My answer to What are some scenic road trip routes in Australia?
Answer by Desmond Last:
Darwin to Katherine in the Northern Territory is pretty impressive if you like driving and enjoy isolation.
I used to work at Katherine (Dee Jay Engineering) in the Northern Territory. After a stint away working in Gold Mines carrying out shutdown work, I would drive from Katherine to Darwin.
The Edith Falls are well worth a stop for a swim. When it is the wet season it does make driving difficult, but it is a jigsaw of natures colors.
I once drove through the bush-fires lit by the aboriginals to get rid of dead bush. With the sun going down the sky seemingly alight it was a memorable sight.
Katherine to Three Ways is another road trip. Three ways is the junction to Townsville or Tenant Creek. You can also drive to Alice Springs and then onto Adelaide.
A stop at Mataranka is a must to see the hundreds of bats that live there.
Port Douglas to Cooktown takes you through the Daintree Rainforest but the road will test you.
Even though it is bush and desert it does inspire you in its own silent way as it reminds you how crowded our living spaces have become.
We spend so little time with our own thoughts and surrounded by other people that we forget how big and magnificent our world is.
The other road I have always liked is the coast road from Sydney to Melbourne,
Australia’s beauty is not in its cities but in its country.
The Sydney to Tamworth road is another favourite, as you wonder about the people who first tracked through the endless plains and the bushrangers that followed.
Australia’s beauty is not in its cities but in its country.
Always carry spare fuel and water.
I was looking up Dee Jay Engineering. It seems Bittosi has shut it down, I know he was going through legal difficulties. I noticed you worked there, when was that? I worked for him and his partner, in about 1983-84 For about 10 months. I`m a fitter & Turner, so was machining most of the time. I was on a 3 year working (holiday) around Oz. Enjoyed the Territory as well. Cheers, John Horn.
Hello John, Jim sadly died about 3-4 years ago – he was a very good man. I was not aware he had legal difficulties. I worked for him in about 1990 a year after I emigrated to Australia. I was based at the Katherine workshop and was sent out to Pine Creek, Molean and Tanami Desert Mines for Ball Mill shutdown work.