Friday 27th August - Borroloola to Heartbreak Hotel

Recovery costs for the 97km to TJS One Stop in Borroloola were $2/km plus a $150 rough roads surcharge, but Darwin was still 900km away and, whilst the Land Rover had its passage booked (for a mere $550), we didn’t know if we would be leaving today or not.  There isn’t any public transport, so if the road train driver wouldn’t take us we’d be looking for a lift out.  We had a long wait as the driver was running late, not arriving at the haulage yard until 3:30pm, but he agreed to take us at least as far as the Hi-Way Roadhouse which is on the Stuart Highway near Daly Waters.  From there we would probably be able to get a lift to Darwin, although we hoped he would decide we weren’t bad passengers and take us all the way.

As we had nothing else to do, and we thought it wouldn’t do any harm to ingratiate ourselves with the driver, we helped with the unloading and loading of the road train, handling the gates and rope as well as man handling some of the cargo into position for the forklifts.  I think Justin (the driver) appreciated our efforts and he become more friendly, breaking out the chilled Coke whilst we worked (how many people get to say they worked a road train?!).  Eventually we were ready to go at 7:30pm, so we climbed aboard along with Tamara whose parents live on a nearby station.  The girls were in the sleeping compartment and I road shotgun as we left Borroloola and started an unforgettable journey back to Darwin (Justin had, by this time, agreed to give us a lift the whole way).

You certainly get good view from a road train and oncoming cars gave us respect on the single track bitumen road, pulling off to the side, appreciating the “might is right” sentiment.  A stop at the Heartbreak Hotel roadhouse at Cape Crawford had us unloading a few items, then it was back on the road into the night.