Author Archives: shorty

Day 60 – Katherine Update

Posted on Sunday, June 18, 2017 by shorty

We have thoroughly enjoyed our time here in Katherine and have spent our time relaxing and driving our ‘big car’, Bertha, around.

Katherine Gorge (Nitmiluk Gorge)

We couldn’t come to Katherine without visiting Katherine Gorge so we packed up Bertha and headed out the 30 kms or so to the Gorge (or Nitmiluk Gorge as it is also known).  When we arrived we had a bit of walk around but with temperatures in the mid-thirties and a hot wind blowing, we decided to forego anything strenuous whether walking or on a cruise down the gorges (there are 13 of them).  Swimming was definitely not an option!

Welcome to Katherine Gorge – Nitmiluk National Park

Nitmiluk Visitor Centre

Fortunately the Nitmiluk Visitor Centre was air-conditioned so we went inside to cool down before deciding to order an early lunch.  Thinking we would be OK weather wise we ate our lunch on the shaded deck overlooking the river.  Our view, however, was dominated by hundreds, maybe thousands of bats!  They filled all the trees in front of the deck and although they had some novelty value worth a few photos to start, I’m sure that all visitors would have preferred more of an unspoiled view of the river and scenery in general.

Bats spoil the scenery a bit

Our pizza lunch was delicious but we went back inside to the cool to enjoy a very nice coffee.  After lunch we visited the interpretive section of the visitor centre and we were extremely impressed by how well the various displays explained the geology that created the gorges so many millions ago, plus the native flora and fauna (and reptiles) and how the indigenous people interacted with their surroundings.  There was a very informative slide show as well.  This was one of the best information displays we have seen – and we have seen a few!

Nitmiluk Visitor Centre

From Nitmiluk Gorge we headed back down Gorge Road into town where we found a great carpark behind the Katherine Tourist Information Centre where we collected some maps and brochures for the next leg of our adventure.  We then crossed the road into the Target Arcade and visited Woolies to top up our supplies before heading back to Shady Lane and set-up Bertha again.

Scenes along the road

Today’s adventure again highlighted the advantages of travelling in a motorhome.  On such a hot day we could load the shopping straight into the fridge and cupboards, plus we could enjoy a cool drink and a wash – how good is that!

Katherine Museum

We don’t always enjoy museum visits but the Katherine Museum looked quite interesting so we packed up Bertha again and headed off.

The museum is actually a complex of various buildings and displays.  The main building was built in 1934 and was originally the passenger terminal and air radio building of the Katherine airport.  Inside we were confronted by a display of the role that Katherine played in WWII.  We didn’t realise that Katherine was bombed in 1942 and that at one stage the airport was under the control of the US military.  There was a very interesting display of memorabilia and artefacts from wartime, plus stories about local servicemen and women.

Katherine Museum

Outside cafe area

From the wartime display we watched a video about the Katherine floods in 1998.  Again, although it was on the TV news at the time we didn’t realise the level of the destruction caused by that 1 in 50 year flood.  The water was at the roof level of Woolworths where we had shopped just the day before.  The entire town was destroyed but has since been rebuilt and has withstood many lesser floods since.  After looking through the bookshop area we headed outside.

There is a beautiful rotunda and the original Overland Telegraph display.

Overland Telegraph Display

Outside were various old motor vehicles, farm machinery, and so on.

Plenty of old vehicles and machinery

We visited ‘Wallie’s Shed’ where again there was an interesting display of farming equipment, kitchen and laundry displays, stories of the Russian Peanut farmers and recreations of farming life going way back.  There were also some very interesting items of equipment, along with details of patents taken on some of the items.  They seemed to be a creative bunch around here – but as they say, ‘necessity is the mother of invention’.

Wallie’s Shed

After looking at various other displays and items around the place, we visited the Clyde Fenton Gallery.  This is a large air-conditioned shed and a Gypsy Tiger Moth takes pride of place.  Clyde Fenton and the plane performed many valuable services in the area.  Around the walls are descriptive panels highlighting many interesting stories about Katherine’s past, how it was named, profiles of some local celebrities and characters, stories about the stolen generations, and a whole more.  This was a very impressive display and we spent quite a long time in this exhibit (OK – the air-conditioning helped).

Clyde Fenton Gallery

From the museum we headed back into town and our parking spot for Bertha (you can’t park a 25 ft ‘big car’ just anywhere you know) and headed off to the Coffee Club for a delicious light lunch.  Dining options on a Sunday in Katherine are quite limited but we did enjoy our meals and the air-conditioning.

Scenes around Katherine

So, that’s a bit about what we have been doing here in Katherine.  Tomorrow we have a bit of a drive to Howard Springs near Darwin, and we’ll be staying there for a week.

Stay tuned ……

Categories: 2017 Up The Centre Adventure | Tags: ,

Day 57 – Bitter Springs to Katherine

Posted on Thursday, June 15, 2017 by shorty

Another beautiful day in paradise, but we were soon packed up and back on the road heading north.

