Long shadows sprawl out on the Outback's red dirt as a road train passes by near the start of the Gunbarrel Highway.

Journal and photos by Neil Dana

Whoa, there's some kagaroos!!! This is what we just experienced a few minutes ago out here in the Northern Territory of Australia's Outback. The thing that you might not realize is that since we are in our vehicles moving at about 65 mph, in addition to seeing the kangaroos and being happy and excited, being the drivers, we have to be very alert and have a quick foot on the brakes. The kangaroos we just saw were jumping really fast across the road, right in front of us! It is 11 p.m. and very dark, and there are no lights on the roadside at all. Just bush, dirt, stars, and a bit of moonlight fill our vision. It is very serene, and also a bit monotonous behind the wheel, after seeing the same landscape for the last three days. And today, we have been on the road, literally, since 7 a.m. We actually woke up on the roadside, packed up our tents, and continued driving.

It has been a long day, yet a good one. It is not often you get to experience driving on one road going perfectly straight for hours and hours and hours and hours, literally. You look straight ahead and see the road dissipate into the horizon, like a mirage. And this view continues for many days on end. It is really a good feeling to be out in the wilderness and be surrounded by bush and flies. Well, alright, the flies actually suck, but they are a constant reminder that, yep, we are out there, in the middle of nowhere, or I guess, the middle of Australia. We are actually a few hours away from Alice Springs, which is smack-dab in the middle of this island continent. It amazes me that we have driven here in the last three days. We have covered an immense amount of ground today.

Since this morning, we have driven about 600 miles, and we have stopped almost every 50 to relieve ourselves of tired drivers, where we drink coffee or Red Bull, which causes even more stops due to all the filled-up bladders. All the stops are really good for us though, for we must STOP, REVIVE, and SURVIVE!! There are road signs all over the place reminding drivers to stop if tired.

Along this road we have seen all kinds of birds, termite hills, dead kangaroos, bush, and Road Trains. The road trains are these huge trucks that have anywhere from 3-6 truck containers behind them. There are some cool windmills as well as magnificent cloud formations. The colors out here are very vibrant too, with red earth, green bush, blue skies, and white puffy clouds. There are also road signs to remind you of how far out you are, such as one in particular that has a large "O" on it with a slash through it, indicating "Nothing." Or the sign that says, "No gas for 375 kilometers."

So here we are, finishing up our day; I am writing at midnight now, and we still have about 100 miles to go. We just stopped to fill up our tanks, for the second time today, from our reserve jerry cans on top of the cars. So I will bid you a good night and pray that we don't hit any kangaroos tonight.

Cheers mate,

Neil

PS - We finally arrived at 1:45 in the morning after driving 745 miles today!! And unfortunately, Justin and I were in the front car this evening and we ended up nailing two kangaroos, killing them. It was sad, but inevitable. The little buggers, about 4 feet tall, ran right in front of our car a moment before we passed them. And we were sure they died quickly at least, from all the blood and flesh left on the bottom of D4. Pretty nasty. Hopefully we won't have to do much more night driving, especially as we get into Western Australia, where the Red Kangaroos get up to 6 1/2 feet tall!!

Logbook for May 3rd, Day 185
Start: Cloncurry, Australia
Time: 7:15 a.m.
S: 20*43.043
E: 140*24.545
Finish: Alice Springs, Australia
Time: 01:30 a.m.
S: 23*42.220
E: 133*52.848
Mileage: 755
Notes Long day. We had a long haul toward the Australian outback and Alice Springs, where we will meet our first Take Me With You! journalist. We had to do some night driving, and even though we were extremely cautious, D4, in the lead, hit two kangaroos…No vehicle damage sustained. (N.O.)

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