Steve and I left Adels Grove to continue on the Savannah Way to Limmen National Park with a few stops planned along the way. It was nice to be moving again towards some new adventures with more amazing sites to see.
First stop was Gregory Downs for petrol. The petrol was $90 but the guy didn’t see it before it reset so he gave it to us for $50 and said “Don’t tell ’em inside I guessed it!”
Next we had a brief stop in a. Aboriginal community called Domadgee to make some lunch. Not a lot happening there. Once we passed Domadgee we were on the dirt again, very corrugated and dusty. We managed to get another stone hit the windscreen due to idiots who don’t slow down when passing! We now have 4 cracks. Will replace it in Darwin and have upgraded the insurance for future.
We eventually made it to Hells Gate Roadhouse to stay the night.
Hells Gate Roadhouse had just been bought by John and Jenny Hays in December 2015. It is a working cattle station.
The previous owners had lost interest and it was very run down. Since purchasing the roadhouse they have done some major renovations to it. They added some grass around the front with a little shady garden and redone the office, dining room and outside sitting area. It’s all been done very tastefully using corrugated iron as a feature.
Steve and I enjoyed a few wines in an outside area and were lucky to meet the owners, Jenny and John, and some of their friends.
They were hosting a “Ladies Day” the next day where ladies from the stations around the area come for a day of socialising and a bit of pampering if they wish from a beautician they have brought in for the day. So It was all hands on deck to get the place ready.
A garden was put in while we sat there along with lots of cleaning around us. They had used some big rocks to make a wall behind the garden. The way the rocks were arranged and the pointy one on the end made it look a bit like a crocodile. It just needed some eyes and nostrils. We told the owner this, so one day it might be a famous addition to the roadhouse that people like us add to their blog.
Jenny then bought out a croc foot to show us that was left there by the previous owners. It was from a big croc!!!
It was lovely to sit there and experience the country hospitality and the energy and passion these people had for their roadhouse. It is definitely worth a visit if you’re driving along the Savannah Way.
The reason for the name Hells Gate comes from the name of a small gap in the escarpment through which the road passes, one kilometer from the roadhouse. The name of the gap originated in the early days of settlement of the Gulf, when police would escort settlers and travelers to the ‘portals of Hells Gate’ (gap in the escarpment) where they were then on their own until they reached the safety of police protection at Katherine, in the Northern Territory.
There were frogs also. In the toilets!! I didn’t realise this. When I flushed the toilet a frog fell out from under the rim!!! It was a pretty green frog but it made me think of the signs that have been in a lot of the other toilets I’ve been in lately- “Please make sure you put the lid down to keep the frogs out and the creatures that like to eat them.” I made sure I flushed the toilet before I sat down the next time. 😳 When I went to the toilet during the night there were little frogs everywhere.
That night we star gazed. Sooo many stars. I saw my first falling star and I can find the Southern Cross on my own now. With Steve’s Skyguide app we also found Scorpio. It was very relaxing just looking up at the sky.
The next day after a brekky of bacon and eggs in the restaurant (we spoilt ourselves!) we left on the next leg to Borroloola – 320km of nothing but dirt roads, not even a roadhouse.
50kms from Hells Gate we crossed the the border into the Northern Territory.
The drive was endless bone rattling, fat wobbling, corrugated, rocky dirt road with alot of dust holes, dips and quite a few creek crossings.
The scenery was amazing as it kept changing.
There wasn’t much wildlife except for feral cattle. And there were no towns in between, not much of anything but bush – we realised again how remote we were.
However, we did pass an old guy pushing a bike loaded with stuff on this incredibly awful road. Steve had a chat with him and he said he’s heading to Borroloola and to Katherine. Long, hard way to get there! Amazing!! Or crazy??
We finally arrived in Borroloola, another aboriginal community, and the plan was to stay there until we saw the town and the sign in the supermarket ‘No beer until further notice by order of the police.’ We thought maybe it would be best to go the next 100 km to Cape Crawford.
In Cape Crawford we stayed at the Heart Break Hotel. Yes! From Hells Gate to Heart Break Hotel.
Of course it had an Elvis theme. The toilets were called Priscilla and Elvis.
There was Elvis memorabilia in the bar. The bar was behind two big steel doors and inside there weren’t any windows.
There was also a poem about the naming of the hotel.
We met a couple who were basically doing a pub crawl around Australia. They’d done a lot of traveling already as they’re retired and they’d been given a book called ‘Pubs around Australia’ and had many ticked off.
After a few drinks we went back for dinner and bed. It was a long day of rough driving.