Another day of hard driving, this time about 920 km. We chose to go north to Normanton on highway 83 after entering Queensland and then head east on route 1 to the coast. We soon discovered that the road left a lot to be desired. It’s paved all the way, but the pavement is not very good so we couldn’t go as fast as the speed limit allows. Also, much of the road one lane only so you have to slow down and pull over for oncoming traffic.
The one point of interest along this road was the number of wallabies. It was the first time that we had seen any that were not in captivity, and suddenly along the road they were everywhere. Several times I had to come to a near stop and honk the horn in order to avoid hitting them, especially in the early evening.
Even though we got off to an early start this morning, we didn’t arrive in Normanton until about 8 PM and it was pitch dark outside. Normanton is not very big – about 1 km end to end and nothing off to the sides. The town was pretty well closed up for the night and finding lodging proved to be difficult especially since we were too tired to set up camp and were looking for a cabin.
We finally found a cabin (the last one available in town) and settled in. Unfortunately, we had to clear out some cockroaches in bathroom and kitchen. The temperature was hot all night long but for the air conditioner did its job kept as cool. We were so tired, that, after a shower, sleep came quickly.
This was probably the longest and hardest day of our entire trip and we’re both glad that it’s over. Tomorrow we head east toward the coast.
Cheers,
Wayne & Peggy