Day 82: Sat 16 Jul - Burketown to Jack & Lils Rest Area (Wills Development Road)

Day 82: Sat 16 Jul - Burketown to Jack & Lils Rest Area (Wills Development Road)

Towed 355 km

10 Deg in Burketown to 26 Deg at the Jack & Lils Rest Area (free camp) along the Wills Development Road.  It was slightly milder and less windy this morning when Greg and I went for our pre-dawn walk around Burketown. We returned to the caravan park, had a quick breakfast and were on the road before 08:00am heading south again. The first main stop was after 120km was at Gregory for our morning caffeine fix. It was a cautious drive down from Burketown with a lot of cattle and some horses grazing along the roadside, as well as countless crazy wallabies crossing the road. There was also a noticeable increase in the amount of roadkill today - not surprisingly, mostly wallabies but also quite a few wild pigs. The feasting hawks/kites and massive wedgetail eagles were also plentiful, many not wanting to leave their roadkill until the very last moment as we approached them. There was also a large variety of other birdlife including bustards and brolgas as we neared Gregory. After mornos, we continued to Four Ways (the Burke & Wills Roadhouse) arriving at midday. We parked opposite the roadhouse, had lunch in the van, then continued towards Julia Creek along the very narrow and bumpy Wills Development Road. We were concerned at first that the road might get worse, but at least it was sealed it did widen in stretches, overall it was not too bad. Thankfully, the traffic was also very minimal with only one car coming towards us and one that overtook us along the 86km stretch of road. We arrived at our planned overnight stay at Jack & Lils Rest Area at about 2:15pm, parking away from the roadside in amongst the bush. It’s so quiet and apart from the annoying flies, it a nice place to stop for the night. After we set up, we had a brew, then Greg and I went for a wander around within the fence line around the camp area and along the main road. Nothing to see, but it was nice to stretch the legs. On return, Wendy sent her drone up for a few aerial shots, then we had sundowners to cap off another good day on the road. We had a nice BBQ dinner cooked in the weber before we all congregated outside for some star-gazing. It was a beautiful clear night, with no light pollution and very bright stars, but only one satellite and four shooting stars seen - it was a very quiet night of activity in space (that we could see anyway). 

Brahman cattle grazing along the unfenced road

...and horses

Another coffee stop at Gregory 

Anxious cattle causing anxious moments for us

Road from Burke & Wills Roadhouse along the Wills Development Road to Julia Creek

Our Overnight stay at Jack & Lils Rest Area Campground (no idea who Jack and Lil are / were)

The Rest Area shelter looking in need of a little refurb

Monstraven cattle station entrance opposite the campground. A little research revealed this 15,655 ha 'cattle breeding and fattening' property sold in July 2021 for $10.85M.

Fencing backing the campground, recently graded fire break

Another colourful sundowners backdrop 

Drone view across the region - the main road heading to the right is to Julia Creek 150km away 

Vast flat pastoral land

Vast flat pastoral land

Us parked amongst the bush away from the main road at the top, but there was no traffic or noise anyway.

Late afternoon sun casting long shadows from the trees near the shelter.




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