The Victoria River Roadhouse in the NT which is a few hours drive from the WA border may be “smack bang in the middle of nowhere” but is a popular place for truckies to stop.
Over the past months 10 truckies I have spoken to who travel in the area have told me the roadhouse is a great place to stop at.
It is located 200km west of Katherine and 300km east of Kununurra and has a 24 hour a day open ablution block which can be used by truckies.
The roadhouse is managed by Roley Bosma and his wife Mandy and has four employees.
“We would get an average of about 20 trucks a day pull in here. Most are triples carrying cattle or freight which can park at the side and the drivers can have a hot shower and use the toilets in the block which is open all the time,” Roley said.
Roley said the most ordered meals by drivers were steak and big breakfasts.
“Many of the drivers park here for a break at night and wander over for breakfast. But we do also sell a lot of burgers and takeaways,” he said.
Two of the workers there are French and the other two are German.
Despite its remote location, Roley said that it can get very busy.
“Just recently we had about 400 defence personnel in trucks pull up here on the way to an exercise and they came in waves of 40 at a time. There is a military base about 100km away,” he said.
There is major attraction for drivers who stop off there as it is situated close to the Victoria River.
“Often people, including truckies, go fishing in the river and land a barramundi,” he said.
I stopped into the roadhouse earlier this month. Given the state of the ablution block I elected not to have a shower before heading off in the morning. The stench of urea in the urinals and the state of the showers were unacceptable in 2024