Sapphire, Rubyvale And The Road Trains - Queensland

After enjoying a couple nights of relaxation we headed to Sapphire and Rubyvale, where there are still mining towns. We even headed in the wrong direction once towards a small "shantytown" of miners. The theme song from Deliverance weighed heavily on our minds as first off we came to a sign that stated you would be shot on site if you stole anything and as we continued to drive we came to unsealed roads that had these wonderful shacks that people somehow lived in. We promptly decided to turn around and find the right road to venture on.

Well, the next road is possibly the most fun you will ever have on any given road! Natalie felt it was aptly named, as it was called Gregory Highway. It was a wonderful one lane highway where we had to watch out for kangaroos and cows that liked to walk out on the road, especially after dusk. (To give you an idea of the frequency that kangaroos cross the road, unfortunately Natalie counted some 70 roos dead on the roadway in a hour span.)

To make the trek that much more enjoyable we also had to watch out for uncoming traffic. This included the "road train" which can be up to 55 metres long, (roughly the length of 10 cars). Good times, as the road ways were actually elevated so when the train did come towards us we had to be extremely careful to move off the road. Add some winding roads and sun in your eyes to the equation and you got yourself the Aussie form of chicken. We drove over 8 hours on this road heading towards Cairns.

Here a nice view of the one lane highway. It basically just fit the width of the car.

Here's another good look at the width and view.

Natalie did an excellent job to catch two smaller road trains meeting up. We got the heck off the road for this one.

Road trains don't stop for anyone, even each other.