Last cup of tea before leaving our tropical paradise at Bitter Springs

Interesting statue in Mataranka

Our first stop for coffee was at the King Rest Area (Camps 9 #116).  This is a designated 24 hour stop and is equipped with drop toilets, some shelter, a water tank (no idea if drinkable but doubtful) and has plenty of room to camp on and off the bitumen.  There were a number of RVs obviously parked here (probably for more than 1 day but who’s counting) and there was a great deal of movement at the station for the word had obviously got around.  A Winnebago motorhome pulled in just after we arrived and promptly drove up to one end and parked off the grass – the slide-out was out and towels out to dry before you could blink.  As we were having coffee at the side of Bertha another converted bus pulled in close and we were joined by Steve and his not very fierce guard dog who stood at least 25cm tall.  Nearly 2 hours later we packed away the coffee cups and got back on the road to Katherine – Steve liked a chat and after we left he headed on over to the Winnie for a bit more of a chat with them!  We suspect he was going to stay there for the night and was just filling in some time.  He did have some great stories though!

Scenes along the highway – still burning off

Coffee at King Rest Area

Arriving in Katherine our first stop was at Woolies for some supplies.  We didn’t wait around in town for even a cup of coffee and as soon as we could headed slightly out of town to Shady Lane Caravan Park.

Welcome to Katherine

Welcome to Shady Lane Caravan Park, Katherine

We’ve been here before and it has a great tropical feel and very friendly owners.  The sites are all different shapes and sizes as they need to fit in around the many trees, but that also adds to the friendliness of this place.  We were allocated a great spot quite close to amenities, camp kitchen, laundry, etc.  We set-up Bertha, which required a bit of skillful maneuvering around a palm tree and it was then that we realized that we couldn’t wind up the TV antenna or wind out the awning due to overhanging branches.  Not to worry – a quick trip over the office and Phillip came over with his ladder and heavy duty pruner to fix the problem.  This did mean un-setting-up Bertha and moving forward so Phillip could reach the offending branches, but soon enough he had trimmed the tree and we moved Bertha back into position and were set to go with TV antenna and awning.  Great customer service!

Bertha at Shady Lane; freshly pruned trees for TV antenna; precision parking

It was great to have TV again after what seemed like weeks without it!  Strangely we can get a good range of channels but none of the ABC channels – usually it’s the other way around.  Still, at least we can catch up with the news, etc.

During the afternoon we had a great chat with some of our neighbors who were from the Trakmaster Caravan Club and who we recognized from Daly Waters Pub.  We had also seen several of them previously on our way north.  They were part of a group of 8 or 9 Trakmaster vans for whom Katherine was the last ‘civilised’ stop before they headed off-roading to Jabiru and other places in the middle of the desert.  They seemed such friendly, normal people before we realized they had this strange obsession with really roughing it out in the desert!  Much of their afternoon was spent rearranging vans and tow vehicle to accommodate extra fuel and water tanks.

As it got dark I headed over to the camp kitchen to cook lamb koftas for tea, accompanied by a delicious home-made salad.  We then settled in to watch the news on TV but the shows after that were pretty terrible so we ended up watching a DVD.

We are going to be in Katherine for several days and will post a further update in due course.

Categories: 2017 Up The Centre Adventure | Tags:

Day 56 – R & R at Bitter Springs, Mataranka

Posted on Wednesday, June 14, 2017 by shorty

There’s not really any other way to say this, but today we did bugger all!

We woke to thousands of birds singing, clear blue skies, sunshine and very little wind.

After mucking around for a while we both decided we should do something.  Ann did some washing and hung it when Bertha told us the temperature was 29 degrees.  I did a few chores including give Bertha a rub down so she looks more white than red.

This is a really peaceful place and everyone is friendly.  We have made friends with our next door neighbor.  Jack is an older gentleman travelling on his own and is up here from Victoria for three months.  He has been coming here for many years to escape Victoria’s winter.  He always has a tale to tell about camping 50 years ago, or places we should see, or places not to bother seeing.  We have a chat with Jack several times each day.

We wish we had found this place earlier, as we would like to have stayed longer, but Ann has actually been able to make a booking for us in Darwin which fits in with other arrangements we had already made.  Not only did we not plan for the V8 Supercars in Darwin, we also totally forgot about school holidays.  This Coddiwompling has something to answer for I can tell you!

This afternoon we went for a lovely walk down to the Bitter Springs Thermal Pools.  The first thing we found out is that they’re not actually thermal pools at all, but we won’t bore you with the details.  The water here is amazingly clear, and has something of a blue tinge to it.

Views along the road to Bitter Springs

Walking into the Bitter Springs Thermal Pool area

Welcome to Bitter Springs thermal pool

Not the sign you want to see near a popular pool like Bitter Springs. Doesn’t stop people swimming though!

Bitter Springs is a very popular spot and although we did think about going for a swim/float down the river, there were way too many people in the water and on the banks that we didn’t think it would be all that enjoyable.  This, we think, is an experience to be had in a more solitary mode.  A couple of busloads of people arrived and that was it – time to head back to the caravan park.

Walking past the caravan park kiosk we splurged a few dollars on Barney Banana ice-creams and thoroughly enjoyed them sitting in the dappled shade next to Bertha. Another chat with Jack and it was off to the camp kitchen for me to cook tonight’s lamb steaks (PK – they were from Burra).

This place is definitely on our list when we head back south from Darwin in a few weeks.  No school holidays then and the weather will be a little warmer (hopefully) so our swimmers may make an appearance – but don’t expect any photos.

Still living the dream!

