Northern Territory Odyssey, Part 2: The road to the red

After a cool night’s sleep in the blissfully air-conditioned hostel in Darwin, I was the first one up and waiting for the bus. Twenty-four of us were loading up for the drive south and my early arrival paid off…and Kelly and I enjoyed front row seats for the long journey. The Stuart Highway, running through the center of Australia, is a seemingly endless road, invariably straight and surrounded by vast, empty countryside. In three days, we covered the 1500 kilometers from Darwin Alice Springs. The colours of the scenery changed with each day: the first was lush green, the second was golden yellow, and the third was that vibrant rust colour of the Red Centre.

Our first night was spent near the town of Katherine, home of the amazing Katherine Gorge. We hadn’t reached the desert yet and so it was another hot and sweaty night in the tents. Some of our group paid $60 for a boat tour of the gorge but those of us with more limited budgets opted for the hike and swim on offer. Nevertheless, we paid our price. Our newbie guide must have been crazy to take us on a lengthy hike over rough terrain at midday when it was 37 degrees in the shade. I drank three liters of water over the afternoon and still I didn’t have to stop once to relieve myself. This is the exactly the kind of folly that can kill people in the Outback…but we all survived so maybe I’m overreacting.

Day Two featured a heck of a lot of driving as we covered about 700 kilometres. The landscape changed as the trees got shorter and sparser, with tall golden grasses growing amongst them. In the morning we stopped at the Maranaka Homestead for a blissful dip in the thermal pools. Little wallabies grazed in the forests surrounding the pools while we floated and splashed, soothing our aching bones from all the hiking and sitting we’d been doing. At lunch time, we rolled into Daly Waters, which is the location of Australia's first international airfield and home of the Daly Waters Pub, probably one the most remote and interesting pubs in the country. The walls were lined with paraphernalia: license plates, ID cards, women’s underwear, hats, stickers and badges – all left by past visitors. We cooked up a proper Aussie barbecue in the picnic area and I downed a few ciders to ease the heat and the endlessness of the road.

Our driver waived to every car we passed on the drive. There is a steady, if meager stream of traffic on the Stuart, comprised mostly of road trains, which are transport trucks hauling two, three or four containers. Just imagine how much fun it was to witness our 24-passenger bus (hauling a trailer no less) passing a road train: the longest minutes of my life. We camped outside Tennant Creek on the second night and found that the humidity and heat had been replaced with desert dryness and a mess of flies. The Aussie flies are known for their omnipresence and persistence – as if the heat and isolation of the Outback weren’t enough to drive a person mad. Thankfully, the fly net I bought at one of the roadhouses kept me sane.

We passed many small towns, stopping endlessly for gas. I finally got a glimpse of Australia’s Aboriginal peoples, who are as black as Africans and who carry the continuing scars of a native people whose country was taken over by colonists. Before we left Tennant Creek, we visited the community centre and were treated to some music by a local Aboriginal band. The music program had been set up as a way to keep people busy and give them a sense of purpose. It seemed to be succeeding.

On our final day, we had a mere 300 kilometres to cover. We stopped at the Devil’s Marbles, outside Tennant Creek, for a wander and many photos. I felt like I’d arrived. We were finally in it and amongst it: the mystical Red Centre of Oz. Overnight, our world had gone from incredibly humid, lush and green to incredibly dry, rocky and endlessly red.

We arrived in Alice Springs and had to say a sad goodbye to our beloved group, who were on a different tour schedule and had a stopover in Alice. Kelly and I reluctantly left them to party the night away and but we fell gratefully into our hostel beds. More adventure was waiting: onward to Uluru! Lots of love to everyone back home.