July 15th  2017

Heading north with a tail wind on the Burke Developmental Road  on bitumen  proved to be a good start to the day. The country was  much flatter and with less trees than we have become accustomed to. As we travelled the view became open woodland  with the beautiful white trunks of the Snappy Gum. They are such pretty trees. Gradually they became interspersed with the silky silver leaves of what I am calling the Candelabra Wattle, intermixed with the large glaucous leaves of the Silver Box tree ..eucalyptus pruinosa which I think was growing next to our rig last year when we stayed at Adele’s Grove. I selected a few leaves and took them home to steam their images onto silk and wool fabric.

We stopped at the Burke and wills Roadhouse which is a popular stopping place for fuel and an ice-cream and any other things you may need. At this point we are about 200km to the Gulf of Carpentaria. For the last 2 days only we have seen budgerigars flying in flocks.. they are tiny bright green birds which belong to the parrot family.

This is where the Burke road meets the Wills Developmental Road which is bitumen and has led us here to camp on the Gregory River at Gregory Downs. There are a vast number of caravans in the area..scattered through the trees, along the water’s edge and anywhere else they could

fit. We were lucky to find a small shaded spot and with John’s clever driving have fitted in perfectly. There are several lovely Bauhinia trees nearby. I have never seen such perfect leaves on these tree. When growing two leaves form either side of the branch and look very much like Butterflies.

Butterfly leaves from the Bauhinia tree

There is a Pub at Gregory, a tiny tiny café and store, public toilets and a dump point for black water and large rubbish skips for rubbish disposal. The area we are camped in is called  a ’low impact camping area’. For the first time in 4.5 weeks we have a few flies worrying us..

I think John is really enjoying our slow pace of travel as I am. I have noticed him say ‘there is NO RUSH’ several times so this attitude is making for a restful and enjoyable trip.