July 5th 2017

We have just come in from sitting outside eating our stir fry dinner by the light of the moon. It is a very warm evening after a 32 deg day in the Julia Creek area.

What a wonderful view from my window at 6.30am. The sky was blood red with the rising of the sun which did not actually come over the horizon for some time.

This morning we had the brakes adjusted on the van. The driver is much happier! We have travelled west today, along the Flinders Highway and spent a couple of hours in Julia Creek which is a well cared for and proud little town. I visited the Food Mart and John purchased  a Grease Gun, lunched in the park where we met 3 French girls who are back packing in Australia.

Julia Creek Dunnart

The Information Centre was an interesting new complex where several old ‘Fettlers’ Huts have been renovated and utilised in very innovative ways to tell us all aspects of the local community. The main point of interest is the 'Julia Creek Dunnart' which lives in this area. It is very tiny, much like a mouse, but smaller. A fenced area has been developed to save this tiny creature from predators. The black soil of the area dries hard with deep cracks, up to 60 cm in depth, which the tiny dunnart climbs down into during the daytime in order to keep cool from the heat. It feeds on insects, small reptiles and grubs at night. During the rainy season, the dunnart lives above ground level and shelters in the clumps of Mitchell grass.

Tonight we are camped by Eastern Creek which is about 20 km west of Julia Creek. It is a large dusty area by the bridge. There are 6 or 8 caravans camped near us. I think we will all have a restless night because of the heavy traffic on the Flinders Highway. The trucks are huge and noisy and mostly road trains..