Road trains

From Karumba we return to Normanton to enjoy lunch at the historic train station.

Historic Gulflander train connecting Normanton and Croydon

Heading further south, there are little signposts indicating the distance to the next major milestone along this stretch of highway: BW 190, BW 180, BW 170, … From our map we know that “BW” stands for the Burke & Wills Roadhouse. Again one of those examples that underline how misleading a map of Australia can be: That big blob on the map actually stands for one house in the middle of nowhere, and it’s signposted almost 200 km in advance. Sure, they sell fuel at that house, and beer and cold drinks. And you can enjoy Australian delicacies like spaghetti with baked beans for breakfast. And of course they let you set up your tent on the dusty area behind the premises. Still, it’s 1 (in words: one) house, yet worth an entry in a continent’s street directory!

The Burke & Wills actually turns out to be a friendly place. We like the atmosphere; the place has got character. After dinner at our tent we have a beer in the roadhouse and watch a truly Aussie Outback spectacle: The coming and going of road trains.

A road train is actually a truck with several trailers. Sounds simple, but is in actual fact quite impressive and, if you’ve got such a giant monster driving behind or towards you, veeery intimidating. Road trains easily measure more than 50 metres in length, and we see semi-trailers with 3 or even 4 massive trailers behind them. Some of them carry enough fuel to blow Sydney’s CBD to smithereens. Most of them, however, haul zinc ore from a mine further south to a processing plant north-west of the Burke & Wills.

You don't want to mess around with these!

We are a bit worried that the constant noise of road trains might keep us awake throughout the night. But the traffic along the highway — we are talking 10 cars per hour — almost comes to a standstill after sunset and completely dies in the early hours of the night. There is simply too much nocturnal wildlife to let you drive safely.

[Burke & Wills Roadhouse, 12.-13. August]