Road trip - Mount Isa to Adelaide 26 hours

[BAGT514]

With the opertunity to get my FG GTP 335 fitted with a KPM Streetfighter cat back exhaust, being able to catch up with my family & friends and needing to put some more k's under the GTP's lease requirement the decision was made to drive the car down from Mount Isa to Adelaide in my time off. I work 8 days on - 6 days off but I lose half a day travelling from Mount Isa in Queensland to Newman in WA.
Day 1. Friday..
I left Mount Isa at midnight with a full tank of Vortex 95 (the best I can get on my Caltex Star Card in Mount Isa). The road from Mount Isa to Cammoweal is smooth and comfortable to drive on. As you head out of town the speed limit is 100kms/hr but past George Fisher minesite it reverts back to the state limit of 110kms/hr. However the road has a few herds of cattle along the way - the worst lot is the narrower section about 50kms out of town. I am lucky today as they are all laying down on the verge of the road - not in the middle of it like normal..
Cammoweal is just 180kms from Mount Isa and about 5 kms from the NT border. As I roll through at 1.45am the town is dead and deserted.... I get the cruise control back up to speed and head to the border. Normally I take photo's of my cars at the border crossings but it is pitch black and isn't worth the effort. As soon as I cross the border the road turns to absolute ****. With the floods that came through a few years ago and washed out the road - temporary patches and pot hole fills are all over the road. There are sections of road that I just had to keep turning the stereo up until i couldn't hear the banging of the wheels down on the different surfaces. However, as soon as you cross the border the speed limit changes to 130.. With all the wild life around I err on the side of caution and keep to 120. At 2am the road is dead. It is hundreds of km's before I see another vehicle. The GTP is very comfortable and soaks up the road with ease. Nearly 300 k's later I reach Barkly Homestead (NT) which is closed...
I pull up in the carpark of the servicestation for a few hours and catch up on some sleep. Being a novated lease - my car comes with a Caltex Star fuel card which is absolutely useless here. When the servo opens at 6.30 I pull up to the bowser to see both unleaded & premium unleaded are equally priced at $1.99/litre. I put 20 litres in to get me to the next decently priced fuel stop - Tennant Creek (NT). There are a few old steam engines and steam driven tractors in the carpark. Worth a look if you are coming through.
The sun is up so I crank the GTP up to 130kms/hr on the cruise. It had used an average of 11.2 l/100kms to get to Barkly Homestead. At 130 the instantanious l/100kms jumps up to 12.5 on the flats and jumps to 13-13.5 up the hills. 3-ways crossing comes up soon (I would not recommend anyone filling up at 3-ways as the fuel prices are terrible). I turn south and head towards Tennant Creek to top the tank up again. My Navman is telling me there is a Caltex servicestation there. I roll through and find a motel where the service station once resided... I head to the BP complex and fill my car with 98 octane go-juice at $1.96/l.