Cairns - Alice Springs, The Long Way!!

Well we left Cairns at 6.30am and after all the buses had been organised our bus was off. We headed down towards Innisfail and then through the tablelands, pretty much the route I had driven back by. We stopped at Millstream Falls which was actually quite impressive so that was nice. We continued through the sparse rainforest and then it changed to Eucalypts Forest due to the change in drought/rainfall.
We stopped on the first day at a Roadhouse for lunch, however, we had our own food so everything was set out and we made our own sarnies. The Roadhouse did have the smallest bar in Australia which was maybe the size of a toilet cubicle.
After lunch we headed to Porcupine Gorge and that was nice although there was a big shadow due to it being late afternoon. We did alot of driving during this tour so my activities may be few and far between.
We saw lots of wild animals. Bustard (sp?) Birds, Broga Birds - where the male will dance to attract the female and then once together they stay together for life aahhhh sweet, Wedgetail Eagles - largest carnivorous bird in Oz, Emu's, Kangeroos, Whistling Kites, Galaah Birds and lots of cattle!!! The guide maybe talked too much and explained loads of stuff, even what a cattle grid is!! If anyone is unsure, ask me!?!
We arrived in Hughenden at 5.30/6pm and got settled into our usual dorm rooms!! I forgot to mention that we had a couple of sisters from WA on our tour, one was 89 and the other 90 years old!!! Good stuff.
Dinner was great and we had a game of killer pool which I was shit at but its the taking part that counts.
Another early start leaving at 6am after breakfast.We travelled through flat black soil plains today and stopped at Winton. Winton is famous for several events. There were the big shearers strike, they broke the world record for the longest roadtrain (34 carriages) in 1995 - which has now been broken, Qantas was created (Queensland And Northern Territory Aireal Service) and Waltzing Matilda was written adn first performed there as well so a great little town. We had a little while just to wander etc.
We kept driving and stopped at Carrisbrook Cattle Station where we had a BBQ lunch. We also managed to walk down this track and look at some Aboriginal Rock Art which I really enjoyed, didn't see any snakes though which is disappointing.
We had another stop at Middleton Pub for a quick drink and ice cream. They also have the most remote payphone I have ever seen.
We drove through Boulia and arrived at Wirrelyerna Cattle Station at almost 6. We watched sunset which wasn't the best. We got our gear ready for sleeping outside. There was a big dust storm on the horizon so we thought we may have to go in but luckily it went round us and we just got a bit of wind. They had a pet Kangeroo, pigs, calfs and 2 dogs - obsessed with a rock!! Another great dinner and early night under the stars. It was beautiful although a little chilly in the morning. We saw the Southern Cross again and lots of shooting stars.
We left even earlier the third morning. 6am departure. Saw wild Camels and more Emus. Also saw a pretty big Goanna which was cool. We got dropped off by the bus and walked along the outback road for a bit which was nice.
We had lunch at Jervois Station and picked up a guy from there, he'd been working for 2 months. After lunch we continued driving across the top of the Simpson Desert. We were dropped at the Queensland - Northern Territory Border so we could walk across and also change our clocks half hour back!!
There was alot of driving on dirt roads today so we watched a crap film and played a quiz.
We arrived in Alice Springs at 7pm. Showered and packed for next tour tomorrow!!