Down through the middle of Northern Territory and South Australia
Table of Contents
Daly Waters,
Tennant Creek & The Devils Marbles.
Ayers
Rock (Uluru) & The Olgas (Kata Tjuta).
Timber Creek & Katherine.
The trip from Kununurra to Timber Creek is picturesque with also being
short enough to allow us to arrive in time to do the Victoria River Cruise that
is touted as “A powerful 40km journey to a vast wilderness frontier”. It
promises to show you the Gregory Tree and is supposedly “Very Good Value for
Money”. Poo – It was a boat ride on a river where we saw some small crocodiles,
fed some birds, didn’t see the Gregory tree, had three small snack plates that
Mary would have put out for 4 people to share between 16 people and all froze
on the trip back (most people were in T shirts as they hadn’t been warned that
it is cold in a quick boat at early evening whilst I had given my jacket to a
freezing lady which meant that I had to hold on to Mary for warmth). It would
have been value at around $40.00 (not $85.00 each) when compared to the other
things we have done but is probably best left as you can see it all from your
car. Wednesday we awoke to having no power in the caravan park. Investigations
exposed that this was a planned outage of 4 hours that the operators of Timber
Creek had forgotten to tell anyone we spoke to about. As they had no backup
generator they could not supply fuel to any arriving travelers that were
expecting to fill up with fuel so a build up of vehicles started to grow in the
parking areas. We did sell our spare 20 litres of fuel to a stranded New
Zealand couple as it was enough to get them to Kununurra (no, no profit). It
also bought to light the problems of our 
neighbours with their caravan refrigerator so as I was working on my own
electrical connector (car to caravan) next to them I was drawn into
looking at. Two hours later, Don (the caravan owner) suggested that we leave it
to later and asked that as we were low on fuel and were planning the same
itinerary that we should go together in his car and finish looking at his
problem later. First we drove to Policemans Point for a little recreational
fishing. It was exciting as our attention was split between losing all of our
lures in the rocks and watching the crocodiles on the opposite riverbank. We
did notice that the cows that would come down to the river for a drink did not
stay at the rivers edge for very long – Were they smarter than us? One of the
crocodiles disappeared from view so we, uneaten moved on to the military bridge
to fish there. This time Marilyn (Dons wife) felt secure enough to have a go
with the rest of us. I caught a catfish and cut it off, losing another hook.
Don also caught a fish, which he tethered under a float hoping for the big one.
Leaving there with no fish we checked out the lookout (well worth it) and then
went to the Gregory Tree. Altogether a great fun day but we still had the
caravan problem to address. That done we enjoyed an evening of friendly
conversation before retiring. Thursday was another shortish, very scenic trip
with several well maintained rest stops to eventually get us to Katherine. We
checked into our caravan park 
before heading into town to see what there was to do. In the evening we
were entertained at the caravan park and enjoyed a Barramundi meal each for
$18.50. Friday we went out to the local museum where we were surprised by the
displays of machinery, telegraph equipment, Dr. Clyde Fentons aircraft etc.
They also had two videos both of which we watched. Next door to the museum we
had lunch for $10.00 each. Mary had a Buffalo burger whilst I had a salt water
Barramundi with salad and both meals came with an endless drink of jungle
juice. On the way back to the caravan park we stopped at the showground’s where
we were informed that for $5.00 each we could watch a local football match. We
very much enjoyed that with the out of town all aboriginal team putting up a
great fight against the Katherine team, losing by just four points in the last
few minutes of the game. Saturday we booked the Nitmiluk three gorges tour with
a departure time of 9AM and a duration of four hours for $73.00 each. It was a
fabulous cruise with our tour guide Tyrone who was a Torres Straight Islander
giving a very humorous and informative commentary throughout. From there it was
off to the Springvale homestead for the free information tour they give – OK.
Sunday we walked to the Katherine Hot Springs where Mary had a soak then we
returned to prepare the caravan for Mondays trip. In the afternoon we took a
swim in the caravan park pool before heading into town for some final shopping.
Daly Waters, Tennant Creek & The Devils Marbles
Monday the
15th of June we set off for Daly Waters after ringing someone (D.P.)
to wish him a happy birthday. As usual it is an entertaining stopover with the
Steak or and Barra meal and same entertainment as we enjoyed in 2007.The big
difference is that the meal which cost $19.95 in 2007 is now $27.50 which would
seem a little over normal inflation. Of course you can still have your meal at
the caravan then head to the pub for the show. One most amusing and fun change
is that from 4:30PM to 5:30PM the pub staff toss a coin with you when you order
your drinks and if you win they are free, if you lose you pay the normal price.
Our first two pints were free! The next morning we headed to Tennant Creek
where we had been told it would be wise to travel through. How wrong was that
advice – We arrived at 4:00PM, secured a late check out from the caravan 
park for 12:00 noon then went straight to the information centre. It is
located in the Battery Hill Mining Centre where for $5.00 each we were able to
go through their museum and view an extensive collection of ores from
throughout the world. They were kind enough to wait for us to go through all of
the displays (we left around 6:00PM) and from there we went up to the lookout
for the sunset. After that we hurried back to the caravan park to have a quick
meal before attending the Jimmy Hooker – Barkley Bush Tucker Man show at just
$3.00 per person. This show was most 
entertaining with Jimmy reciting several of his poems, spinning some
yarns then feeding us all some witchety grubs, bush tomatoes, bush coconut and
showing us how to make bush tea etc. The show lasted for over two hours and had
all in attendance enthralled. On 
Wednesday we went to see the Mary Ann Dam, which would be a great
camping 
area, the Telegraph Station, then on to “The Pebbles”. It was all well
worth the visit with the exception of the pebbles which are a joke (pictured at
right). After lunch we set off for the Devils Marbles, which has a great little
camping area to stay at. 
