After passing through Mount Isa, stopping only for fuel, a real estate sign and gaffer tape to build our new back window we headed east. Just out of town were struck by the sheer glamour of the ant colonies. So much “glam“ for such small and normally retiring insects. Dressed as they were in designer clothing with so much panache it was like a Milan fashion week only on dirt. A description of the display would I’m afraid be pointless, suffice to say that the catwalk is over five hundred kilometers long (the length of The Barkley Highway in fact) and the range of exhibitors is huge. Being dedicated fashion critics we have selected the top two entrants which I include for you’re viewing pleasure.

To more holiday related matters, Rob turned out in his shorts this morning with a bold announcement that we were now in the tropics. I initially suspected that he was wearing faded blue jeans but then realized that it was the hue and texture of his legs giving the appearance of an aged pair of Levi 901’s.

Blue legs aside we left for Camooweal to see the caves however as National Parks have decided that it is unsafe to enter them we just looked from a distance. I for one would never disobey National Park regulations. That would be un-Australian.

By the way at Camooweal one can choose to pay fifteen dollars for ten litres of water, eleven dollars for two take away coffees or ante up twelve dollars and change for a couple of streets ice creams. It’s a deal, it’s a steal it’s ………..

We are overnighting at Barkley Homestead Roadhouse where water is a more sensible dollar twenty a litre. Fuel unfortunately is one dollar and ninety cents a litre (seven dollars sixty per US gallon). Note to self, “must build H2O separator to distill swamp water and run car on hydrogen and get drinking water (and possibly rum) as by-product”.

Heading north tomorrow.

Rob and his legs

And the winner is…..

The Gordon Chris Collection for 2015

Sometimes less is more as evidenced by the his simple example of the outback hat collection