Having gone to bed early (for us), we were up early and set off before 9 o'clock!.
We stopped for morning tea at a typical Northern Territory rest area with a big windmill and water tank. Water is essential to life here as everywhere, it is just closer to the surface of the mind out here.
We had to stop at the Barkly Homestead, the only fuel stop between Queensland and the Stuart Highway, a distance of 450 km (270 miles). The name Homestead owes a lot to history and not much to the current situation. The place is just a fuel stop with a pub and cafe which, because of its isolation, charges 30% and more over the odds for everything. Milk costs $2.25 a litre and diesel $1.30.
We didn't buy a full load of fuel as we will be able to fill up at Tennant Creek tomorrow and we didn't stop for lunch as we couldn't afford the prices.
Fifty kilometres (30 miles) down the highway, we stopped at the next rest area for lunch. There were already a couple of motorhomes there so we caught up on the news of the others going to Alice Springs. Many motorhomes are ahead of us and are pressing on early and far.
We decided to stop over here and several others joined us during the afternoon.
The bird life is unexpectedly profuse. I suppose the constant supply of water makes this a good place to live. We saw Black Kite, Whistling Kite, Black-breasted Buzzard, Little Corella, Galah, Crested Pigeon, Torresian Crow, Magpie-lark and Zebra Finch. The landscape is also unexpected with lots of scrubby bush and small trees and lots of grass. Around Mount Isa the predominant ground cover is spinifex but once one leaves the hills grass predominates. In places, large areas have been cleared and the paddocks look immense, very flat with the horizon very far away and the sky a huge full hemisphere of blue. Other parts are surprisingly and extensively bushy.