The Outback Roads

We have started the serious driving in Australia with a trip across the outback, from Cairns in the north coast, along the "Savannah Way" to Karumba on the Gulf of Carpentaria, rejoining the main highway at Mount Isa, in the Queensland outback. The road was paved the entire way, but huge sections of it were only single lane, with wide gravel shoulders.

When you meet another vehicle, you must each pull half off the road. It is then obligatory to wave at the driver of the other car (two fingers if you're lazy, four if you're more enthusiastic). The rules change if you meet a road train - get out of it's way! We were wondering if they've gone to all the trouble of surveying, grading, and preparing a road, then paving half of it, how much more would it really cost to pave the other half?

The North Queensland outback is full of termite mounds, like the ones above. Our first night away from civilization, we stayed at a place called Innot Hot Springs - it sounds like a rhetorical question - "It's in the middle of nowhere, innot?". This is the first place we've seen a sign notifying you that the cold taps may run hot if used excessively.