Alice Springs to Winton across the flooded Barkly Highway

In this episode, we hit the road again, leaving Alice Springs and heading east towards Queensland. Central Australia had been experiencing heavy rainfall, resulting in significant surface water that made for some challenging driving conditions. After a quick overnight stay at the Devils Marbles, we continued to the Barkly Highway, which was only open for three hours due to extensive flooding!
Crossing into Queensland, we stopped at the fascinating Mary Kathleen, an abandoned mining settlement in north-western Queensland. This spot offered a great free camping experience, complete with an old open-cut uranium mine and stunning drone shots. Our final stop was at the Walkabout Creek Hotel, a charming Aussie pub made famous by the global hit Crocodile Dundee.

Пікірлер: 32

  • @tonipotter6639
    @tonipotter6639Ай бұрын

    Welcome to QLD! Mum was born in Winton and we'll be up that way at Kynuna next month to see the country she grew up on. House is still there and I'm itching to get on the road. Just amazing to see how green it is! Thanks again for another greyt footage compilation!

  • @VetinaVan

    @VetinaVan

    Ай бұрын

    Thanks Toni, we did not get to see everything we wanted to see in Winton as we were on a tight timeline to get to the East Coast, so we will be back! A short Winton video goes up this Friday. 😃🍻👍

  • @fleurneumann8430
    @fleurneumann8430Ай бұрын

    Stunning drone footage of Mary Kathleen Mine site . My husband learnt to water ski on the waters in the disused Rum Jungle Uranium mine near Batchelor NT in the early 70’s . No one mentioned contamination but the water was more green than blue and of course all fenced off these days .

  • @VetinaVan

    @VetinaVan

    Ай бұрын

    Wow! They probably did the same at Mark Kathleen back in the day. It's very similar to Stockton Lake. 😀😀

  • @karenmc9298
    @karenmc9298Ай бұрын

    Gosh. Thanks for showing the state of the Stuart Hwy and water on the Barkly. So cute to hear the comment from the back seat “imagine if we got a puncture now” 😅

  • @VetinaVan

    @VetinaVan

    Ай бұрын

    Haha, yup, that was the first of a bit of bad luck with punctures over the next few weeks! Such is travel life, wouldn't swap it for the world though! 👍👍🍻😀

  • @AdventuringPals
    @AdventuringPalsАй бұрын

    Another great episode guys. The flooded Barkly was pretty amazing, as was Mary Kathleen. Thanks for warning us about the highway closures too. We made just in time.

  • @VetinaVan

    @VetinaVan

    Ай бұрын

    Cool guys! You must have been just behind us, it was amazing to see how much water was flowing over the Barkly! 🍻🍻

  • @AdventuringPals

    @AdventuringPals

    Ай бұрын

    @@VetinaVan we met you guys at Mary Kathleen. We were in the Blue Ranger heading west.

  • @VetinaVan

    @VetinaVan

    Ай бұрын

    Yup, we were just talking about you guys the other day, pretty sure that's your car in the drone shot. 😉🍻👍

  • @AdventuringPals

    @AdventuringPals

    Ай бұрын

    @@VetinaVan yeah. I saw it in the drone shot haha. I’m still editing our video of that section. I’m so far behind lol.

  • @VetinaVan

    @VetinaVan

    Ай бұрын

    Haha, yup, I am running out of hard disk drive space! 🍻

  • @mallacey7621
    @mallacey7621Ай бұрын

    Incredible photos

  • @VetinaVan

    @VetinaVan

    Ай бұрын

    The blue light of the lake was next level! Didn't enhance any of the colours. it's really that blue! 😀😀

  • @craigtomkinson2837
    @craigtomkinson2837Ай бұрын

    Lovely ep and places guys.

  • @VetinaVan

    @VetinaVan

    Ай бұрын

    Thanks Craig.😀🍻

  • @zoezoe610
    @zoezoe610Ай бұрын

    Cheers, very nice.

  • @VetinaVan

    @VetinaVan

    Ай бұрын

    Thanks! 😀😀

  • @robyndehavilland1609
    @robyndehavilland1609Ай бұрын

    Love the contrasting landscapes you drove through on this episode ❤️. Reminds me of that classic poem by Dorothea Mackellar, I love a sunburnt country etc etc 😊

  • @VetinaVan

    @VetinaVan

    Ай бұрын

    A land of sweeping plains, Of ragged mountain ranges, Of droughts and flooding rains. I love her far horizons, I love her jewel-sea, Her beauty and her terror - The wide brown land for me! We love this poem (the full version) it resonates so much on long drives as the country changes. We are so very lucky to live here in Aus. 👍👍🍻🍻😃

  • @robyndehavilland1609

    @robyndehavilland1609

    Ай бұрын

    @@VetinaVanyes I love it so much too. I had a feeling you would know it well 😊😊

  • @Heath7691
    @Heath7691Ай бұрын

    Great episode guys loved it walkabout creek hotel can't wait to visit myself no hints on your next wheels.😂

  • @VetinaVan

    @VetinaVan

    Ай бұрын

    I think the hotel is actually for sale. Would be cool to own an outback pub! Next video gets a small peek at the new tug. 😉😉🍻

  • @contributor7219
    @contributor7219Ай бұрын

    Never stopped at Mary Kathleen, though in all honesty we've mostly treated Qld as a transit route to other places, but it certainly looks like an interesting part of our history. It was certainly a very well established town. I'm told the half-life of uranium is pretty short, so it's probably perfectly safe to swim there - joking, joking a lot (please nobody swim there). That poor tyre met a very unhappy demise. Hopefully you optioned 19.5s on the new beast as they are the best choice for long distance towing with a heavier van. We have them on ours even though our towing needs are very light compared to you guys. Looking forward to seeing how you like the new 'toy'.

  • @VetinaVan

    @VetinaVan

    Ай бұрын

    Haha, they should put a sign up sating that it will be safe for swimming in 4.5 billion years once the uranium half life has been met! The shoes on the new tug will be slightly larger than the cruisers. 😉😉

  • @mallacey7621
    @mallacey7621Ай бұрын

    We came up the Barkly highway from Mount Isa it had just opened very wet in Darwin, now but definitely gonna stop at the devils marble hotel on the way down

  • @VetinaVan

    @VetinaVan

    Ай бұрын

    Yup the Devils Marbles Hotel is a great little place, free camping out the front or power & water out back. We have done both and always good. The food is always good too, well worth the stopover. 👍👍🍻

  • @davidbrown2068
    @davidbrown2068Ай бұрын

    I am curious as to why you got you light rigid licenses in NT rather than Queensland? My wife and I stayed in Tennant Creek once. We we terrified. Even the dogs could not sleep.

  • @VetinaVan

    @VetinaVan

    Ай бұрын

    We are both already 'territorians' as our current livences are NT based, so it was easier to just upgrade rather than get new licenses. We have not stayed at Tennant Creek yet. Hats off to you guys for staying there! 👍👍🍻🍻