On the road...

...not with Jack Kerouac, not with Hunter Thomson, and even though it's Australia, not with Mad Max. No wine spoddyoddy, no drugs, and no turbocharged cars. Instead, 4 kids, Flo, and myself in a very nice Hyundi. The only indulgences are a few pints of beer, one icream each, and one packet of sweets to be shared.
So the feeling is not like classic books and movies, but it still has the tension of not knowing what the next scene will be like and how it will end.
We started in Darwin, then 4 days in Kakadu, before daily drives and stops in Katherine, Daly Waters, and Wauchope before reaching Alice Springs tomorrow. Total distance around 1500km. In Europe, or in Africa ( see our experience in Namibia), that would be stressful or tough for a variety of reasons. Here, it's no stress. Roads are great, no traffic, good driving conditions. There is only 1 set of roadworks from start to finish. We arrive faster than Google predicted every time. But it is long, and the biggest risk is fatigue or not paying attention. We didn't have an issue, but we saw fresh corpses of kangaroos , a cow, and even a horse, and who knows what happened to the cars involved? Lots of tyre marks, too, of those who just missed?
Driving from the North to South the land very slowly gets drier. Trees get shorter, and eventually, there are almost no trees, just bushes . Long green grass eventually recedes, exposing the deep red earth .
Of course, there is another factor in our case. Lennox, Lola, Nora Skye, and Oscar. In normal times, all hell often breaks loose at the back of the car, even on short journeys. Luckily, on this road trip, it was hardly noticeable . The kids studied as requested during the longer stretches, and they liked the stops . ( See other posts for details )Read more