Categories: 2017 Up The Centre Adventure | Tags: ,

Day 55 – Daly Waters Pub to Bitter Springs, Mataranka

Posted on Tuesday, June 13, 2017 by shorty

Again we woke to another day of clear blue skies and sunshine but it is still windy.

We left Daly Waters at about 9.15 am – leaving the car park can be very interesting when over 100 rigs all try to exit at roughly the same time through 3 exit gates – but somehow everyone does.

Our first stop was the Daly Waters WWll Aerodrome about 3km down the road.  It is an amazing place and in reasonable condition – a bit like a movie set.  Interestingly it is still pretty much intact, and with no signs of graffiti or vandalism!  It was obvious that several travelers had used this area as a freecamp overnight.

Daly Waters Aerodrome

Daly Waters Aerodrome

Back on the Stuart Highway we noticed that the road surface was deteriorating and there are lots of warning signs near pot holes and damaged edges.  Not sure if it is flood damage or just wear and tear and a lack of maintenance.

We stopped for coffee at the Alexander Forrest Memorial Rest Area about 45km north of Daly Waters.  This is quite a large area and overnight freecamping is allowed.  There is a covered seating area, rubbish bins and a water tank (not drinkable), but no toilets.  It is just off the road so it would be quite noisy.  The memorial itself is not actually accessible from the rest area, which is a bit strange.  We assume that Alexander Forrest is an ancestor of ‘Twiggy’ Forrest of Fortescue Metals.

Alexander Forrest Memorial Rest Area, and plaque

Further down the highway we turned off the main road and stopped at Larrimah to have a look around.  There is the Historic Larrimah Hotel and the iconic Pink Panther Pub and Caravan Park.

Historic Pubs in Larrimah

We actually decided to indulge in a Devonshire Tea at Fran’s Devonshire Teahouse back on the highway.  It was the strangest Devonshire tea that we have ever had – warm whole meal scone with jam and clotted cream, plus 4 slices of frozen cake!?!   Fran served interesting food including camel pies ($12 each) with a friendly but direct “Basil Faulty” approach.  It was like a side show with her brow beaten husband George!  A great double act and we’re still not sure if they are for real or if it’s just put on for the customers.  Everyone definitely had a great laugh!  We weren’t game to ask questions about the food though!  We will definitely chalk this experience up as one of life’s truly weird experiences!!  If you’re intending on visiting Fran, make sure you ask for prices before ordering!

Fran’s Devonshire Teahouse in Larrimah

Most of the way up the Highway today the undergrowth on the western side of the highway had been burnt or was still smoking.  Over 100 Kms – amazing really.  It appears to be planned but why only one side of the road?

Scenes along the way; lots of burning off

As we travel further north, the termite mounds are growing noticeably taller.

Ant hills in and near Mataranka

At this point we might comment that our Coddiwompling approach to travelling has caught us a little unstuck.  Our destination has always been Darwin, and we have thoroughly enjoyed rambling and meandering along the way; visiting interesting places; staying for as long as we felt like; and so on.  No bookings – just turn-up where-ever!  Yesterday, with Darwin only perhaps a few days away, Ann tried to book some accommodation but couldn’t.  The V8 Supercars are on in Darwin this coming weekend and there isn’t any accommodation anywhere.  It’s not a major problem as there are plenty of places we can stay and/or visit until we can move on to Darwin, but it is something we perhaps would have anticipated if we weren’t quite so casual about our travel. Ce la vie!

Having said that, it was quite a thrill to see a number of V8 racing team trucks pass us on the highway!

Off to the V8 Supercar racing in Darwin

We arrived at Mataranka at about lunch time and Ann picked up a few items at the supermarket before we headed out to Bitter Springs Cabins and Camping on PK’s recommendation.  This park has a lovely tropical feel.  We were given a park map and told to drive around and pick our site.  This sounds great but there are no site numbers and there is thick tropical vegetation so it was not long before we were very lost.  People here were very helpful and we are now settled in our site of choice and have worked out where everything is located.

Bertha at Bitter Springs Caravan Park

Bitter Springs Caravan Park

It is such a lovely setting that we are feeling relaxed already!  I am now in shorts and t-shirt after weeks of feeling cold and wind-blown and wearing long trousers and jackets.

Tomorrow the plan is to head off to the springs and actually go for a swim! Maybe.

Categories: 2017 Up The Centre Adventure | Tags: ,

Day 54 – Elliott Rest Area to Daly Waters Pub

Posted on Monday, June 12, 2017 by shorty

Last night about 8.00 pm, in the dark, a large converted coach complete with trailer loaded with SUV and boat came rumbling in and only just missed some of the campers here before coming to a stop.  Two people got out and seemed busy checking something by torchlight.

This morning it seems that they have an electrical issue.  Typical traveller camaraderie, all the boys were out ‘helping’ with generators, battery chargers, etc – nothing like a project to create ‘male bonding’.

Male bonding at its best!

The winds picked up again overnight and rocked us to sleep.  We woke to clear blue skies and sunshine and wind again this morning.  Bertha told us that it was 11 degrees outside and 19 degrees inside at 7.30 am, so the cold problem appears to be solved leaving us with a wind problem.  Hopefully that will go away soon too!

We headed north past Newcastle Waters rest area/free camp, which was bituminised and had a toilet but was very close to the road and very crowded, even at 9.00am.  We are very happy that we chose the gravel pit rather than stay here.

