Moving into the Northern Territory

27/7/2015

Today I decided to do a bit of intermittent fasting and only consume a bulletproof coffee, with heaps of butter and MCT oil, for breakfasts.

As I knew I was going to spend the next several days in remote areas, I stocked up with fresh food in Mount Isa for the trip to come.

Along the road, I saw the first wild dingo on this trip.

There were incredibly strong side winds today, making driving a bit of work – after all, the van has got quite a bit of area that takes on the wind. Most of the drive was through very flat, dry countryside, and there were several of these rolling bushes going over the road – like in good old western movies. One of these bushes was crossing my path and disintegrated when the van hit it.

The speed limit on some Northern Territory highways is 130 kmh. Happy days, but as it was so windy and because of the long distances between fuel stations, I sat around the 110-120 kmh most of the time.

I listened to Chris Ryan'sTangentially Speaking for most of the time. As usually extremely interesting conversations from amazing people from all walks of life.

Distance traveled: 452km

Due to the lack of alternatives, I was camping next to a roadhouse – cheap and efficient. Cooking the lovely fish I bought in Mount Isa was quite tricky, as the wind blew out the gas stove several times and took away most of the heat. In the end it worked out. The beneficial thing about the wind was the absence of all flies and mozzies, as they were either in hiding or blown away.

28/7/2015

I slept well and got going early to get another long day behind the wheel started. The BP coffee was delicious, and Chris Ryan and his guests kept me entertained, smiling and laughing hard, especially during the episode with Joe Rogan and Duncan.

I took the 50km detour to visit Tennant Creek, in hope to find a good coffee shop for lunch (not successful) and fuel up. Tennant Creek didn't really float my boat, so I got going straight away.

Driving on the main road between Alice Springs and Darwin, I saw some low temperature bush fire along the road. Probably just a controlled fires in order to burn the dry grass to prevent violent, dangerous fires during the summer when everything is super dry.

Staying at Hi-Way Inn Daly Waters Roadhouse today – pretty much in the middle of nowhere again. Nice enough place, with an old, decaying plane at the front. Not much around to see, so I indulged in a tasty shakshuka with 4 eggs, a mixed salad with avocado and enjoyed the fading sunlight.

Distance traveled: 610km