The Path Less Ridden

From Camooweal you cross the NT border almost immediately, and are granted by one of Australian speed freaks’ favourite signs – 130 kph (NT is the only state to allow more than 110).

 

 

It ended up being an extremely long day on the Barkly Highway, just covering kilometre after kilometre of straight, flat, wide open terrain in extreme heat.  I pushed on until just before dusk, and ended up covering 732km in total.  Pitching a tent just off the road, the outback sunset was a sight to behold (at least until the mosquitos came out to eat me alive!)

 

 

The next morning I hit the Stuart Highway, the main road running north-south from Darwin to Adelaide. You exit the Barkly just north of Tennant Creek, so after refuelling I had a look at a few local attractions – the old telegraph station, and the “pebbles”.

 

 

Another long hot day of eating up distance through the outback, although the landscape was slowly changing.

 

 

I stopped briefly at the Daly Waters pub, one of the iconic old outback pubs, for a quiet beer and a quick cool down.

 

 

 

After another 700+ kilometre day (712, to be precise) I pulled into a campground in Mataranka, on the border of the Elsey National Park.  I had a quick dip in the local hot springs and encountered a very brave and curious young wallaby.

 

 

The next morning, with only 300 kilometres left until Darwin, I decided to take the morning off and visit Katherine Gorge on the way through.  It’s actually a series of 8 gorges stretching up the river, however since it is still low season, most of the tour boats weren’t operating, so I opted for a quick bushwalk to the first waterhole, with a ride in a tinny for the way back.

 

 

With the day half gone and the humidity becoming more oppressive as I moved north, I focused on finishing up the home stretch into Darwin with plenty of daylight left – and was greeted by the usual wet-season afternoon thunderstorm.

 

 

I’ve spent the last few days running around madly sorting out everything required to export the bike, as well as giving it a full service (new tyres and tubes, brakes, chain, oil and filter etc).  I finally had a chance to go down to the waterfront this afternoon and get a few pics around Darwin itself.

 

I dropped the bike off at the export yard this afternoon, it’s being packed in the container in the next few days, leaves Darwin on the 18^th, and should arrive on the 21^st. I fly out to Dili on the 20^th, and hopefully pick the bike up by around the 25^th – if everything goes to plan!  I’m also waiting for my Indonesian visa, which might be ‘interesting’ given there’s quite a lot of diplomatic tension at the moment. We’ll see how it goes.