Further up the highway we went past the Sir Charles Todd Memorial which also seemed to be a free camp, although it isn’t listed in Camps 9.  It looked to be better than the last place.

Sir Charles Todd Memorial & rest area

As we continued up the highway we were passed by 5 Trakmaster caravans in a row; we suspect that they were travelling together and had camped at the Memorial free camp.

We later stopped at the Dunmarra Wayside Inn for thermos coffee in Bertha, and topped up the fuel ($1.76 per litre).

Dunmarra

We timed things perfectly and arrived at Daly Waters Pub just before lunchtime.

Arriving at Daly Waters Pub

Welcome to Daly Waters Pub

The caravan park was starting to fill up even then, and the chap who took us to our site said that recently it had been chockers by 4.00 pm. This is an interesting park in that the vans are parked in rows, so in the morning you can potentially be stuck if the people ahead of you don’t want to move as early as you might like.  We’re second in the row so we should be OK.

Parked in Rows at Daly Waters Pub/Caravan Park

We were here in 2013 and most things haven’t changed much, although we did notice that the toilet facilities had been slightly upgraded and more toilet huts have been added.  They are all mini-ensuites and have a toilet, hand basin and shower, which is a nice change from most places.

Interesting amenities at Daly Waters Pub/Caravan Park

Booking into the caravan park we also booked and prepaid for dinner.  We’re both looking forward to a delicious BBQ barra and salad dinner, and a few cold beverages.

After a very light lunch in Bertha we went for a walk around Daly Waters and the pub to explore.  This is certainly an interesting and quirky place!  There is a shop and a servo (of sorts) and there are other shops and museums under some of the old Queenslanders.

Daly Waters Pub

The township of Daly Waters

Caps, knickers and bras are all around the bar in the pub, and there was even a fire going despite the weather being in the mid/high twenties.  Our walk was so exhausting that we had to stop and have a cool drink in the bar!

Inside Daly Waters Pub

Daly Waters Pub Beer Garden

Refreshed, we returned to Bertha for a quiet afternoon, saving our energy for dinner and entertainment tonight.

There is a For Sale notice outside the pub and apparently the pub and some surrounding shops etc is available for around $3 million.  This would be a great family business and way of life!

Daly Waters Pub has a great system – it worked like this.  Happy Hour was from 5.00pm to 6.00pm and the drinks were very well priced.  Entertainment started at 5.30pm and dinner was served in batches at half hourly intervals starting at 6.30pm.

So, like many others we headed over to the beer garden area around 5.00pm and ordered drinks.  The first entertainer, a country and western singer named Tom Maxwell, started playing at 5.30pm.  Tom comes from Tamworth and has been nominated for the Golden Guitar award 5 times, but has yet to win one.  The couple we were sitting with were from Horsham and we mentioned that had been at the Horsham Country Music Festival in March – it turned out that they were both country music fans and the wife, whose name I have forgotten, is actually a DJ at a Horsham radio station and hosts a regular country music program.  She knew Tom Maxwell and had several of his 13 CDs.  He played mainly original country music with a few covers – he was certainly very good and great entertainment.

We were in the first round for dinner at 6.30pm and were both served huge barramundi steaks and we were able to help ourselves at the salad bar.  Needless to say dinner was absolutely delicious.

At 7.00pm the second act came on.  He was ‘Stevie Still Rocking’ and we saw him when we were here in 2013.  Stevie sings mainly gentle rock ‘n roll, with the likes of songs from Ricky Nelson rather than the Rolling Stones.  Many of his songs invoked sing-a-longs with the audience and he had quite a few people up dancing.

Tom Maxwell (top) and Stevie Still Rocking at Daly Waters Pub

We didn’t have a very late night but we had a delicious dinner with a few accompanying drinks, enjoyed some great musical entertainment, made some new friends, and overall – it was great fun!

Still living the dream!

Categories: 2017 Up The Centre Adventure | Tags:

Day 53 – Tennant Creek to Elliott

Posted on Sunday, June 11, 2017 by shorty

We woke to blue skies and sunshine but quite strong winds which had howled through the night.  Ann even got up at one stage and wound down the TV aerial.  After packing up and giving Bertha a bit of a clean we headed north.  This has been a good stopover to catch up on things, including communications.

Our first stop was at the Tennant Creek Telegraph Station some 11 kilometres up the highway.  The Telegraph was an essential communications line before central Australia opened up and we have seen many restored telegraph stations on this journey to reflect this.  This one was especially remote and was, in effect, a mini-village with most needed service, like butchers, food storage etc on site.  The Tennant Creek Telegraph Station closed in 1935 but the property was used by linesmen until 1950.

Tennant Creek Telegraph Station

Tennant Creek Telegraph Station

Tennant Creek Telegraph Station

From Tennant Creek our next stop was at the Three Ways Roadhouse.  Three Ways is so named as it is the intersection of the Stuart Highway with the Barkly Highway which heads east into Queensland.  The roadhouse was extremely busy with very long queues for fuel so we had coffee in Bertha.

Three Ways Roadhouse

Sometimes we know exactly how these guys feel!

