One long road named by the publicists as "Overlander Way".
There was little to say about the hundreds of kilometres between the infrequent towns, but each town really tried to capture some important aspect of outback Australia.
Charters Towers, Hughenden,Richmond, Mount Isa and Camooweal were the only Queensland stops with only Tennant Creek being the Northern Territory's contribution in the town stakes.
Firstly this image is what can be done when you use that precious commodity "water"
Queensland's oasis Mount Isa - no real rain for 2 years and they have created this wonderful park at a Museum.
Even without water though these desert flowers can flourish.
Entering Mount Isa though tells a lot about the City!!
The pollution from the mine stack is just as black as it looks - they mine gold, nickel and lead here, but we heard no complaints regarding pollution.
Without the Mine and others in the vicinity there would be no Mount Isa.
Before we reached Mount Isa though there was Hughenden and Richmond that are famous for their prehistoric fossils, enormous animals all captured in stone, they ensure that the local communities have at least one outlet for the passing tourist to enjoy.
The pubs and other shopping experiences are extremely limited.
Clearly this animal was quite impressed with Katherine.
Well we made it to the Northern Territory and to prove it here is a photograph of our overnight stop on the night of the crossing. Strangely we had telephone coverage here and I tried to describe to my mother in Newport the location. Maybe from the European perspective it was a bit difficult.
Next is the real oasis - a place called Bitter Springs in Mataranka.
Undoubtedly one of the highlights of the trip for both of us.
Mike went swimming in water that was 32 degrees C and clear to the river bed which in some places went to 3 metres.
The underwater world was stunning and all the more special for the isolated nature of the place.
In the wet this floods to at least3 metres above the current level.
At that time the crocodiles return!!
This is the river bed some 3 metres deep.
Just before Katherine is a place called Daly Waters.
It survives on tourists and rubbish from the past.
The local shop??
Need less to say Katherine found something to buy.
A person in her element.
This was another was another wayside stop that had some very good aboriginal artworks.
Plus the sculpture.
This sign cannot be ignored, Katherine did have the experience but did not use the flush solution.
This was taken just to prove that there has been 2 drivers on the crossing!!
Another sunset at the end of another day crossing the "Top End'
Distance from Perth = 3689 Kms
Distance travelled from Perth = 16,983 Kms
Number of days on the road = 248
Number of days on the road = 248
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