Dont Sleep and Drive on the Overlander..

The first part of the title was one of the many helpful and informative signs that Queensland's road department peppers the side of the highway with, there were also many variation on the theme "survive the drive" arrive alive" etc.
Well we did but after another 898km today both Tish and I are glad to have a break here in Townsville for a few days before the last insignificant 380km hop up the road!
The start of our trip from Mount Isa at 0430 this morning was on the Overlander Highway. This road follows the route the drovers took when moving cattle across the country between East and West coasts.
Now in a car views like this are one thing

with nothing but grass and the occasional bush

but we could at least do it at 110kph [which let me tell you is amazingly slow after 130kph in the NT].
Although the landscape was occasionally livened up...

No cyclists today but the road ran along side a train track for a few hundred kms, this was a short train the longest had three engines and probably over 100 goods wagons on it!
In fact the morning was very interesting and on several occasions brakes were slammed on to allow photos to be taken [only once to avoid a roo who wanted a closer look at the radiator grill - we decided not to let him have one!].
We saw many Australian Bustards today probably over 25 in total but this male was so close that we just had to get some photos

However the undoubted highlight, spotted by Tish and resulting in a loud scream "STOP THE CAR" were these three beasts...

what a bird!
After lunch the scenery did start to change and get greener and more wooded again although the roads were just the same.

this straight was probably the longest we drove in the trip and was at a minimum 40km long and DEAD straight not a curve in sight.
For probably the last 100km as we got closer to Townsville we started to see hills

but to be honest this is the best shot that we got as by then photographic apathy had set in.
Anyhoo, here we are having driven the equivalent of Moray Firth to North Devon every day for the last three days. The kids were brilliant and Tish and I are now officially zombies!!!
Night ni........

Getting our Kicks on Route 66

Yes I jest not the first part of today we took the Aussie Route 66!
We started a bit later today so it was light...

... but even at 130kph the sun rise was spectacular:

As we were less rushed today covering a mere 640km we made more stops.
The first pit stop held Crested Pigeons and Galahs arguing over a dripping water tap [the NT provides large water tanks at all major stopping places]

The scenery was different today once we were past the first 40km, it became far more open grassland with scattered trees and in places just pure grassland:

With the grassland came a change of livestock with many cows and one group of brumbies

You can tell when the isolated cattle stations are because several still use the old style water pumps rather than the solar powered version

There is a good selection of road signs the best,which you certainly would not see in the UK said simply NO FUEL FOR 500km [we think thats about Aberdeen to Manchester], but just for you Jo:

At one stage we did start to worry that the world financial crisis had caught up with the NT roads department as there was a slight decline in road surface:

and given that we were in a salon not a 4x4 we were concerned about surviving, this was not helped by the presence of two of Australia's largest raptors [Wedge-tailed Eagles] waiting to pick the skin off our bones:

 ... in fact it was just a detour of about 100m as they were resurfacing the road.

 By 1100 our NT adventure was over and the next chapter was begining:

[the leaving NT sign had been stolen]

It was then just a short hop to our first QLD pit stop which had a very helpful sign:

Despite being in a new state the scenery was similar.....

 ....and the nutters were still the same:

Although as we got closer to our destination we started to see hills

We arrived at 2pm and are off shortly to meet an ex colleague of Tish who works for Care Flight. she is going to show us her office [aka a plane] and a good steak house.
Tomorrows stage is another long one but after that four days off!

The road goes ever on and on...

... or Day One of the 2900km road trip.
With the house all safely packed up and on a train we spent the night at Lee Point Holiday Resort - well when I say the night I really mean a bit of it as we were up and off by 0430.
The first bits were obviously done in the dark but it started to get light not too long past the end of the bits we have already driven and by 0600 it was light and we were heading south.
We got 300km under the belt before breakfast; we stopped at Katherine expecting to use a truckers stop but were pleasantly surprised to find a Breakfast Club [a chain of coffee shops that do good food]. We were all refreshed with cold drinks and a light snack before fueling up [a very regular activity during the day] and heading off deeper into the unknown.
As the title implies the road went on, and on, and on, and on, and on...

...you get the picture.
Every once in a while we had to cope with the excitement of........................................a corner

But it was OK our heart rate had a chance to calm down on the straights afterwards!
At times there was a variation in that not only did the road go on, and on, and on etc but it was also on fire!!

And very occasionally there was a landscape feature to oogle

The road was not completely deserted although at times it felt like it. The record for gaps between cars coming in the other direction is held by Tish [so far] at 20 minutes - I should also point out that this was in mid morning not early or late!
The majority of what we did see were cars or road trains but we did pass this brave soul halfway along a 10km straight

completely insane if you ask me!
We stopped for a snack at lunchtime at Daly Waters.

Our quiet snack was slightly hijacked by these guys..

These characters are Apostlebirds - no idea where the name comes from but they were great.

We got to Tennant Creek our first stop at 1530 after 952km on the road.
The pool unfortunately was freezing so much so that even Xanthe and Cameron our regular ice freaks got out after about 20 seconds. We are now waiting for the Restaurant to open at 1830 before tea and sleep.
The children were great and this is the longest of the three main days [we have a four day break before the last 500km] so it bodes well for the rest of the journey.

Our last full day in Wulagi

Well today is our last full day in this house - although not everything in actually "in" the house...

....the van arrives at 0730 tomorrow to start loading, we still have a bit to do as things start leaving the house proper but we will be finished in time!
In typical Darwin and Funnell style not everything went completely to plan. Tish had to go to a compulsory training day to keep one of her certificates up to date. There  is an online theory part which you have to complete prior to being enrolled on the practical session. Today was the practical session which she passed but came out with the news that they could not find her on line theory section - so guess what she had to do this evening!!!
Whilst Tish was doing her workshop I took the children for a last walk around Casuarina Coastal Reserve.
The Rainbow Lorikeets were still around..

they had moved trees and were still very photogenic but did not spend time with them rather moved on towards the mangroves.
The children had different reactions to realizing that this was their last proper day..

We got to my favourite bridge where the perennial favourite Pooh Sticks was adapted slightly into Pooh Leaves...

The Large-billed Gerygone nest has probably fledged although there was still a lot of interest in it - with two birds seeming to be displaying around the nest - I have not seen them fanning their tails before..

We will not blog tomorrow as it will be too hectic but we have put more download on our dongle and we will be blogging from the road so watch this space!