Another 50 or so kilometres along the highway we stopped at the Attack Creek rest area (Camps 9 #84) for a quick look around.  This is a big space with a drop toilet and other basic facilities for travellers.  There were several travellers happily set-up here, with washing lines and one van had a generator going.  This would a good place to stop overnight.  There is also an interesting story about this place featuring our old friend John McDouall Stuart and his various expeditions.  This place is the site where the native Waramungu People attacked Stuart’s expedition party and successfully defended their traditional lands.  The stories continue with gold being found in the area and later with the Warumungu People’s fight for native title.  An interesting place to visit but you probably wouldn’t make a special trip just to get to Attack Creek.

Scenes along the way

Attack Creek

Further up the highway we slowed down to have a look at Banka Banka Station (caravan park).  This is a very popular stop and we stayed here in 2013.  It was very rustic and not very organised then but things appear to have changed. We did see some new facilities and they are really packing the vans in now.

Scenes of Banka Banka Station

We continued up the Stuart Highway – this highway is also known as ‘Explorer’s Way’ because of the way that McDouall Stuart and his several expeditions trekked from the Southern Ocean to find the ocean in the north.

Scenes along the way

Large cattle yards along the way

Sunday lunch was at Renner Springs Desert Hotel/Roadhouse.  Being a Sunday we thought that we would treat ourselves to a roast lunch, but there were no roasts on the menu so we settled for a steak sandwich with the lot.  They were huge and we could possibly have shared one between the two of us.  Absolutely delicious though, and not overpriced for what we were served.  This is an interesting place with a large collection of caps on the ceiling in the shop.  We also had a friendly peacock come to share some lunch with us as we watched the constant flow of travellers and truckies coming in to refresh themselves and refuel their vehicles.  There is also a caravan park out the back.

Renner Springs Desert Hotel/Roadhouse and caravan park

Sunday Lunch at Renner Springs

Friendly peacock at Renner Springs

We skipped their coffee after lunch, as they only had instant, and continued north through the town of Elliott, which was pretty dead given it was Sunday afternoon.  We did notice a sign to an historic WWII Staging Area, which we assume is associated with the Staging Area at Barrow Creek – we weren’t game to follow the dirt road this time!

Views of Elliott on a Sunday afternoon

We eventually stopped in a gravel pit about 20 kilometres north of Elliott and did a basic set-up.  There are no facilities here but we are fully self-contained so that’s not an issue.  We even have 4 bars on our phones.  There are about a dozen different caravans and even a huge Winnebago Nullarbor A Class motorhome.

Gravel pit outside Elliott

We’ll just have a relaxing evening and catch up on some reading as we don’t expect to have TV reception.

Ann found some beautiful wildflowers

Another of Ann’s wonderful sunset photos!

Wonder where we’ll be tomorrow night?

Categories: 2017 Up The Centre Adventure, Free Camping | Tags: , , ,

Day 52 – Barrow Creek to Tennant Creek

Posted on Saturday, June 10, 2017 by shorty

We woke to sunshine and clear blue skies but still needed the diesel heater to warm things up before starting our day.  It was so peaceful at our freecamp, other than the millions of birds there, that we had thought about staying another day. But then it was only 1 degree overnight so we decided to keep heading north in search of warmer weather.

We left the Barrow Creek freecamp at around 9.30am and noticed how narrow the exit gate was as we went through.  It seemed bigger yesterday for some reason.

Narrow Gate from the freecamp

Back on the Stuart Highway, about 5 kms from where we had stayed, was Taylors Creek and a crowded freecamp.  It did have a toilet and it was bituminised but it would have been very noisy as it was right beside the highway.

Scenes along the way

Scenes along the way

At the recommendation of other diners at Gemtree we stopped for fuel at Wycliffe Well.  Diesel was an amazingly cheap $1.279 per litre!  This is an interesting place to visit as it bills itself as the ‘UFO Capital of Australia’.  The buildings and caravan park are all covered in UFOs and similar themes and the roadhouse has a huge range of UFO souvenirs etc.  Fuel was all that we purchased.  We never got to understand the UFO link.

Wycliffe Well Caravan Park

Wycliffe Well – UFO Capital

Wycliffe Well – UFO Capital

Next stop on the highway was the Wauchope Hotel and Caravan Park (also sign written as the Devils Marbles Hotel) but it looked deserted.  We assume that business would pick up later in the day – it is Saturday after-all.  We stopped for coffee in the rest area outside the hotel.

Wauchope/Devils Marble Hotel

Rest Area at Wauchope/Devils Marble Hotel

From Wauchope we drove to Devils’ Marbles – one of our ‘bucket list’ places to see!  Pulling off the highway there were signs to the day stopover and the camping area.  We chose the camping area as we had contemplated staying here for the night.  It would have cost $3.30 per person!

Entrance to Devils MArbles

On the road into the Devils Marbles

Bertha at the Devils Marbles

The marbles themselves are spectacular and seem to be miraculously stacked on top of each in weird and wonderful ways.  The photos just don’t do them justice.  Visitors can wander around at will but are requested not to climb on the rocks as this is a sacred place to the original inhabitants of the area.

Plenty of interesting information

The Devils Marbles

The Devils Marbles

The Devils Marbles

The camping area has great facilities including toilets, BBQs, seating, etc.  In the carpark we caught up with a couple who we had crossed paths with a couple of times this week.

We walked for what seemed like hours and took lots of photos, which was a bit of a challenge given the quite strong winds.

