Saturday 29 June Gove Habour & Nhulunbuy town

NT cycle track through bush

town limits

taking ore from mine to refinery

bauxite processing plant

Woohoo! We're in the Northern Territory and it has a very different feel to the more populous Queensland and NSW which are the only other states we've visited. This is the cooler, drier winter season but we are back in the tropics with hot sun and blue skies; a marked change from the cloudy skies, rain and coolness of the north eastern Queensland coast of a week ago.

The Gove peninsula is an Aboriginal territory and the red soil co closely associated with the red heart of the continent is dominant and rich in bauxite from which aluminium is extracted. Mining companies lease the mineral rights and land from the aboriginal council. A visitor to the area (us) needs to apply to the Council for a permit to travel outside the town boundary. The town is built on leased land and we don't need a permit here but if you want to buy a cold tinnie or a warm red you have to apply and pay for an alcohol permit. Someone explained this is because the local settlements beyond the town are 'dry' areas; alcohol prohibited.

Mining shapes and dominates the landscape; the miles of elevated conveyor belt moving the ore from the mine to the processing plant, the processing plant which is lit like a cruise ship at night, miners camps with accommodation made from converted shipping containers behind an aluminium (what else?) fence and big new 4WD covered in red dust driven by workers in orange safety overalls. Us and the boat are gradually becoming part of the landscape too as we have an orange film of dust on us.

We were very hot and dusty after cycling 6 miles from the anchorage in Melville bay to Nbulunbuy town. Imagine our surprise in discovering a cycle path running through the bush to the side of the main road! We're in the back of beyond and there's a tarmacked track with a broken yellow line in the centre for traffic separation. Who else but Englishmen would be mad enough to go out in the midday sun when you've got an air conditioned ute?

In town we went to the Endeavour shopping centre and bought some fresh stuff from the supermarket. No fresh bread – it's all in the freezer cabinet. We wanted a Telstra (local phone and internet provider) shop to get a replacement wi-fi hub as ours has lost the ability to charge it's battery. I asked where's the nearest one. A silly question it seems. The answer was '10 hours away'. Nhulunbuy is a long way from anywhere except by plane from the local airport.

People are very friendly and if we hadn't wanted to cycle we could have got a lift from any passing ute...a ride in a cool, air conditioned car...less dusty too.