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........