Australia - South again
I left Cairns for Townsville, I wanted to go more inland but after been travelling to Undara I rather wanted roads that were sealed and in good condition. I found a better place to spend the night this time than the lookout I stayed at last time I was in Townsville..
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My car without any oil. |
I had plans to travel far the next day, but already in the morning I realized that it wouldn't be so. When I checked the oil I found that I didn't have any oil and that the oil lid was gone. I had spent the night at another lookout just outside Townsville, and it was far to the closest petrol station. I rolled down almost 10 kilometres to the foot of the mountain and parked the car there. I got some help from two Australians so I could at least reach the nearest petrol station where I could ask for more help. They didn't have what I was looking for, but they gave me directions for where they sold car parts. Finally I got a new oil lid from a Subaru garage, but it was EXPENSIVE!!
It took many hours, but finally I was on the road again. Took a road that took me more inland and would take me to Charlton Towers. When I reached Charlton Towers I turned south and I tried to go almost 360 kilometres to Clermont. I made it and reached Clermont just before it was dark. The 360 kilometres was very deserted, and 80 kilometres were as bad as the road to Undara. I was behind a roadtrain for over 50 kilometres before I could overtake it, it was impossible on the bad roads there. during 170 kilometres I saw only 20 cars and only one house, which was a petrol station.
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The barn I slept in. The spider is still on the door. |
I slept in the car in Clermont, didn't sleep much though. Continues south and didn't stay before I reached Bilobea where I wanted to stay for the night. There was a hostel about 30 kilometres outside Bilobea and when I got there I saw that it was just a farm or something like it. I got a bed in a barn they had turned a dorm, I was alone there though. First I wanted to stay for two nights, but after seeing the standard I only spent one night. It wasn't really so bad, but neither the shower nor the toilet seemed clean enough for me to stay there. To sleep in a barn made me feel uncomfortable too, I worried for spiders and snakes. But when I finally went to sleep, I slept well. The next morning I saw a "big" (to me it was big) spider on the door to the barn. When I tried to describe how the spider looked like for the owners to the hostel, they said that it was probably the most poisonous they had there, but it was harmless to people. The spider's jaw wasn't big enough to bite through the skin of a human.
I travelled on and drove the 600 kilometres that was left to Brisbane. I stopped for some petrol, but that was the only stop before I stopped at the hostel in Brisbane.
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