Barkly Highway to Mount Isa
We were about to leave Northern Territory this day. We have been warned by friends that the drive from Tennant Creek to Mount Isa on Barkly Highway will be one of the most boring parts of our journey. Yes it was in some aspects – but on the other hand it wasn’t.
After we headed north from Tennant Creek and turned east onto the Barkly highway, the SatNav voice said: “Turn left in 634km.” which silenced it for the rest of the day.
The drive was rather uneventful apart from some 50-meters-plus long road trains, which passed every or every other hour. During the whole drive, we saw about three to four cars traveling in our direction, and maybe twenty in total going the opposite way.
You could start getting bored if there weren’t ever changing landscapes from flat lands to rolling hills – or sudden encounters with a perentie (huge lizard) sitting in the middle of your lane and not moving a single inch even when you pass it. Another eye-catcher are termite mounds. It’s not a few, it’s not a few hundreds, it’s endless. You drive for miles and there is one termite mega-city following the other one.
Since we were traveling with a rented car, we had to do some prechecks. Whether we would be allowed to travel this area – specifically the part between Commonweal and Mt. Isa. It seems this time FTI, our rental agent in Germany, had got their documentation wrong, because Europcar’s T&Cs said “no travel northwest of Mt. Isa on unsealed roads”. Well, the Barkly Highway is perfectly sealed and in very good condition. Much better than some of the other highways we traveled during our three months here like the A1 on the east coast, which got ‘rough surface’ in many areas. So keep peace of mind. This highway is perfectly fine to travel.
Mount Isa
Arriving in Mount Isa, which is a large mining town, we checked into our accommodation. We were surprised by the splendid view of our room).
It was the first above-ground accommodation I ever stayed in, which had no windows at all. Well, it was for a short night sleep anyway. Tomorrow, we’ll be on the longest drive of our journey – more than 900km on a single day in a country with a speed limit of 100km/h.