The Devils Marbles

The Devils Marbles

All of the carparks became very crowded at lunchtime so we had a quick lunch in Bertha and decided to keep heading north.

Scenes along the way

Bonney Well Rest Area

Most of the road kill are cattle

We continued up the highway to Tennant Creek and as we already had a map of the town we took a scenic route around town.

Welcome to Tennant Creek

Views around Tennant Creek

Not much seemed to be open so we booked into the Tennant Creek Caravan Park at the north end of town.  We had intended driving further today but the time we spent walking and talking at the Devils’ Marbles meant that we arrived in town later than we had anticipated.

This is a very nice caravan park with friendly new owners in a lovely garden setting and great security at night.  It is Saturday after-all.  After showing us to our site and making sure we knew where everything was, the owner asked if there was anything else he could do for us.  We had 2 empty gas bottles which he took away to refill and then delivered them back to our site very promptly.  He should do well here with service like that!

There is very much an international feel about this place.  I had a great chat in the camp kitchen while using the BBQ with a young Finnish couple and an older couple from Tasmania sharing stories about our travels, places visited and still to visit, and so on.  For the first time in a while there were also several other motorhomes other than rentals.

Finally we have power, gas and water, and more importantly mobile phone coverage, TV reception, and internet access!

We look forward to a relaxing evening with all mod-cons before heading off tomorrow.

Categories: 2017 Up The Centre Adventure | Tags: ,

Day 51 – Gemtree to Barrow Creek WWII Staging Area

Posted on Friday, June 9, 2017 by shorty

It was cold but not freezing last night, although a strong South-Easterly wind blew up overnight.  We woke to clear blue skies and warm sunshine but the wind-chill factor made being outside quite uncomfortable.

After packing up Bertha and a quick stop at a very rural dump point we drove back 70 kms down the single lane Plenty Highway.

Track to the Gemtree dump point

Just love single lane highways!

We were surprised by the number of SUVs and caravans heading east so early in the morning but had no trouble moving off the road so we could pass each other safely.  This stage of our journey was quite uneventful except for a small mob of cows that casually sauntered across the highway.  We had plenty of warning so there were no dramas.

Cattle crossing the Plenty Highway

We stopped for thermos coffee at the junction of the Plenty Highway with the Stuart Highway, before turning north up the Stuart Highway.  There was quite a lot of traffic on the highway; caravans, trucks, SUVs, etc, but pretty well zero motorhomes or campervans other than the hire variety.

Coffee stop at corner of Plenty and Stuart Highways

Some roadworks sent up huge clouds of red dust as they were grading the sides of the road.  This makes great sense as it reduces feed for wildlife so close to the road, and assists with drainage should storms arrive.  Having wide edges also makes it a lot easier to see other traffic on the road.

Roadworks means lots of red dust

Nice wide edges to the highway

The speed limit on most of the Stuart Highway is 130 kmh so it did seem a bit strange to be asked to reduce speed to 100 kmh, then to 80 kmh and 60 kmh.

Scenes along the way

Ant hills have started to appear on the roadside in this stretch of our journey.  Occasionally they are dressed up with hats, singlets, and so on.  Hopefully the ant hills are a sign that the weather will warm up soon!  Today the winds are keeping temperatures down a bit.

We’re starting to see bigger ant hills

We took a minor turn off the highway to Aileron where there is a roadhouse and some very impressive sculptures, but we didn’t stop.

Scenes from Aileron

We soon stopped at the Prowse Gap Rest Area (Camps 9 #26) for lunch beside Bertha.  This rest area has drop toilets and allows 24 hour overnight camping.  It also has a mobile phone ‘hot spot’ so Ann called our son Phil to assure him that we were fit and well and would update the blog as soon as we had proper mobile and internet coverage.  Ann was also able to download email on her phone.

Prowse Gap rest area

After lunch we drove another 45 kms to Ti-Tree Roadhouse which we had thought would be our overnight destination.  There were caravans everywhere, including the truck parking area so we decided to keep driving up the highway.  It was still early so we had plenty of time.

We continued up the Stuart Highway to the McDouall Stuart Memorial Reserve rest area (Camps 9 #24) for a stretch in the sun.  This is a quite large area and overnight camping is allowed although there are no facilities other than a Telstra ‘hot spot’ which was getting quite a workout from a car full of young people.

McDouall Memorial Stuart Reserve

There are also two memorial plaques here.  One is for Ian Dahlenburg who founded Ti-Tree Grape Farm and Red Centre Mango Farm in the early 1970s.  We had passed the farm earlier at Ti-Tree and had commented at the size of the vineyards and the fact that they were here in central Australia.  At one time Ti-Tree farm was the second largest horticultural business in the Northern Territory.

Memorial Plaque

The second memorial monument and plaque is for John McDouall Stuart who ascended and named Mount Sturt in April 1860 – the mountain was later renamed Central Mount Stuart in honour of the explorer.  Tennant Creek, where we will arrive in a few days, is located in the McDouall Ranges, also presumably named in honour of the explorer Stuart.

Back on the Stuart Highway we headed for Barrow Creek Roadhouse as another option for our overnight stay.  We drove through what seemed to be endless mulga scrub until we came across some roadworks for line painting.

