Normanton to Tennant Creek

Summary: From the Coast to the Warm Red Center, words like “empty” and “flat” applied at times, come Fly with me, every town needs a slogan.

Today was yet another full driving day. We went from the jungles next to the Gulf of Carpenteria to the desert near the center of the continent. Gosh Captain Outback, how did you get so far so fast? Partly, our stops were just short because of the heat and Alex slept at opportune times. Partly, going west the sun set later. Partly, I was unaware that Autobahn-like speed limits exist in the Northern Territory. Oddly, I did stay pretty close to the speed limit, so the expected reason (shameless speeding) is not the reason I made good time. Whatever the reason, my conservative estimate of staying in Mt Isa or Camooweal tonight and Tennant Creek tomorrow night was thrown out the window. We’re in Tennant Creek tonight and I am thrilled. I would be more thrilled if the wireless internet that this hotel thinks it has were to work, but you’ll just have to enjoy it all in one big chunk when (if) I do get online again.

That first stretch was quite long and empty, even for the standards of western Queensland. We drove 350km and passed (I should say “stopped at”) one gas station. The landscape gradually evolved from swamp and rather high water tables to washed-out looking creeks. Right before the end of that trek, we got a few hills. Driving west, those hills evolved into nice rolling hills & valleys reminiscent of the American Southwest. Then right as we crossed into the NT, we entered the well-named Barkly Tablelands. If ever given a choice between the Atherton Tablelands and the Barkly Tablelands, take Atherton. Barkly was a classic geometry or drafting image – (at times) a treeless plain and straight lines meeting at a vanishing point on the horizon. Like I said, on the plus side, the speed limit was 130km (over 80 mph). This allowed me to make it to Tennant Creek.

Camooweal was the real dividing line – after two legit towns and a two-horse town in the space of 300km, there was nothing but a gas station (maybe two) for 430km. Also, Camooweal is where I first found the missing Australian National Bird – the fly – it has been with us ever since. Australia has no shortage of flies, but these are not common houseflies. Most flies get the message after you wave at them once or twice. These things just keep coming at your face no matter how much you swat. After about 30 seconds, you understand how livestock covered in flies just go about the motion of swatting. They have given up because they know the flies are not leaving. I had given up until I got back in the car and had a finite space and finite number of flies. I will try not to make this a recurring theme, but if you see me with a hat with little pieces of cork dangling all the way around or with a net over my face…well, now you know.

Australia retains a charming character that small-town America has of welcoming visitors with a cute slogan about the town. I mentioned Cloncurry was the home of the highest temp ever registered in Australia back in the 1800s. Driving into Cloncurry, the sign reads “Welcome to Cloncurry, A Friendly Heat”. The record was something along the lines of 130 degrees Fahrenheit, higher than Death Valley has seen. Making that fact into a cutesy slogan takes hard work. The people at the grocery store were friendly, but I don’t know how the heat facilitates it. Mount Isa’s sign says “Welcome to The Isa – Now you’re a real Australian”. Good stuff. Actually, if you ignore the cauldron-like heat in both of them, Mt Isa and Cloncurry were alright little towns from what I saw (better than Tennant Creek from what I’ve seen so far). If I see them, I’ll try to remember any other good signs like “Welcome to Normanton, don’t mind the water, mind the 8m crocs in the water. Cheers” or “Esperance welcomes you to the land of the one legged dingo” or “Coffs Harbour: mostly strip malls and chain stores, but with a nice beach” (these are not officially recognized slogans or even necessarily accurate, to my knowledge).

Tomorrow AM, Alex and I will drive down to the Devil’s Marbles, an odd collection of boulders that will be a fun place to walk around if for no other reason than it will not be blazing hot at 7:30am. Then we’ll turn around and drive North to Katherine. If we are really jamming, we may go all the way to Darwin, but I am not pressing it.