26^th June Thursday

We eventually got out of Darwin and are heading towards Tennant creek.  We stopped off at Pine Creek to let Hugo out and have a look see.  It’s a small place, little park, quite pretty but not much to see unless you like bats.  Loads of them hanging in the trees.  We stopped at King river overnight stop. The place was quite big and managed to fit a lot of vans. There were 2 water tanks which is quite unusual for these stops as they only provide long drop toilets. It was quite shaded which was quite nice. Early night because we need to head off early for our next stop tomorrow.

27^th June Friday

We took off towards Tennent creek.  We stopped off at a place called Narrimah.  All that’s there really is a pub.  The service station is a just a broken down shack, so if you wanted fuel….tough.  The hotel which is just a pub is quite quaint.  A real outback experience.  It’s basically a tin construction with a little bit of a wild life park – birds mainly, a few wallabies and chooks running around.  The lady running the place is really friendly and makes the most awesome pies, so it was pies, chocolate and a cool drink for breakfast. We thought that we would drive through to Elliott as we noticed there was a caravan park there and we need to have a shower.  (for Kaye:  Ralph missed his Thursday night shower Kaye….oooohhhh maaaah!  🙂 ).Just as well as the overnight stop we were going to stop at was small and chock-a-block. No space for another van.  Elliott! Well! This place is really beyond the black stump.  A pub, a service station and a police station.  Never mind the one horse town, there’s no space for a horse here. Lots of dogs running around though and peacocks???  The caravan park is behind the service station and it only fits 6 caravans and maybe a couple of tents…….that’s it.  It is surrounded by a 6’ fence and we get locked in at 5 o’clock. It’s a compound.  Apparently at night it’s wild on the other side of the fence (I’ll let you know in the morning).  Hey! We come from Africa, we can handle it. People staying here are bewildered.  It’s quite funny really. No TV, but we have internet.  The only radio station we can pick up is an Aboriginal radio station which is mostly Aboriginal music and old muggins has lost the lead for the ipod……so it’s Aboriginal radio for us and no footy for Ralph. There is a couple who have are cycling from Brisbane to Darwin.  They are now not that far from Darwin (about 600kms) and his wheel buckled and because this is a no horse town he has to wait for the parts to be put on the bus from Darwin and sent down. Only problem though is that they keep sending them the wrong bits and they have been here for over a week.  They are so over it as this is in the middle of the never, nevers.  In fact, the last little town we went through boasted that their town was the capital of the Never, nevers.

28^th June Saturday

It was a very noisy night on the other side of the fence until the police showed up and then it went quite apart from the hoards of dogs that kept fighting.  It was an experience. The roads are very busy with cattle road trains.  There are so many of them so we are guessing that it must be mustering time.  We have decided not to stay in Tennent creek.  All the shops in town have heavy security on their doors and windows.  The caravan park looked a bit sus so we thought we would stay somewhere else.  Not a very kosher looking place at all. We are staying in a place called 3 Ways. It’s just a service station and a pub (everywhere in Oz has a pub) with quite a nice caravan park at the back. There are a lot of army camping here, trucks, equipment galore.  We should be safe tonight (ha, ha).  We turn off here and head towards Queensland and we should cross the border on Wednesday.  We will have an overnight stop at a 24 hour camp spot and then another stop at Mt. Isa in the caravan park. I can’t believe how much cheaper camping is in the Territory. We seem to be a bit ripped off with camping fees in WA. These camp sites are half the price, which makes a huge difference to the budget.  The campsites are well maintained and clean.

29^th June Sunday

It is quite cold here at night time, warm days though and it’s very windy this morning and quite a bit chilly.  Most people have cleared off and this place will be full again come lunch time.  It’s used for an overnight stop but we will stay for 3 nights as there is a bit of history around the place. The army have all started pulling out. Ralph has gone prospecting this morning and Hugo and I are staying in. Tomorrow we will take a drive to have a look at the sites as there is quite a bit of WW2 stuff around which is worth a visit. Ralph didn’t find his gold so we spent the rest of the day reading and relaxing and next door popped around for sundowners and the place has filled up again. We will be in bed early as it’s starting to get chilly. We are on the boundary of the Central desert, so warm days and cold nights, although the wind blew all day today and coming off the desert it was a bit chills.

30^th June Monday

It’s windy again and this wind is strong and icy cold, it’s a pain. We will have to put the awning down early today just in case the van flies away. We went into Tennent Creek to do get some groceries (Lovely Place). It boasts that it is the Oasis of the Desert. I could call this place other things, certainly not an oasis. Been there, done that, won’t come back. We went to an old telegraph station and the wind was blowing so fiercely that it was whistling through the old buildings, it was quite eerie. We then went to the pebbles (this place has great cultural significance for the women of the local tribe here). The women have their meetings and dancing here and it’s quite sacred to them.  It was a lovely walk through the bush and also quite interesting.  The wind has defeated us so we came back to the van and started packing up.  I must admit that we will be happy to move on tomorrow. We shall see what delights Mt. Isa has to offer us.