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The Outback started literally 20km south of Darwin – the biggest city in the Northern Territory (NT) with a population of a staggering 70,000!! We quickly learned that the towns marked as little black dots on our map down the Stuart Highway were, at best a single roadhouse (an all in one family run shop/cafe/pub/sometimes accommodation) and at worst an abandoned shack… The whole area was very sparsely populated – even the road was quite empty, despite it being the only highway connecting the south with the north. We felt like we were riding into Springfield, with ‘The Simpsons’ clouds in a perfectly blue sky! :p
If we were lucky there would be a roadhouse selling cold drinks or at least a rest area with a vat of water. During one day’s cycling of 90km there was nothing – other than the bush and the hawks gently circling above. We were told this would be quite typical as we headed further south – making it extremely important that we carried ample water with us. As expected it’s still hot here – though less humid and with a strong headwind helping cool us down. Also it is much cooler at night which makes sleeping outdoors possible again (which we could rarely do in South East Asia) – great news for us considering the price of accommodation here.
In the northern part of NT we saw crocodile warning signs – in wet season the whole area is flooded and salt water crocodiles (‘salties’) can get inland for miles! They can grow up to 4m long, and we were told about a German tourist who had decided to ignore the signs and go for a midnight dip in a pond – the next morning rangers harpooned a 4m ‘saltie’ with the body of the tourist still in its jaws.
Other forms of wildlife in this part of Australia is abundant. We saw our first kangaroos (but they were both dead :p) and dingos (very alive!). Another typical feature of NT is the giant termite mounds, sometimes up to 4m tall (see picture above with Sedef standing next to one!). Oh and the fat Cane Toads – sometimes as big as a kitten – in one small mining town we found the local kids engaging in the unofficial national sport of toad-splatting (with spades!). Cane toads were first introduced into the region by men to combat an insect plague in the sugar cane fields. However they not only were absolutely no use as far as the plague was concerned, but they bred faster than rabbits and became a national scurge, having no natural predators (other than kids with spades :p).
Another amusing feature of the Australian outback is the infamous ‘road trains’ – huge lorries with up to 4 carriages ploughing down the highway at breakneck speed. Apparently it takes up to 3km for them to do an emergency stop – we didn’t believe it at first until we saw a set of black skidmarks running for almost 1km!! If you hear one coming, and there is oncoming traffic on the other side of the road (and they cannot safely overtake you), get out of the way since they ain’t stopping!! We had to throw ourselves onto the verge on a couple of occasions to get out of the way, but generally found that they gave us plenty of room if they could.
It’s a long way down to the other coast!!!
