NW Qld
- Ken Fredric
- Aug 31
- 7 min read
Updated: 8 hours ago
Day 01 - Howard - Lake Victoria, Goovigen, 02 September, 2026
On the first day of this adventure to Lawn Hill NP, NW QLD, we had planned to only drive as far as Calliope, about 280 km north.
As with many of our plans though, they are very flexible.
After leaving home around 8:30 A.M. and heading up the Bruce Highway, we stopped in at Gin Gin for a couple of things from the supermarket and to fuel up with the cheapest diesel around, which was still $2.45 per litre.
The plan then was to carry on up the Bruce to Calliope and to stay there for the night. However, it was annoying having to regularly pull over to let vehicles go past us, as we were only travelling at 80 km/h, so we made the decision to hit the back roads.
Somewhere between Gin Gin and Miriam Vale we turned off onto Kalpowar road, which started off sealed but then turned to unsealed very shortly after. The road was in reasonable condition though, so we made fairly good time to Kalpowar, where we stopped in the sleepy little town for lunch.
Carrying on our journey north-west we passed through a number of small towns, including Monto and Biloela, towns we'd explored on previous adventures.
Arriving at our destination for the night around 2:30 P.M., Lake Victoria near Goovigen, we set up beside the lake and set about identifying the myriad species of birdlife, that included White Egrets, Kookaburras, Geese and many others.
As it was a pleasant 28 degrees, we enjoyed sitting outside with a drink catching up with socials and birdwatching, after the 350 km drive.
Later in the afternoon we had a visit from a large white goose that looked scary, but was only scrounging for food from us.
At twilight we were treated to a spectacular sunset, which capped off a great camping spot.
Day 02 - Lake Victoria, Goovigen - Bluff Hotel, 03 September, 2026
With only about 160 km to drive today, to Bluff, we were in no hurry to leave our beautiful campsite.
The birdlife was just as impressive in the morning as it had been the day before, and we went for a short walk to try and identify some more of the birds. One very strange bird call puzzled us, never having heard it before, until we spotted that a couple of Kookaburras were responsible for it.
Our drive started out on the Leichhardt Highway, before we joined the Capricorn Highway. Both roads being fairly busy, with a lot of trucks, meant we couldn't potter along as much as we wanted to for most of the journey.
We stopped off in the small town of Dululu to empty the toilet cassette, before continuing on to Duaringa where we pulled in to fill up with fresh water and to visit the information centre.
Starting to feel hungry, and with the road getting busier, we sped up to avoid holding up other traffic, and to get to Bluff sooner for lunch.
At the Bluff Hotel we checked in to stay on an unpowered site behind the pub for the night, then ordered drinks and lunch. The food was standard pub fare, which we cleaned up in no time from being so hungry.
With lunch out of the way we got setup for the night and sat outside for the afternoon, enjoying the high 20s temperatures with a gentle breeze.
Day 03 - Bluff Hotel - Lara Wetlands, 04 September, 2026
With over 400 km to drive for the day, we were up and about and on the road a bit earlier this morning.
Our first stop was past Blackwater, where there was an installation of metal Minion sculptures, opposite a rest stop, in the middle of nowhere! Who knows why?
Next up was a shopping expedition to Woolies in Emerald to pick up some salad items, considering the temperatures were getting into the 30s.
Not far out of Emerald we stopped to get a photo of the Big Sapphire in Anakie Siding, then carried on to Alpha, where we stopped for lunch.
After lunch we went for a short walk to look at the town's Brolga statues, wall art and cow sculptures.
At Jericho, we turned off onto a minor road to avoid having to go into Barcaldine, which unfortunately was unsealed and quite rough to start with. We resigned ourselves to having a a slow drive for the last 60 km of the journey, but luckily the road condition improved allowing us to cover that section in reasonable time.
That brought us out onto the Landsborough Highway for a short distance, then onto the Lara Wetlands road, which was in quite bad condition too.
At Lara Station Wetlands we checked in for two nights and found a campsite looking out onto the lake.
The temperature had risen to 35 degrees during the day so, after setting up, we thought we'd cool off in the small dam adjacent to our site. The idea was great, but the water temp wasn't up to our 30 degree standard, or anywhere near it for that matter, so it was a quick dip only.