Scenes along the highway

Not unexpectedly we had to stop at the Stop sign where the road reduced to a single lane until the flag-lady waved us through.  What we didn’t expect, and have never seen before, was a pilot car escorting us along the 3 kilometres with a flashing sign asking us to follow the pilot car as there were wet lines.  Quite amazing!

Roadworks – line painting

Roadworks – line painting

Arriving at Barrow Creek we were a bit disappointed.  The entire place looked run down other than the restored heritage Telegraph Station, and we couldn’t see any caravans or motorhomes anywhere, so we decided to continue on our quest for overnight accommodation.

Barrow Creek Roadhouse & Caravan Park

Barrow Creek Telegraph Station

Is this Coddiwompling?  We are certainly “travelling purposefully toward an as yet unknown destination”.

Camps 9 came to the rescue with a reference to a rest area at the Barrow Creek WWII Staging Area (#22) some 20+ kilometres down the highway from the roadhouse.  Turning off the highway we were completely in the hands of our Garmin GPS as we headed down a dirt track in reasonably good condition into the unknown.  After about 1 km we came across a sign and a number of caravans and a motorhome came into view.

Welcome to Barrow Creek WWII Staging Area freecamp

We soon found a great site on a nice wide concrete slab, with a fire-pit nearby.  Most other vans here are also parked on slabs so after setting up Bertha we went for a walk to understand more about this place.  The sign we had seen explained that this was one of the military staging areas for troops moving north from Alice Springs to Darwin in WWII.  According to the map on the sign, Bertha is currently parked on the site of one of the original mess halls.  There are other slabs that have the remnants of walls and fireplaces, but we do wonder where all the bricks and other materials went after the war.

Parked at freecamp

Back in Bertha, we settled in for a night of freecamping.  Ann cooked up a delicious dinner, only popping outside quickly to take a beautiful photo of the sunset.

Sunset at Barrow Creek WWII Staging Area Freecamp

Yet again, no mobiles, no TV and no internet.  Updating the blog will have to wait another day.

Still thoroughly enjoying The Motorhome Experience!

Categories: 2017 Up The Centre Adventure, Free Camping | Tags:

Day 50 – R&R at Gemtree

Posted on Thursday, June 8, 2017 by shorty

Today was always going to be an R&R day at Gemtree so we didn’t have to hurry getting ready for anything this morning.  It was cold but nowhere near last night at Ross River – we are a bit higher up and a bit further north which should make some difference.

Lookin’ Out Our Backdoor!

Once up and having fiddled around a bit in Bertha, we headed off to the Gemtree Café for their legendary Devonshire Tea, served in the sun under the verandah.  It really hit the spot, that’s for sure.  After that we went into the Gem Room to have a good look at what was on display.  They have a great range of local and imported gems on display and for sale; some made up as jewellery pieces.  They also have settings available for visitors lucky enough to have found something precious on their fossicking tours and would like it made into jewellery on the spot.

By now it was getting close to lunch time so we bought a couple of Aaron’s beef pies from the shop and took them back to Bertha for lunch.  Aaron really is a talented cook!

After lunch we knew that we really needed some exercise so we took off on the Gemtree Nature Walk with a handy guide we picked up at the office.  The nature walk is about 3.5 kms overall, and has well marked trees and other interesting landmarks, all of which are well explained in the guide.

Rear of the Billabong Bar

Scenes on the walk including a disused golf course

There is also a rough map which at least gives you some idea as to where you are in relation to the camp ground.  The Australian bush won’t look quite the same again, now that we have seen different variations of the many species of trees and shrubs, etc.  The guide also gave some interesting details about different mountain ranges visible from different places on the path.  We even found what had at one time been a bush golf course, complete with ball washer!

Extracts from Gemtree Nature Walk guidebook

Our only regret about going on the nature walk was that we hadn’t applied enough insect repellent – the flies were terrible.

Back at Bertha, having well and truly had our exercise for the day, we settled down to some fresh fruit and coffee, and to catch up with a bit of reading.

Sunset at Gemtree

There is no mobile or TV access here, but there is limited free wi-fi internet courtesy of the NT Government.  Unfortunately it is slow and very limited and we have been unable to connect at all.  We spoke to many others who were also unable to connect, despite huddling outside the laundry area where the ‘hot spot’ is.

With so much to see and do it really hasn’t been a problem for us.

Tomorrow the plan is to get back to the Stuart Highway and start heading north, towards the warmth.  Hopefully we’ll have both mobile and internet access where-ever we end up for the night.

Gee this Coddiwompling is fun!

Categories: 2017 Up The Centre Adventure | Tags:

Day 49 – Ross River Resort to Gemtree

Posted on Wednesday, June 7, 2017 by shorty

Last night was the coldest night we have experienced so far on this trip.  At 7.30am Bertha’s thermometer showed -1 degree (yes, negative one degree).  We’re sure that it was colder than that earlier on.  We figure that being in a low lying river flat the cold just settles in.  The power went off at about 8.30 am so the diesel heater was turned on immediately – that’s one investment we definitely don’t regret!

There was another glorious clear blue sky and by 9.00am the thermometer was showing 5 degrees – a little more pleasant but unfortunately we haven’t packed clothes for the snow on this trip.

