We’ve been very surprised by the outback road quality. Granted we haven’t wandered very far off the main drags but overall road quality has been pretty good from the Queensland coast across to NT and up to Darwin.
Lots of this
We noticed a degradation as we crossed from QLD into NT. But it got better a bit further on (Note: “a bit further on” can be anything from 5km to 500km in the Outback). We think the worst section was between Mount Isa & Camooweal. There were sections where drainage channels had been made under the road & they’d not quite got the level right. The surface quality was OK but the road over the drains was like a ski ramp. I think both car & van may have had lift off on a couple of spots. Some provided a reduce speed warning while others were just a complete surprise.
Even the wildlife can get a bit disorientated in the heat sometimes. One of the rest stops (patch of red dirt with a bin) had a big green bore water tank & a few water trays laid out for birds to have a drink.Once the water trays were filled with water the flock of little finches was very entertaining to watch while we had an espresso & a flat white. Yes we do have our Saeco coffee machine on board & couldn’t survive in the Outback without it.
Anyway, the snippet of a video below show what happens to a couple of finches if they don’t get enough water.
VanExtraOrdinaire.com 