more ” outback” if we had tried.