Thread: Getting the Family to Ruddy Doomadgee!!

Great country to be travelling in at this time of the year.

I remember a trip many years ago hauling an O&K shovel (in bits on 100 tonne floats) from Shay Gap in WA to Century, via Cloncurry, B&W, Gregory & almost into Lawn Hill. I would definitely not like to have become stuck on those black soil plains between Gregory and Lawn Hill.

Haven't worked in that area for over fifty years - but isn't this the sort of weather you'd expect at this time of year?

Sounds like you are having a bit of fun Jonesfarm!!!
Back when I used to live in that country all the roads were dirt and a dingo would only have to have a leak on the road and you would be stuck there until it dried out enough to get moving again. I remember camping on the road for a couple of days between Augustus Downs and Floraville once after a small shower. I would imagine the main hazards would be creek/river crossings these days now that most of the roads are tarred. At least going via Bang Bang, Burke and Wills and Gregory you should only have a few big crossings like the Leichhardt, Gregory and Nicholson to negotiate. Are the low level crossings still there or have they built bridges over them.
Hopefully you can get there without any hassles - that low near Darwin is developing but looks like it is heading west so hopefully won't affect your plans - Good luck and keep us posted.

Originally Posted by JDNSW

Haven't worked in that area for over fifty years - but isn't this the sort of weather you'd expect at this time of year?

YES

But, since they made it bitumen all the way & we haven't had a decent Wet for years you, these days, expect the roads to be open more than there closed.

Also, just very unfortunate timing as to when the extension to the house was finished & the boss putting a bit of pressure on me to get the family out there.
Jonesfam

Yep, put tar down but don't bother raising the causeways or bridges.

In the 90's it once took me 18 hours & almost a tank of fuel to drive the 165k from Gregory to Doomadgee because of that bloody Black Soil!

JONESFAM

Originally Posted by jonesfam

Yep, put tar down but don't bother raising the causeways or bridges.

In the 90's it once took me 18 hours & almost a tank of fuel to drive the 165k from Gregory to Doomadgee because of that bloody Black Soil!

JONESFAM

Shows how long it has been since I was up that way. I didn't even realize that the road west of Gregory was bitumen ...................... it wasn't when I went through there.

We had to wait at Gregory until a main roads inspector from Brisbane or somewhere arrived and "supervised" us crossing the bridge with the loaded floats. It wasn't rated to anywhere near the weights that we were carrying, but we could not unload. Previous heavy loads had been forced to unload (dozers / diggers / dump trucks etc) - the floats went across the bridge empty while the machines drove through the water at the adjacent low level crossing.

When I was in that area I seem to remember there was no bitumen north of the Mt Isa railway and west of the Bruce Highway. And the road to Mt Isa didn't have much bitumen on it either! And very few bridges. Even on the Bruce Highway, many of the bridges were single lane, and a lot of the highway only had one lane sealed - had to go over in the gravel to pass oncoming traffic. A lot of Queensland country roads were like that if they were sealed at all.

John

What do you do for a crust in Doomadgee?