Kia ora from Katherine,

I was under sail just after 7, sans breakfast, as there was no room service breakfast, and I didn’t want to waste time having it in the dining room, which didn’t open ’til 7. It was a coolish 14 degrees as I headed north along the Stuart Highway. By 8:30 I was at the Renner Springs Roadhouse, where I refueled and provisioned. I had breakfast/morning coffee down the road at 8:50. The home-made meat pie was most excellent; it was definitely home-made as the pastry was obviously hand-formed. I like to have a break every couple of hours, so I had a second morning coffee at 10:40. The chicken & salad sandwich, on a thick slab of home-made bread, was most excellent too.

I thought I should be able to make it to Katherine without another fuel stop, but my consumption was worse than yesterday, probably due to a slight headwind, so I refueled at Mataranka. I had a lateish lunch beyond Mataranka, at 12:50, and was in my motel room by 13:50. The temperature on my arrival was 27 degrees (annnnnd loving it!).

There wasn’t a lot to see (without making a detour) beyond Tennant Creek (there are some sites ’round Tennant Creek that I’ll visit, and photograph, on the way back). However, it was interesting watching the vegetation slowly change from mostly treeless plains to low dry scrub, to taller and taller trees, and greener and greener grass, as one progressed further north.  The dominant species is still Eucalypts; I was expecting it to be more tropical at this latitude.

Today’s leg was 685 km; here’s the route on Google maps:

Cheers,
Julian