Friday 4th September

I found a Caravan Park and pitched my tent near Stefan who's riding his Swedish registered BMW the same direction round Australia. Left Kununarra heading for the NT (Northern Territory), it wasn't long and I passed into NT with not much in the way of a sign telling you that you had changed states, apart from a speed limit sign stating the speed limit is now 130 kmh. Sorry but there's noway I was going to do 130 on those roads for the further I got into the NT the roads deteriorated. Halfway to Katherine I stopped and camped at an off road camping area called Marys Pool. not much there but a dried up river but still pictures and had clean toilets. Next day I passed through Timber Creek and Victoria River and the country side got magnificent, a lot more rugged, mountainous and interesting. When I left Kununarra I forgot to put on my gloves for the short trip to the servo and when I got there only one glove fell of the bike, so I rode for 2 days without a right hand glove and even with 30+ sunscreen still got burnt. Bought another pair of riggers gloves in Katherine. Next morning headed up to Litchfield National Park, but after seeing a couple of nice waterfalls and some great views I wasn't that impressed with the camping area as it suited vans more than tents, so I headed back to Katherine. The next morning I rode out to the Katherine Gorge and that was magnificent, well worth the ride and steep walk. You can do a river cruise.
Then it was south towards Tennant Creek where the road wasn't to bad but I still continued at 100 kmh and spent the night at a Station house camping ground called Banka Banka, a 100 km north of Tennant Creek, nice spot to. Next morning I continued south to Three Ways where I turned East into a very strong headwind. That was the worst days riding so far. After 700 km I made it to Mount Isa, I'm now in QLD (Queensland).
In the caravan park Mat and his wife Gay invited me to breakfast and Mat also told me where to find K & M Motors and Rod. Who despite hating Harleys, thinks their rubbish, let me change the engine and primary oils on the bike, thank you all for that. It's meeting these people that make the trip so much better. I had decided at this point to change the route a little and detour down to Longreach to check out the Qantas museum there. The ride to Cloncurry was interesting but after a while the country turned to more of what I was expecting, very flat open pasture land with very little to see. Spent the next night at Winton, home to "Waltzing Matilda", then onto Longreach, spent a couple of hours looking through the museum and then onto Alpha where I met Chris riding a Triumph and Robyn riding a BMW. Chris had a regulator problem and they were spending the night at the caravan park in Alpha, so I decided to join them. The next morning I continued along the Capricorn Hwy to Rockhampton where scenery got better but not the roads. Turned south at Rockhampton towards Brisbane but after Gladstone turned left to Tannum Sands, where I'm now, spending a couple of nights with my brother inlaw and sister inlaw Ronny and Carol and their son Chas.