Morning at Ross River

Morning at Ross River

After packing up we headed back down the Ross Highway through the spectacular scenery of the East MacDonald Ranges.  Our first stop for coffee was at Emily Gap (how could we not given that we have a grand-daughter Emily).  This is a beautiful, peaceful place with a walk along a dry riverbed amongst amazing rock structures.  In places it almost looks as though you are walking through walls made from stone blocks.  A feature of Emily Gap are some aboriginal rock paintings relating to 3 caterpillars.

Scenes along the Ross Highway

Welcome to Emily Gap

Scenes at Emily Gap

Rock Paintings at Emily Gap

Scenes at Emily Gap

From Emily Gap we continued our journey into Alice Springs.  After a quick stop at the showgrounds public dump point we continued on to IGA for more supplies.  We tried calling the Tourist Information Centre to see if there was somewhere we could top up the fresh water tank but couldn’t get through, so we soldiered on!

For lunch we stopped at the Old Telegraph Station carpark.  From there we were back on the Stuart Highway for nearly 80 kms. At one stage we crossed the Tropic of Capricorn.

Crossing the Tropic of Capricorn

Eventually we turned east down the Plenty Highway for another 77 kms to Gemtree Caravan and Tourist Park.  Ann had actually made a booking from Alice Springs while we had mobile reception.  The Plenty Highway actually goes through to another 745 km to Boulia in Queensland, but Gemtree was far enough for us.

Sign on the Plenty Highway

The last 70 kms or so are single lane which keeps the driver on their toes to say the least.  You never know what’s coming around the corner or over the hill when you will have to move off the road!  We met several trucks and SUVs and all but the largest truck moved to the side of the road so we could pass comfortably.  The big fellow wasn’t moving for anyone, especially not a motorhome, so we were fortunate to find a wide strip of roadside where we could stop while he passed us.

Look who we met on the single lane Plenty Highway

Road widened at the rail line but narrowed again after

Nearly there!

Gemtree Caravan and Tourist Park is a 250 acre family run tourism business run by Aaron and Kate McMaster, and they do it extremely well!

Welcome to Gemtree

Historic Cottage at Gemtree – they have a grant to restore this cottage

The brochure describes it as “Genuine Outback Hospitality”, and it really is.  Gemtree is a very spacious campground/outback experience.  We were shown to our site by a chap on a quadbike.  We have power, and although the water is artesian, it is drinkable so we hooked up.  There is a handy mulga tree which the grey water hose is watering.  We even have a fire pit if we want to light a fire.

Plenty of space at Gemtree

This place is a mixture of on and off-road caravans and campers, with only one motorhome (Bertha) and we think only one campervan.  There are some very serious off-road rigs here – many are happy to have an un-powered site, have their solar panels out, and have a campfire going most of the day.

There are plenty of things to do here at Gemtree with the main attraction being gem-stones.  They offer long half-day (ie 8.30am to about 2.00pm) guided tag-along fossicking tours – garnet on one day and zircon on another, or you can buy a bag of rocks and wash and sort them in more comfort at the caravan park.  They will sort and classify any treasures that you find as part of the deal.

Kate and Aaron’s sons Mac and Tom are third generation students with Alice Springs School of the Air.  Schoolroom tours can be arranged and you can even leave your own kids there for a couple of hours!  There are 5 students at Gemtree and with Kate being a teacher it doesn’t look as though they miss out on much by being remote.  Technology has changed a lot in 3 generations and schooling is now all internet driven.

Twice a week, on Wednesdays and Saturday, they have a camp-oven dinner by the billabong (which is (currently totally dry).  Fortunately Ann booked dinner for us from Alice Springs which was just as well as there were no vacancies by the time we actually arrived.  ‘Kate’s Campoven Kitchen’ won the 2010 New Tourism Innovation Award for Central Australia, and it is amazing what they do and how they do it.  They have won a variety of other tourism awards since.

Kate’s Campoven Kitchen

A tour of the Campoven kitchen is included as part of the ‘5 million star dinner’.  They can actually feed up to 300 people from this kitchen!  Dinner under the stars with kerosene lanterns on the tables was absolutely delicious, and we made some new friends.  For dinner we had roast beef, roast potatoes (cooked in repurposed beer kegs), roast pumpkin, roast onion, broccoli and cheese sauce, cauliflower and cheese sauce and a secret recipe gravy.  The serving sizes were generous!  There was also the Billabong Bar, which definitely wasn’t dry, with a variety of beverages available to have with your meal.

Billabong Bar

After dinner Kate showed and helped narrate a 1963 movie which featured her great-grandfather and her uncle Charlie Chalmers as an 8 year old.  It was actually a promotional film for the first boarding school in Alice Springs and Charlie was the first student.  Until this school (St Phillips) existed remote students had to do their senior schooling in Adelaide, at great expense and inconvenience.  Kate was able to add extra details to the film and explain more about the 5 generations of the Chalmers family and their association with the area (Kate was Kate Chalmers before she married Aaron).  A pleasant end to a great evening.  Although it was only about 8.30pm it was starting to become cold so everyone hurried back to their accommodation to warm up and settle in for the evening.

On Friday nights Gemtree offer Baked Potato dinners with paddy melon bowls, and on Sunday they offer Karaoke and fish and chips.  If you can’t be bothered with that they also offer take-away meals delivered to your site.  Not bad service for such a remote place!

No TV, mobile or internet here, but we’re still living the dream!

Categories: 2017 Up The Centre Adventure | Tags: ,

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