Day 13 or 14 loosing track of time and days

Rolling again and this time ended the trek up the Tanami road into WA and the small town of Halls Creek. Hot day when we arrived and just set up camp before we went on a shopping trip to the supermarket to refill the larder. Being honest travellers we dumped a small amount of fruit and veggies in the quarantine bins just outside the town. Good place to dump all our rubbish as we left nothing behind, only footprints.
Good place to dump empty cans as well as vegetable peelings etc. in the quarantine bins. Too lazy to segregate the rubbish.

Halls Creek is a place you would like to miss, although they did have some good fish and chips.

Booked into the Bungle, Bungles for the next two nights. I had received an email saying they would not take anybody that did not give them 48 hours notice of staying, which caused a bit of an issue as we do not want to stay here two days waiting before can get in.

Contacted the ranger diurect and they let us in with no question about prior notice.

Both our phones are useless here so the sat phone came out of it's case and the lady booked us in there and then. Not sure of why she wanted to know if I has a pension card or not, maybe they give preference or discounts to the nomads.

Thursday 14^th.

Said good bye to our travelling companions for the past few days as they are heading for 7 days at Broome and Cable Beach. Good to have another vehicle to travel with through the nearly 900 km of Tanami desert.

Left Halls Creek after replacing my UHF aerial which snapped off towards the end of the Tanami road. Also taped up the brake cable under the trailer which had been patched before. Cable ties useless, good ol duct tape saved the day. Bitumen all the way up the Great Victoria highway to the Purnululu (Bungle Bungles) turn off.

Just under two hours to do the 52km on the road from the highway to the park.

Once inside the park it is four wheel drive on all the time according to the sign at entry.

Registered at the rangers station and off to follow the map to our campsite.

Good road surface but for the unwary a few surprises. Sudden crests, blind corners and three or four water crossings. Walked the first as it looked a bit deep in the middle and did not want a bath so early in the day.

Lovely grassed campsite all mowed and trees around. Fireplaces and toilet available for comfort but we do not need the extra heat today.

Walked the ten minutes to a lookout for sunset. Nothing marvelous but great sight. Long escarpment of red rock to our rear catching some of the sun as it went down and to our front a wide expanse of beautiful flat grassed Australian country. As Jenny from NMIT said after she travelled the same country last year, “This is a beautiful country, why would anyone want to go overseas”

                                           Starting out among the domes the first day.

                                           The Cathederal  often used for publicity pics.

                                 

                   Here a Bungle, there a Bungle everywhere a Bungle Bungle

                                                    
                                               Along the mini pines trail

Not all just solid treking up the river beds  here we had to squeeze between huge bolders of conglomerate to get to the end of this trail.   A lot of the trails are along river beds  made up of round pebbles ranging from sand up to bigger than a football so you have to really keep an idea on where you put your feet.

Another squeeze through 200 metre cliffs

One of the locals coming to say good bye as we left Bungle Bungles.

Many more pics taken but too time consuming to sort, shrink and insert to add here.

Left the Bungles and arrived Kununurra .   Had trouble finding a powered site as all the parks are nearly full.   Went to the Agricultural showgrounds and the chap there let us poor travellers in for 3 nights.   He is supposed to only let in the BIG Rigs, that is the really big caravans and travellers with pets.   We have some pet rocks that have been gathered  so I think that counts.

Filling up with food etc and doing a side trip tomorrow Ready to hit the Gibb River Road Wednesday all going well.   Had to fix a bullseye chip in the windscreen where a rock the size of a semi hit right in the middle of the passerger side of the windscreen.     Well it was big when it hit.

Probably out of touch for 5 to 8 or more days while on the Gibb but will take pics if there is anything to look at.   Hopefully some huge Barramundi if the crocs let me get near the water.

Day 12

Rollin again.

Further North West on great roads

Crossed the border into WA.

Went to a fuel depot and found it was closed. The info we had received from the info office in Alice springs was that the fuel stop was open morning and afternoon. Will try to remember to call in to the info centre on the way home and suggest that they up date their info as someone could be stuck here with the fuel point closed and looking around you would not want to be stuck here.

