4 Stray Katz: Bedourie to Katherine- the Outback at its remote and beautiful best

The Outback - from Bedourie, QLD to Katherine, NT

Saturday 8th - Thursday 13th July

Saturday – we were all in need of some solitude so, after leaving the Bedourie Camel Bash, we camped for the night at a lookout about 80kms north where we enjoyed an incredible sunset looking out over the Australian bush, followed by an equally amazing sunrise the next morning.

The view from the lookout near where we camped for the night- lots of flat open space!

Our camp for the night.

Daniel had fun with the drone (you weren't allowed to use drones at the Big Red Bash site so he'd been itching to play around with it).

Whilst Daniel played with his new toy, Emilia played with hers!

Our camp spot gave us a spectacular view of the over the sparse plains.

Outback sunsets produce the best colours.

Emilia and her light-up pois

We got up early for sunrise and were rewarded with a spectacular display of colours, all enjoying whilst sipping on a coffee around the campfire - bliss.

Daniel got this great shot with the drone.

The light was too good not to get a portrait shot of each of the kids.

Sunday – We spent the morning in Boulia and were amazed at how busy it already was. There were cars and caravans everywhere as travellers began descending on the town ready for the Camel Races the next weekend. We stayed for a few hours and the kids had a great time at the local park with a couple of kids from Mt Isa who were visiting their grandparents, whilst Daniel and I did a much needed load of washing. We spent the night 100kms north of Boulia where a track off the main road took us to a lovely spot surrounded by old cars and farm machinery from the nearby Buckingham Downs Station (that I am pretty sure is now closed/uninhabited). The rusty trucks provided a quintessential outback subject for our sunset and drone photos.

What a find- our campsite for the night, in the midst of old cars and farm machinery.

I found this skull and thought it was a great addition to my photos of the old cars.

So Daniel and I may have gone a bit overboard with our photos of the old cars - but they were just so photogenic in the light of the rising sun that we couldn't resist!

Monday & Tuesday - We spent the morning in Mt Isa catching up on emails, blogs, phone calls and messages as we hadn’t had reliable, consistent internet or phone coverage for about 10 days. Whilst Daniel and I did the boring jobs, the kids made the most of the newly refurbished Mt Isa Family Fun Park and the skatepark. We drove on and ended up on the border of QLD and NT at the lovely Camooweal Billabong on the Georgina River, home to a multitude of birds. We pulled into the popular free camping area about 4.30pm so it was already very busy. We kept following the river and managed to find a relatively secluded spot right on the water, it was so nice we decided to spend 2 nights and give ourselves a rest day after a pretty busy few weeks. The highlights of our 2 night stay included:

Seeing 3 Brumbies wander through the bush near us right at sunset (this happened on both nights)
Going for walks along the water to see the many water birds that populate the billabong
Enjoying a few ice-cold ales with Daniel at the Camooweal Hotel (we left the kids back and camp to enjoy some quality child-free time together).
Watching Jackson's excitement at catching some crabs and small fish

The boys did their community service and killed their share of cane toads, whilst Emilia and I blocked our hears so we didn’t have to hear the moment of impact when the shovel made contact with the unsuspecting toad.

Our campsite at the beautiful Camooweal Billabong

Having an hour to ourselves (minus the kids) made these beers taste soooo good.

Camooweal - a long way from anything!

Some of the many birds enjoying the billabong at Camooweal

Jackson sharpening a bit of rock- he wanted to make his own axe or spear head.

Our private campsite.

The 3 wild brumbies that ran past our campsite both nights we were there.

Wednesday – We started early and had a long day of driving, broken up with a few short stops. We ended up camping near Elliot, far enough down a track off the Sturt Highway that we couldn’t hear the road noise.

Jackson chopping down some dead wood for the fire whilst Daniel sends the drone up.

Thursday to Sunday- We didn’t make it to the Daly Waters Pub the night before, so we stopped off on our way to Katherine and spent some time exploring the unique mementos and memorabilia that make this place so popular. We rolled into Katherine about lunchtime and were given a great camping spot right near the pool, where the kids spent a good chunk of the next 3 days. Whilst at Katherine we also swam in the river, spent one morning enjoying the Katherine Hot Springs, joined a motley crew of locals and tourists eating dust at the Katherine Speedway (where we watched the NT Sedan championships) and packed for our trip up to Arnhem Land (as we are leaving the caravan and just taking a tent).

We were beginning to acclimatise to the heat, as it had come as a bit of a shock after the cool weather at the Big Red Bash, but I very much welcomed having a powered site and being able to use the air-conditioner!

Our 5 days travelling to Katherine offered us a real taste of the beauty and remoteness of the Outback and we were blessed with excellent weather, stunning sunrises and sunsets and bright stars that spread from horizon to horizon.