We set off from Halls Creek later than expected, around 530pm, aiming for Wolf Creek crater. We had to drive very slowly and carefully as there were many cows for the first part of the track. As we were late to leave we were obviously late to arrive, and hence had to spend the night there. I said to Nick that this would be the one time i would like to have other people at the campground. He replied "yeah but then you would spend all night worrying they would kill you!" For someone who hasn't seen the movie he was very blaze.
We arrived at around 8pm, dark of the night, lucky the moon was filling out so we could get a good grasp of our surroundings. At one of the many gates we noticed a fire and a man tending to it. We still had 15km to travel. I wasn't sure if that man was a good sign or a bad one, we are literally in the middle of nowhere, what was he doing out here?
After finding the campsite We ate a quick dinner, and went to sleep, it had been a big day behind the wheel. I was freakin out a bit, like replaying bits of the movie through my mind, i couldn't stop it either, while Nick was snoozing away. later later on i got some rest, and was pleasantly surprised that i woke up through the night cold (first time in months) and needed a blanket!
We awoke and packed up, keen to check out this metoerite crater. We read the signage, and i loved the traditional Aboriginal Story, that two snakes had come from this land, and that the reason the middle of the crater is salty is that one of the snakes came from the sea. One still lies underneath, while the other remains on the top,walked to the top, an easy walk, and decided not to follow the little goat track down to the centre. Was far to hot already and we wanted to smash some Km's before the arvo heat kicked in.
View from the top
We found a lovely shady spot and spent the arvo there, lucky we stopped as they were the last decent, tall Gum trees we saw in the Tanami Desert.
We aimed to drive small amounts in the morning and evening and rest at shady spots during the day. The Tamani is just over 1000km long and is a truck route. With cattle and stations making up a large portion of what goes on out here. Some mining is thrown in the mix too, if we passed a mine site we got some reception for our phone.
There are also a few remote Aboriginal communities up here, Balgo and Yuendemu to name a couple.
After crossing the boarder we camped there for the night. Again happy to notice the "cool" change through the night, maybe the temp was getting down to low 20's overnight! We also were impressed to wake up to an awesome sunrise we could witness from our bed. Bonus too that we had turned our clocks forward and we are now running on SA/NT time!
We spotted a few camels and Nick a dingo. Also pleased to say goodbye to the Kytes in the sky and welcome back the Eagle's.
After another long day driving and an arvo stop nearing Yuendemu( our plan to stop at the abandoned Rabbit Flat roadhouse had not happened, as the road was barricaded off). We decided not to push on for the rest of the day but to set op the good old camp shower and have a rinse off. We were both hot and stinky by now. We were rewarded with the most stunning sunset, it was as if NT was welcoming us.
We saw a few trucks and some tourists, no-where near as many as the Gibb, but enough that someone would pass you by through the day if you did need a hand. The roads in some points were pretty rubbish, particularly from the WA/NT boarder for a 100Km or so. We were both Glad we got the new tyres, as we saw may a shredded tyre and piles of them at roadside stops. Felt good to be able to drive with confidence.
We stopped in at Yuendemu arts, and absolutely loved the art work available. We almost bought a huge wall size art work at around$1300 , but after we realised we didn't have the money we also thought about the space in our home, and it wouldn't really fit anywhere. It was 40% off all art work, wit some very nice work up for grabs, but we refrained and moved on.
After filling up with Diesel at Tillmouth roadhouse for 2.25 per L, 50km further on
We found a nice little shady roadside stop to rest for the arvo and night, no lunch break stop today.
Aiming for Alice Springs Friday morning. That gives us still nearly 2 weeks to get to Kapunda, for dad's 60th.
All in all we spent 4 nights crossing the Tanami desert.
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