The travellers have enough to reach Halls Creek so we are not concerned. Our companions are touch and go. We decided to travel on the extra 70km to the Wolfe Creek Crater campsite and to make it a two day rest day after the 900 plus km of travels over the past two days.

20km off the main highway is the crater and camp ground.

The crater camp ground is quite a nice place to stop. Sites are spaced around an area about as big as a football ground and a little bush between.

Sitting around after dinner and the stars are amazing. The milky way and the sky is fantastic. The lucky Western Australians they have so many stars over here.!!!!!!!!

For some reason the travellers had to get up just before dawn to see the sun come up over the crater.

                                                            Recovering after the climb

Just resulted in some pics of some of part of the great hole in the ground. See below.

The rest of two days at Wolfe Creek was good and allowed the bodies to catch up with being in three states in two days and wearing out the watch winder changing the times over and over. These westerners are just as bad as the South Aust people who run their watches behind the rest of the country.

grandma tried to outdo Bear Grylls in sliding down the face of a steep slope on the crater and lost

Some of the many, many small ant hills, like an army of terra cotta pigmies standing in the grass.

Next stop The Bunglle Bungles

Day 11 plus

Heading for Alice springs. Stopped at Stuart Wells at the suggesting of Phillip Anderson to see

Dinky the singing dingo. Stuart's place is a roadhouse / come camping area just short of Alice. Run by Jim Cotteril the man who opened up entral Australia for the tourists way back.

Dinky came in and was coaxed up onto the piano but was not well and not in good voice. Jim put on a video made by an American TV company who were taken by Dinky and came out and interviewed him as well as telling the world about the Aust dingo.

On to Alice and three days of rest and re-group for the desert. Stayed I a great campground with the best amenities seen so far.. Went out to dinner with the couple we met at Kulgera and had a good meal and enjoyed some Karioke from the huge crowd in the football club/ pab.

Re-organised the trailer to take on board a full load of fuel and provisions for the desert.

Started out on the third day after meeting Jim and Jeanene at the Tanami highway turn off.

First stop was Tilmouth roadhouse for a top up and cup of tea.Mostly bitumen so far. On again to Yuendemu an aboriginal settlement in the desert for another top up as the last fuel and supplies for 800 plus kms. As wel pull in for the top up the others noticed that I had a water trail running down the road behind me. Out and under and I found that a stone had hit the drain tap on the 80 litre water tank under the trailer. Lost the majority of the water and not dure of how much was left due to all the dirt on the hoses. Luckily I had been prepared and had a 40 litre floor tank sitting on the floor of the car behind the front seat. That plus a 10 litre plastic tank as a spare.

Off again and surprised at the good condition of the road. Sitting on about an average of 80 to 90km/ hr.

Stopped for the night at a place called Flood out creek way out in the middle of the desert.

Here we met a gropu of fellow campers travelling a similar route to the KT's. Most were people that had done some of the Variety club's Charity Bashes that used to travel outback Australia gathering money for charity.

One of the locals passing by.

Great site for camping way out in the middle of nothing but silence.

Surprised at the amount of traffic on the road most coming the opposite direction and a few passing in the same way as us..

A wet tissue wash for the night and toilet stops behind a convenient bush or two.

Many, many animal tracks about as where were was a dry dam that had had water and all the animals would have been coming in for a drink,

Track every where.

The sky turned to fire with the sunset as you can see below.

Next stop wolfe creek

Day 10

Packed up and ready to move by an early 9.30am. Stars!!!!!

Driver got in and ready to roll looked for his wallet as we were to refuel.

Wallet, What wallet. I had it sitting on the bed over night. Did you move it? No! Did you see it? No! Looking, looking, looking and it looks like it got left on the bed and everything is packed on top and the tie down straps are in place.

Nothing to do but unpack!!!!@###@#.

After taking the top off the camper we could look inside if the tent was raised.

So, up with the flaps of the tent, grandma crawls in like a rabbit down the burrow and feeling, feeling she finds the wallet. Hooray.

After that it was an uneventful trip to the camp near Uluru.

You read and see that you go to Alice Springs to visit Uluru. Then while you are in the area you pop over to King's Canyon. All in the Red Centre.

What is not mentioned is that they are hundreds of kilometres apart. King's is about a 300km side trip while Uluru is another 300km plus. And what was called the Olga's is just 50km from the big rock.

