Day 11 – Alice Springs to Tennant Creek

Another long day in the car today, 550kms to Tennant Creek. By now we are experts at packing everything up, and heading off early, usually leaving the park before the grey nomads get going. Most of the caravan parks are fairly full, but we haven’t had a problem getting in yet.

Our first stop for fuel was at the Aileron Roadhouse, where some strange sculptures dominate the landscape. A huge aboriginal holding a spear on top of the nearby hill was the first thing we saw, followed by other strange sculptures around the roadhouse.

Next we stopped at the very old Barrow Creek Telegraph station for a quick walk around and a bit of lunch from the van.  The telegraph station, built back in 1871 out of local stone, was a vital communications link connecting the rest of the world with Darwin, continuing down south, through Barrow Creek, down the line to Adelaide and then across to other areas of Australia, all by morse code. This service was at its most important during the wars.

Next a brief stop at the Wycliffe Well Roadhouse. Well, a bit hard to describe this bizarre place, known for the most UFO sightings in Australia. The roadhouse walls were covered in newspaper articles about all the sightings around the place. Odd…. And a little bit creepy…..

 

Our final stop of the day before Tennant Creek was the strangely formed Devils Marbles. Huge red balls of stone, which appeared to be a conglomeration of quartz and other materials, apparently strewn around in various formations in different patterns.  The kids enjoyed having a clamber over top of them, seeing who could reach the highest point. Even dad joined in this game, much to Lily’s amusement.

We arrived at our destination of Tennant Creek about 4pm, and deliberately chose the Outback Caravan Park (out of town), as we had stayed here the last time we came through about 12 years ago. As Brendan checked in at reception, who should greet him, but a fellow Korean adoptee, who had married the owner of the park. Sam exchanged greetings (Annyong Haseyo) with her. Its nice shady park (a lovely sunny 23 deg here today), with lots of silvery white gums dotted around the pleasant surroundings. Lily and Sam immediately opted for a swim in the pool.

The town of Tennant Creek has little to offer tourists, apart from the Gold Battery which is still running, and quite a few shops. But as with most outback towns, everything is tightly locked down, and barred, and the ever present either police or security presence patrolling outside any alcohol venues gives a slightly uneasy feel to the place. Sadly we again witnessed many aboriginals of all ages, walking along carrying their cartons of beer off somewhere for the afternoon. Hence, we usually choose a caravan park slightly out of town.

Tonight the kids and ourselves were entertained, by exactly the same man (Jimmy Hooker) as we were last time we were here12 years ago. Jimmy, an old aboriginal man, sat telling his bush yarns with us around the campfire, as he cooked some damper, and chatted with the children.