After filling out our envelope and paying our $6.60 we started walking
around the park. Several kilometers of walking later we had enjoyed many of the
spectacles offered by the park. A highlight was the dead cow I found in a cave
and I managed to get a photograph of Mary viewing it. Once again we spent a
night listening to Dingo’s and viewing a clear star filled sky. Our TomTom GPS
had died on the drive to The Devils Marbles – Not impressed. On Thursday
morning we left quite early hoping to have time to stop whenever we wanted to
see some of the suggested art galleries etc. Nope there was nothing worth
stopping for until we got to Aileron where there is an extensive collection of
aboriginal art including some original “Albert Namatjira” pieces. The statues
that welcomed us to Aileron were probably the highlight of the stop. From there
it is a short hop to Alice Springs.
Alice Springs.
Friday we
decided to spend around town. There are many 
Aboriginal art galleries but the one that stood out to us was owned and
run by an Aboriginal artist David Moolooloo who’s art was exceptional and his
prices very affordable. He features mainly art from himself and his wife Becky
Myers. They are both from different tribes so do different styles of artwork.
His store is in the cinema complex in the Todd Mall and he has a site at www.artisticmoolooloo.com - take a look. Saturday we went to the Alice
Springs Cultural Centre that is a centre encompassing an art gallery, aviation
museum, the museum of central Australia etc. It was also car race day on
television so in the afternoon we headed back for what Mary calls a slothful
interlude. Sunday the 21st of June was yet another car race day so
the morning was spent at Araluen, The Anzac lookout, checking out the casino
and generally looking 
around town etc. Monday we set out early to do the East MacDonnell
Ranges. First we went to Corroboree rock then on to the Artlunga Historical
Reserve. On arrival at the latter we were given an informative talk on 
the mining that took place in the area along with demonstrations of the
antique working equipment. They have several mines in the reserve where one can
enter and look around. We did this first at the Reef Mine then from there we
went on to Joker Gorge and the Joker Mine. We looked at all of the old
buildings etc in the historical reserve before heading back to town. On the way
back we stopped at Jessie Gap and then Emily Gap where in both cases we viewed
some aboriginal art. All in it was a great day. Tuesday we headed off to the West MacDonnell Ranges
by first driving to Glen Helen and then slowly 
making our way back to Alice Springs. Ormiston Gorge (great caravan
& camp ground here) was spectacular but the Ochre Pits were the most
impressive Ochre deposits we have ever seen. White, yellow, pink, grey, red,
etc all in the one spot – virtually natures free paint store in the outback –
just add blood or whatever other glue you want to use to the colour you want.
Next it was off to the Ellery Creek Big Hole – beautiful with caravan camping
again. We finally arrived at Standley Chasm at 5PM where they forgot to mention
at the turnoff was a pay for entry place that didn’t admit people after 5PM so
we traipsed the 10km back to the main road to rush down to Simpsons gap -
another great spot. Wednesday we went into town to get the car serviced and to
stock up ready for our trip to Ayres Rock on Thursday. We loved Alice Springs,
which is a pretty and most hospitable City.
Ayers Rock (Uluru) & The Olgas
(Kata Tjuta).
The drive in to Ayers Rock delighted us with a view of the rock at some
46km out from it. We eventually arrived at the Ayers Rock Resort at around 4PM
and after settling in headed straight out to the rock. It is a truly awesome
sight which surprises in every way. Having expected a big rock as seen on
numerous television shows it is still something altogether different to see it
in real life. We were able to enjoy a sunset on it and as it was sporadically
raining we were enjoying something that very few people will ever see (rain is
not common here). Friday morning and after several calls from our daughter
Hayley 
who had missed her 6AM flight from Melbourne back to Perth we rose early
to a brisk but lovely new day (Qantas kindly put her on the next flight home at
no charge – Thanks especially to the young lady who organized that for her).
Friday we headed back to Ayers Rock arriving just in time for the free rangers
talk at the Mala walk which was a very worthwhile way to spend two hours before
heading off to walk around the rock. The walk around the rock is around 10km so
it took us about three hours. Of interest is the fact that the rock is shaped
much like Tasmania rather than the egg or sausage shape we expected. A great
day! Saturday morning we left early as Mary wanted to walk up Ayers Rock whilst
I had agreed to wait at the bottom for her. It wasn’t too tough but I did miss
my coffee with the toasted cheesies & tomato juice. When she finished that
about 3 
hours later we headed across to The Olgas (Kata Tjuta). There are two
walks there – One into Walpa Gorge which is about a kilometre and secondly the
Valley of the Winds walk where we covered around 5.2km. After this we rushed to
the sunset viewing area so we can say that we missed nothing. Mary was of
course very tired by the time we arrived back at the resort caravan park but I
was OK. To sum up Ayers Rock is a must see for everyone – It is magnificient,
majestic monolith. Sunday the 28th of June will see us heading out
of the Northern Territory and down into South Australia. SOUTH AUSTRALIA LINK
Last
revised: Date Saturday, June 27, 2009