Shell must love the outback as they seem to have the monopoly on petrol outlets in the camp areas.

Rolling down the road towards Uluru and a large red rock comes above the horizon. Uluru! the travellers guess. They stop at prepared viewing site complete with toilet and space to camp to get the first pictures of the big rock. Very impressive rock rising out of the red dirt. The sign says Uluru 140km, ????

Later on we discover the first big rock is Mt Connor, see pic below

On the way to the big rock is a lunch break, Curtain Springs, a cattle station with a bit of history I gather from the pictures on the walls. If you ask for a burger with the lot, you get a lotttttttttt.

A plate full of burger, chips etc,etc. Bit of a struggle to eat it all up..

                                            Dining room Curtain Springs

Waiting for lunch we are standing in the bar as it is about 10 deg wind chill, outside after an early morning start of about 2.deg C.

Above the bar I notice something interesting.  Among the relics on the wall was a spear belonging of the original inhabitants. This particular spear was fitted with a 4X to 6X telescopic sight. Wonder how the ballistics of the throw go with the extra weight of the sight? ..

Arrived camp park “Yalara” about 3.30pm with beautiful sunshine about 20 odd degrees and set up before a bit of shopping in the IGA supermarket here.

Another cold night and another late start. This time just 50km down the road to the Uluru National Park. First stop to the cultural centre. This was very well laid out explaining the aboriginal history of the rock and surrounding area. Lots of indigenous art including some local women doing some painting. Had a chat with another native gentleman who gave us a run down on what looked like a heap of plant cuttings. They turned out to be a bush chemist shop for those in the know. Everything one could want. Including something that smelt just like Vick Vapour rub.

As we were leaving to have lunch before a walk, we spotted a ranger with a telescope and guessed that he was looking at the transit of Venus, which we tried to see the day before and could not. My dates must have got mixed up. The telescope was focused on a piece of paper so that you could see a circle of light being the sun and a black spot moving across the circle. The spot being Venus which was passing between the sun and earth as it does every couple of hundred years.

After some great salad sandwiches the intrepid travellers commenced a trek from the centre of culture to the wilds of the area around Uluru. Couple of hours trekking through typical desert country to a couple of gorges on the side of the rock. Interesting formations with some plaques explaining the history etc.

                                                  Make a good quarry?   Last for years

                                                           Fine upstanding gentleman

                                         All interesting forms

The cultural centre had a sign saying climbing was not allowed but as we walked around the rock we spotted climbers marching up the rock by a temperance rally.     They said the rangers did not care if they climbed or not.

                One of the many caves where people lived years ago during various rites.

To me that looks like a conche shell coming out of the sandstone of the cave????????????

Back to the car and a quick down the road towards what used to be the OLGA's.

Stopped at a viewing platform for the following pics and then back to camp.

                                                      What used to be called the Olga's

 

                                          Who is that woman???????????/  She is everywhere

The Mulga ant builds these impressive structures at the entrance to their nest.   Built up to keep surface water out.

Bit of shopping for dinner and back to the viewing platform to see if there were any great sunset pics of the rock.

Missed out due to overcast sky.

Booked a site in Alice Springs camp today to make sure that we get a site after the 400km plus drive.

It turns out that the coming week end is the Finke River Rally with over 600 bikes, quads and cars racing down the Finke river bed. 6oo contestants will most likely have 3000, to 4000 tagging along plus fans from all over the country. Did not think much about the number of bikes that had been passing us but when the sign in the post office said they were closed for the Monday holiday plus the rally then it came together.

Will try to get the next postings done in Alice Springs over the next day or so. There are wifi nets available here but they want credit card details for payment over an unsecured internet connection.

Not for me thanks!!!!

So it is hoo- roo to Uluru and hello Alice........

to be continued......................

Day 9 &10

Day 9 saw the travellers on the road to Kulgera, which is just over the SA/NT border.

Just a roadhouse with a small group of houses in the background.

Arrival was late, so we fronted up for happy hour and a pub cooked meal.

Both travellers had the special roast of the day, roast beef. Which turned out to be corned beef,
mashed potato and veggies with gravy. Just passable.

Back to a couple of games of Rummikub and bed.

