Date: 10-11th July 2025
Travelled: 480 kms from Mount Isa to Barkly Homestead
Visited: Mostly the highway
Stayed: Barkly Homestead, $36, S19.71055, E135.82709
We depart Isa for a free camp at Camooweal around 50 kms from the Queensland, Northern Territory border. Doing a quick stop at Coles for some essentials and a fuel docket saving us 4C/L at the Shell as we leave. At $1.99 a litre everything counts when your topping up 60 or more litres.. The GPS tells us itโs a 200 km drive along the Barkly Highway.
As the morning progresses the wind lifts luckily a cross wind which keeps me busy but doesnโt seem to affect the fuel economy, which I rarely actually check. But as itโs a long way between drinks (fuel stops) I have been checking, we seem to be running at 15 litres per hundred kilometres, which is good.
The free camp is about a kilometre past Camooweal off the highway on a solid gravel track. There are two billabongs each around a kilometre in length.
So we make ourselves at home with perhaps 30 or more other campers. Have a drink as the sun sinks in the west and a full moon rises in the east watching the ducks, egrets and pelicans swim by looking for a late snack.
On our morning walk along the track a bonus as we spot a pair of brolgas at the far end of the billabong. Amazing !
Back in Camooweal we queue for 15 minutes to fill up at the townโs only servo made worse by only a single diesel pump working. Pam takes particular interest once again in the healthy option in the bain-marie.
Back on the Barkly once again. We decide against a border selfie and continue on. Three hours later we roll into Barkly Homestead.
We opt for a non-powered site and settle in, trying to find a spot as far away from the trees as possible. Many of the recent travellers along the Barkly have complained about the bats that currently plague the homestead.
An afternoon nap later we wander over to the Homesteadโs pub to catch the end of happy hour. Music is playing and the place is filling up quickly. The food was good and the price reasonable considering where 500 kilometres from anywhere.
Morning comes with the sounds of bats returning from wherever theyโve been. I only find a couple of spots on the Jayco which I wipe off before we return to the Barkly once again.
Michael + Pam
2 thoughts on “Barkly Homestead, Northern Territory ๐ฆ๐บ 2025”
The Brolgas look lovely, there certainly seem to be a lot of people moving up there. Great blog ๐ค
Safe travels
Johannes
The bats would certainly drive you batty ๐ :). Hope the food was better than the entertainment!!!! Or maybe someone should have given them the words to the song!!!