Wednesday 23 June, heading north to the furthermost point in the Territory, namely Darwin. 1500 kilometres to reach 30C plus temps and see the ocean, yeah! Not quite, in this case the Arafura Sea.
Collected the two white "heelers" and headed out of the Alice. Quick stop at Aileron to see the giant sculptures of the Ammatjera man, woman and child which are eye catching in the flat landscape. The Ammatjera country is known as the growing area of the center and produces melons and grapes. There are a lot of aboriginal communities all through the areas we have travelled in the center and we have become accustomed to seeing the blue and white signs to the Aboriginal communities, "No Alcohol, No Pornography" or Adrian's translation, "No Piss, No Dirty Pictures"!
Taylor Creek campsite for the night, a freebie with fifteen vans including ours. Thursday morning first fuel stop at Tennant Creek after driving by the Devils Marbles from the opposite direction - again so impressive. Ade came out of the fuel stop to tell me we have a new Prime Minister and a woman for the first time. Look what happens when you don't have phone or internet for 24 hours!
North past the 3 ways where the Barkley and Stuart Highways meet but no turn off to Queensland for us. Different landscape now and we notice the increase in temperature. A sign to Bootu Creek a magnesium mine, and further on the sides of the road were lined with hundreds of orange flowering bottle brushes their silver foliage glistening in the sun. Helen Springs Station on the right, one of the Kidman clan owned stations dotted throughout the country. Sidney Kidman a pastoralist left his mark by purchasing properties from the north to south enabllng the mustering of stock along a good food chain early in the last century. Just a little history here to see if you are paying attention.
Ammatjera Woman & Child
Ice cream stop at Renner Springs, yep, it's getting warmer and now the country is supporting taller and thicker trees and flowering wattles. To the west Lake Woods came into view. Ade said it's a mirage and so it looked at first until we checked the map. The last time we saw this much water was at Mt. Isa. Elliott is our overnight stop and we wonder if our Winton dinasaur comes from here!
Friday a stop at Dunmarra to say g'day to Gary Frost, Mick's dad, our neighbour and mate from Sinnamon Park. Gary runs the Road House and Caravan Park and as we hadn't planned on a lengthy stay we have promised to spend more time on our next trip. We left the desert behind and entered forest country and for the first time in weeks we noticed the humidity. Larrimah our lunch stop, a recommendation, to try the "famous" pies - the most tasteless and expensive we have eaten. These get a Yuck rating!
Mataranka is the next town and is known as the Capital of the Never Never. The area was home to Aeneas and Jeannie Gunn. Jeannie wrote the famous book "We of the Never Never" set at Elsey Station. The homestead and grave sites are all there to see. Mataranka was also home to a WWII airfield for our Aussie fighting boys.
Onwards to Katherine, "where the Outback meets the Tropics"!
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