28 March 2018 - Day 25 - Daly Waters to Camooweal

With nearly 850 km for the day an early start was on the cards and I had set the alarm for 4.30 am. As it turned out I could not sleep beyond a quarter past 3 am; all attempts to continue till the alarm went off was in vain. After a hot cup of coffee I got ready and set off on the lonely roads by 4.15 am. In the first two hours all I encountered on the road were four Road Trains – that’s all. The sky remained dark till it was nearly 6 am. I was worried for stray cattle and kangaroos. Even though the speed limit was 130 kph I coasted along between 110 and 120 kph. I was averaging 100 kph when I started feeling sleepy and my eyes were really tired. Closer to 7 am I stopped for fueling at Renner Springs Desert Inn – I do not know why it is called a Desert Inn – and slept for a half hour in the car thereafter.

When I woke up I noticed that I still had close to 600 km to go for the day. The next stop was at Barkly Homestead after almost 300 plus km. The progress was, once again, at 100 kph. I was well in time as I had only 260 km to go after this. The Homestead is a cosy place with very friendly staff and free Wi-Fi. I sat around and relaxed for half an hour, while browsing and uploading. It had started raining after Three Ways and the clouds were quite heavy. The forecast for weather in Queensland was not very encouraging from the information I gathered on the Net. Cairns, Mackay and the Gold Coast seemed to be in trouble and more was to follow. The Townsville-Cairns stretch seemed to be in a lot of trouble. I wondered what my strategy should be. Not knowing what to do at the moment I thought it prudent to see how the day panned out and get more information at Camooweal.

About 10 km to the Camooweal Roadhouse is the border between Northern Territory and Queensland. The landmark is sign-posted in advance. My stay at the border was irritably cut short by a swarm of flies that even started ‘exploring’ my ears and nose. I had to purse my lips to ensure they didn’t kiss me. They were so many in number that I felt truly threatened. If I had stayed some more the flies would have summoned a few more of their ilk and carried me away. In such circumstances, I am certain that my 90 plus kgs work to my advantage, because it would take a lot more flies to carry me away than if I were a fit, 70 kg, six pack, vain macho!

I had booked the accommodations in Australia in October 2017 and the one in Camooweal Roadhouse was part of that. As I drove into Camooweal I saw a billboard of the Roadhouse but Google Maps showed the location to be another 15 km away. When I drove there I found just wilderness and nothing else. Fortunately, I had the telephone to the Roadhouse and ascertained that I had over-carried myself. I trudged back to the town and presented myself at the reception of the Roadhouse. Most Roadhouses are attached to a fuel station and this was no exception.

Victor, from Rajasthan, handled my check in. He suggested that I upgrade my occupancy to an en suite for a reduced price of AUD 100. He said that that the budget accommodations are normally used by the local toughs and cowboys and I may not like the environment. I decided to go by his suggestion. I had to wait a while for my room to be ready. The small room with en suite facilities was quite comfortable with ample parking facilities in the complex. Since Wi-Fi facility did not extend to the accommodations I decided to take some rest before returning to the reception/restaurant later in the evening.

The owner of the Roadhouse told me that options to visit the neighborhood are limited because of the wet season. I took the opportunity to spend some time with Victor, the chef. He told me that he is Ashok Kumar aka Victor from Ganganagar, Rajasthan. He was living on the brink at home despite the IT education he had; a salary of Rs. 15,000 a month was not even sufficient to pay back his loans. Nine years ago he came to Brisbane and struggled for two years to get through a course in Hospitality and Cookery. He mentioned how things were made difficult by the lack of help from fellow Indians. Between 2005 and 2012, he said, it was easy to make one’s way to Australia, study, get a job and obtain PR. Post then, rules have been tightened, conditions have been made stiffer and the gloss had gone out of the initial ‘feel good’. He told me that there is a very large community in Australia now from Ganganagar because the early arrivals helped others to come over, stay free and obtain jobs. His current job in Camooweal looks like a fairy tale story. He works for a brother-sister entrepreneurship at the Roadhouse. Besides, a handsome salary he gets a three month paid vacation. Victor was able to get two more into jobs at the Roadhouse; one from his own home town and the other from Haryana.

Pankaj from Kurukshetra, Haryana climbed the rungs quickly from chef to Manager. The smart youngster with a gift of the gab came over and had a chat with me. He suggested that I should look for accommodation in Caravan Parks to reduce cost. The downside is that one has to sleep in the car if one does not have a campervan or caravan. He said that they are totally safe and the common facilities of toilet and shower could be used too.

The weather updates on TV were gloomy. The Easter weekend had forecast more rains and flooding. I rang up the Caravella Backpackers to understand if they would consider waiving the cancellation policy in case I am stuck because of the weather. The response from the other end was not at all reassuring. She said that they would have to charge me for a day in case the cancellation was done within 24 hours of the proposed occupation. I looked up the Net for last minute accommodation deals and found that, possibly because of the weather, I would be better off deciding accommodation beyond Normanton as I went along. With this in mind I cancelled the bookings I had made in Cairns and Mackay.

Victor helped me microwave Phad Thai Chicken, the last of my Heat&Eat items. Back in the room I had a couple of cans of Highland Whisky in Cola and ‘feasted’ on the Phad Thai Chicken; the rice items are better. The next few days would be extremely critical. I hope and pray that the cyclone forecast get tempered down and I am able to complete the balance 4200 km as scheduled.