We sat outside for the rest of the afternoon enjoying the beautiful surroundings and large range of diverse birdlife.
A family of ducks, mum and dad and two ducklings came past our campsite at one point, then a family of Brolgas, mum and dad and a young one, did the same.
The temperature inside Mata late afternoon/early evening was over 30 degrees, so we stayed outside until well after dark, taking in the night sky from a different aspect than we would normally see.
Day 04 - Lara Wetlands, 05 September, 2026
Today was largely a chill day, to enjoy the wonderful surroundings of the wetlands.
As soon as we got up we went to have a dip in the hot pools, which would be much too hot later in the day.
After the hot pools and breakfast we went for a walk right around the wetlands, meeting up with another Explorer owner, Bronwyn from Victoria, who was travelling in a Pathfinder numbered in the 700s.
Apart from a quick clean to remove some of the dust from inside Mata, we spent the rest of the day relaxing outside keeping an eye on the birdlife to try and identify more species.
Day 05 - Lara Wetlands - Free Camp, Corfield, 06 September, 2026
After an idyllic couple of days at Lara Wetlands, today was back to being a driving day.
And, once again, we would be passing through towns that we'd explored on previous trips, like Longreach and Winton so we didn't have any touristing scheduled.
The first part of the drive took us back on the Landsborough Highway, to Longreach.
We stopped in Longreach to top up our fresh water, grab a couple of things from the supermarket and to have lunch.
Next up was a 175 km drive to Winton.
That part of the drive was very boring with a flat and featureless landscape, brown farm paddocks, no animals to speak of and 37 degrees outside.
In Winton our only stop was to partially top up the diesel, at $2.75 per litre, buying just enough to get us to Cloncurry where the price was 20c per litre cheaper (thanks Petrol Spy app). With the next fill being over 100 litres, that would be a saving of at least $20.
The last drive for the day was to an isolated free camp about 50 km north of Winton. Once off the highway, the drive into the camping area was quite rough, but not too long.
We found a semi-shady spot well away from the one other RV camping there, got setup and sat outside to catch whatever breeze we could to dampen the 36 degrees temperature.
The star show was brilliant later on after dark, in a zero-light dark sky area.
Day 06 - Corfield - McKinlay, 07 September, 2026
After a very quiet night, with only the one other vehicle a few hundred metres away, and being well away from any roads, we were well rested to start the day.
Only having 175 km to drive for the day, we took our time with the morning routine and didn't break camp until 9:00 A.M. Although still early in the day, the temperature was 30 degrees as we left camp.
The drive was similar to the previous day, passing through boring, flat, featureless landscapes, with only a few small rock formations to break the boredom. We did see a few Emus but, apart from that, cattle were the only animals we saw.
The only town we passed through was Kynuna, which had nothing to offer, so there was nothing touristy to see or do along the way.
We arrived at our destination of McKinlay around lunchtime.
McKinlay is of course the site of the famous Walkabout Creek Hotel, of Crocodile Dundee fame. We were familiar with the pub because we had stayed behind the pub on a previous trip through the area.
We got setup on an unpowered site, then went into the pub for lunch and a welcome cool beer, as it was 35 degrees when we stopped at the hotel.
We spent the afternoon trying to hide from the sun and find as much shade as possible, while relaxing for the rest of the day.
Day 07 - McKinlay - Mary Kathleen, 08 September, 2026
This was to be another short driving day, about 175 km, to Mary Kathleen.
Leaving McKinlay the landscape was similar to the previous few days, i.e. pretty boring. However, that changed quite quickly as the vegetation increased and as rocky hills began appearing. Further into the drive we were completely surrounded by the hills and vegetation.
Stopping in Cloncurry, we filled up with cheapest diesel around, $2.50 per litre, popped into the hardware store for a couple of items, grabbed a few things from the supermarket and stocked up on booze, as we were heading into unknown territory in the next couple of days.
From there it was a short drive to Mary Kathleen, where our campsite for the night was at the abandoned uranium mine town, where we had stayed previously when passing through the area.
After setting up and having lunch we chilled outside for the afternoon, enjoying the breeze and slightly cooler temperature than the previous few days.
Day 08 - Mary Kathleen - Camooweal Billabong, 09 September, 2026
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