To the Top End

2991.4 km , 8 day days  and we’ve driven all the way from Coffs Harbour (halfway between Sydney and Brisbane , through the back of Queensland, across the border to the Northern Territory.
We began with big sub zero frosts , sleeping under a doona , blanket, sleeping bag and wearing wooly hats! Now its around 28 degrees and we’re in shorts and packing away the jerseys.
Australia is the ultimate land of contrasts. From large cities on the coast to the emptiness of the Outback, from massive cattle stations to cotton farms, with paddocks spanning 1000s of acres. Mustering is often done out here with helicopters though there are still traditional stock droving routes crossing the remote countryside.
It’s easy to drift out of focus driving through miles and miles of blue grey saltbush but when we stop for a cuppa there’s usually a patch of wildflowers growing by the side of the road – look up Stuarts Desert Rose – beautiful and fragile pink and white petals but they must be tough to survive out here. Sometimes things flower straight out of the red sand.
It’s often many 100s of kms between small settlements , and some of them are tiny with just a roadhouse to cater to traffic. And there is plenty of that . We’ve just turned of the main east west highway to turn north towards Darwin (about another 1000km) and have been driving with 53m long (up tor four trailer long) road trains , which haven’t been a problem, despite all the stories people tell about them! Lots of caravans on the road, some full-time, some grey nomads off for a winter holiday to the north. The NT speed limit is 130km! Doubt we’ll be trying for that with our rig 🙂 and we have put a Kiwi sticker on the back , which will probably explain our odd behaviour (and sometimes makes a passing expat very excited!)
We’ve camped some nights in campgrounds, occasionally run by tiny communities and sometimes freedom camped as we’re self contained. Roadside areas are provided for this, often with a loo , and people seem to respect this privilege more than they do in NZ, leaving little rubbish. From midday, caravans begin pulling in and finding a spot for the night, with people being pretty courteous about allowing each space. It’s often a chance to chat with other travellers- Robbie is currently off talking with someone about a remote 1000km dirt track he’s keen to drive!
For NZers it’s hard to grasp the scale. Can you imagine driving 800km with no access to fuel or shops? That’s about the whole length of the North Island! And no phone reception in those places. My phone is currently in satellite emergency mode and we do have a sat phone, but it would be a long time before help arrived. If you drive off into the Outback it’s entirely your own responsibility.You must carry more than enough fuel, water (especially) , we take four spare wheels , and food. Uber Eats is not going to save you.
The sky here is enormous, and in places you can see the curve of the earth. The sunsets are astounding and the wildlife bizarre. Wedgetail eagles float above the highway hoping for tasty treats , while a murder of crows just gets on with the job of dismantling the latest roadkill. Occasionally glimpses of Brahman cattle through the bush -there are few fences, just a cattle grids across the highway at each stations boundary. And we have to remind ourselves constantly about the risky things- snakes in the long grass (who’d rather get away hopefully) and cattle ticks who like human blood and in exchange can give you Lyme disease. Our first aid kit here looks different from a NZ one 🙂 We’re also coming into croc country and that will require a different mindset!
Love it or hate it, this is an intriguing place, history at every turn and not all of it happy. And underlying that the immense history of the land itself. Rocks which are more than 500 million years old . A huge aquifer basin which was the biggest inland sea in the world and still fills with enormous floods every now and then, which take months to flow south down through Australia. Huge areas of dinosaur fossils which are constantly being discovered, including new species.
I’m sketching as we go but find myself zooming on the small manageable subjects like the desert wildflowers!
Over the next few days we’ll head to Darwin, the highway following a line of settlements built on hot springs, so hopefully will get to stop and enjoy some of them,
Jan 🙂