Tennant Creek, Barrow Creek to Ti Tree

From the Barkley Homestead we continued due west on the Barkly Highway and then south on the Stuart Highway at the T junction, for 23 kilometers to Tennant Creek. Flat and boring bush country and a freezing morning. The McDowall Ranges made a welcome change to the vista driving into this town. There are stunning views of the ranges from the Bill Allen Lookout just out of town and we stopped at the Battery Hill Mining Centre to check out the history. Gold is still extracted from the ironstone rocks here even though it is difficult process. Tennant Creek grew on the back of Australia's last gold rush in the 1930's when gold was discovered by linesman laying the Overland Telegraph cable between Adelaide and Darwin.

The town today supports a large aboriginal community (no doubt on government handouts as there appears to be no employment to speak of) and for me it was a culture shock. Invent a game and call it "Spot the White Fella"! This is not a happy place; no smiling faces. We observed very young girls who should have been in school, pushing prams, people and dogs sitting on the ground outside the local shops or aimlessly wandering the streeets. I was happy to sit in the car while Ade bought some bread and milk and there was another shock. Trim milk was $5.30 for 2 litres. It seems that the locals are on welfare and without education will pay whatever the shopkeepers charge. They simply don't know any difference.

Wednesday south bound and adjacent to the Davenport Ranges a must stop and see destination, the Devils Marbles or the Aboriginal name, Karlu Karlu. This Dreaming site is a sacred place for the local Aboriginal people and they believe people from the Dreaming live under the rocks in the caves. This is a spectacular outcrop of granite boulders and are truly amazing. Precariously balanced boulders on top of one another and others split in two and appearing to be balanced on point which have actually been worn away by wind and rain and eventually crack apart. There are mens and womens Dreamtime stories but the one I like relates that these boulders are the Rainbow Serpents eggs.

Passed by the town of Wycliffe, one pub and a park, famous for its UFO sightings. The only thing we saw was a cloud formation resembling a flying saucer. Probably to much "piss" consumed here according to the male sitting next to me. Countryside now supporting red flowering native bushes, which looks like a grevillea, amongst the flowering wattles and flocks of green budgerigars who were doing kamikaze flights across the car with Ade yelling at them to get out of the way.

Barrow Creek was to be a one night stop over but owing to the lack of white faces in town we decided to push on another 90 klms to Ti Tree. We did stop at Barrow Creek to look at the historic telegraph station buildings constructed of stone and the grave of a station manager and linesman who were murdered by the local Aboriginals in the early days. Ade reminded me this was the area where Peter Falcone "disappeared" and then of course there was the film "Wolf Creek" set in Barrow Creek. For my international readers, this was a murder of a young English tourist who was travelling with his girlfriend. She ran off into the bush and eventually flagged down a passing car for help. The killer is now spending the rest of his life in one of Her Majestys establishments. Falcone's body was never found. No it wasn't a place I wanted to spend a lot of time.

Ti Tree was like being on the South Pole at night with gale force winds and a chill to freeze your bones! Other than the temperature it was an okay one night stop! Alice Springs the next destination and on our return journey hope to stop by a few places we misssed.