                                           A giant echidna they have locked up here at Kulgera

Talking to a lady traveller and she informed us that she had travelled the road through the painted desert. We had been told that the road was closed and travellers were shut out by the landowner.

From her description it sounds great and we may have to travel that way on the way home South after the Kimberleys.

Met up with a couple that are travelling the Tanami road about the same time so we have exchanged mobile numbers so we can get in contact while we are in Alice Springs and maybe travel together up the Tanami.

800km of nothing but scrub, and the local dark skinned people, so another vehicle may be handy.

Consensus of opinion is that the road is not as bad as made out and travelling to suit the conditions will be the rule of the day.

Day 10

After some more talk and a late start we changed route again to head for King's Canyon instead of Alice Springs.

Met a half grown camel along the way and he decided that he wanted a ride. With grandma driving at 110km /hr it was a bit concerning for a few seconds as the camel wanted to sit in the front seat and looked like he was going to jump on the bonnet and discuss the matter. Luckily he saw the back seat was piled high with gear so he decided to let us pass and try the next car.

Along the way we saw lots and lots of paddy melons laying beside the road. They come in patches and are often like paddy had emptied a large bag full on melons every 50m or so onto the road verge.

Arrived Kings Canyon park in time to set up and go for a short walk to see the sunset on the mountain range nearby.

Next day we were woken by a four dog chorus not a four dog night but a four dog morning. There are some resident dingos who live around the camp and they wake the travellers to say “here we are where is breakfast” To look at the condition of the animals you feel like calling the RSPCA and reporting them. They look terrible and I suppose they live off the camp ground and have forgotten how to hunt. There are plenty of road kills along the road but the eagles beat you to them so I suppose the dingo's are last in the food chain..

There are signs all around the park saying do not feed the animals, let them hunt for themselves.

After the chorus we got up at our usual time and did some washing to hang on the line before we left on a 6km hike around the rim of Kings canyon.

Left the car park around 11,00am and headed up, up,,up and away. It was fantastic and the scenery was beautiful, we are so glad we heard about it.

                                              150 metres of these steps up, up and away

                                           One of the locals enjoying the sun.

Ripples formed 400million years ago when central aust was under water

Who says you cannot grow trees in solid rock.  Mother nature can.

                                                        Sheer rock wall of Kings Canyon

                                      Palm trees in Kings Canyon

 After about three hours of steady trekking the travellers finished the hike and back to camp for a cuppa and a couple of bits of chocolate by about 3.00pm.

Not too bad a hike, almost like a ladder to start the first 100metre climb but once on the plateau it is not bad going. Great views of the canyon, red rock formations and surrounds.

Tomorrow it looks like what uswed to be called the Olga's and Uluru or Ayres rock. Then off to see how far Alice spring's before the desert.

Day 7 &8

After an earlier start than has been the intrepid travellers motored all day and made it the 500+km to Coober Pedy just on sunset. This saw the camp established half in daylight and half with lighting in operation.

.
                                                                  entry to Coober pedy

Day 7&8

Talking to the neighbours as we set up was good as they passed on some info on a couple of tours that they had done during their days here before our arrival

This also saw another early rise to breakfast and meet a tour bus at the camp entry for a 3 hour tour of the diggings and history of Coober Pedy. Very informative. The name came from the indigenous people who thought the white man odd to go under the ground. The name sort of translated from white man who lives in hole.

Full blood locals will not go under ground as it makes the earth spirit unhappy.

Following a tour of the local hot spots the tour visited a Serbian church built underground. Or maybe the definition is excavated underground.

Excavation was by using a horizontal boring machine to bore a pattern of holes that shape the floor and walls. Then another machine with a rotary horizontal barrel cutter then finishes off to create a very liveable underground.

                                               Looking to the stalls seats

Carved into the sandstone above the altar

Rudi our guide standing on the platform at the front of the church

                                                              Grandma noodling

                                                                    Opal in the ground

The tour finished just before lunch which gave time for a quick bite to eat, ten minutes rest and off to look at a geological feature named the “Breakaways”

Do not know if this pic does justice to the fact that the clouds appeared to be floating about 20 metres off the ground and you could almost reach up and grab them

Thats it for Coober Pedy