Part 4


On the road to Tennant Creek. Leaving The Alice was like saying goodbye to man. The fences are fewer and fewer. The sheep start to fade away. This is cattle land, and wild camels, and wild horses and donkeys. The roos start to fade out too. Wallabies still here and there, especially rock wallabies. Some picture review will help get the thought going the right direction. The temite mounds are getting larger and more prevalent. The termites eat the modest trees but mostly the bits and pieces of this and than and the grasses!

Did I mention that my notes start getting poorer as the travel gets more interesting. Leslie and I want to see a wild dingo, or more appropiately, a dingo in the wild. Well, our wish came true, but it was a limper. Poor thing was running on three legs. The bus does not stop for pictures, so nothing is likely to of come of a try out our window at 100k.

Tennant Creek services the centre of Barkly pastoral industry. Mr Tennant was a major financial backer of John Stuart's attempts of crossing the continent from south to north. Note this is the only continent in the world where this can be done without going across another country. Its claim to fame was the existance of the Overland Telegraph Station , built in 1872. The gold rush of the 1930's gave Tennant Creek another boost. Tennant Creek is located 505km north of The Alice and 978km south of Darwin.

We visited our first "station" today. Bond Springs Cattle Station. While our tour director and our driver argued weither we would get muffins or scones, we were just read for a bathroom. At least our most senior rider (Fred) was. Poor guy, our tour director managed to leave his luggage at The Alice. He did not get it back until Darwin. Muffins it was, as per the drivers position. A tour of the station was included in the stop. This is a cattle and horse place. The old building have been preserved to help sell tourists a stop. Same with some of the tack and "artifacts". They also offer overnights, but little advertising or signage. We met two station dogs. Both chased a large rock and broughts it back, as if a tennis ball. Went I stopped playing they starting chewing the rocks! Muffins were good, the stop was appreciated, as well as the history discussion of the station. LStations have very few employees. Thousands of head of cattle. Horses have been replaced with 4 wheel scooters, helicoptors and small fixed wing planes. Stations are required to have a landing strip so the flying doctor can land. It also facilitates deliveries and the mail. We then were off to Devils Marbles (Karlwekarlwe, again for those with a map).

Our final stop before our Inn, was the Battery Museum, a mining museum on the site of a mine, owned by a material mining company in the area. This is mining country. We had wine, cheese and veggies while we heard about the area. A few pictures were taken, including me in a posed signboard. Finally, it was off to Bluestone Motor Inn (laundry, pool, hair dryer). Tennant Creek is not a large place. We had an acceptable dinner and breakfast the following morning. Our sleep was interrupted about 1am by the beep of the battery going bad on the smoke alarm. After an hour of trying to sleep through it, I woke up the managers and had them bring a ladder so the thing could be disconnected! While I waited for the managers, I could hear the drunk Aboriginals in the street, yelliing and screaming (pay day?).

Now it is Friday and we are headed to Katherine (5 blocks long). We are invited to swim in the thermal pools (not really thermal, just luke warm water from the subsurface). A few people 'give it a go', we pass. Little time to go to the toi, get lunch and walk of the ride, let alone change, swim and then do the same. The thermals pools are concrete lined! We are now about 320 miles South of Darwin. We stay at the All Seasons Inn. I do not remember it much, so it must of been average. It was again on the edge of town. We keep being "spared" contact with the Abros. After a decent breakfast in the am, we will be off to Kakadu.

Kakadu National Park is a World Heritage area. It contains a huge collection of Rock Art. The Park is managed jointly by it Aboriginal traditional owners and the staff of Parks Australia. Located in NT, it is approximately 200 km east of Darwin. The Park is huge, spaning 200km by 100km.

The weather is warming up. Bottled water, sunscreen, insect repellent, hat and perhaps a bug screen. Lots of things to see. Some require a 4wd. In the wet season, some require a boat. Plan on a couple days to see a material representation of what the Park has to offer. Fuel, food and provisions are available at Jabiru, Gagudju Lodge Cooinda, Aurora Kakadu REsort, Border Store and Wirnwirnmila Mary River Roadhouse. Always fuel when you have a chance!!! But, then we are on the bus, so...

Saturday and we head into Nitmiluk National Park Arnhem Land Plateau and Kakadu National Park. A highlight of todays events includes a cruise w/guide down Katherine Gorge. We have an Aboriginal guide. He lives with his people part of the year and with the rest of those in Australia the rest. Sometimes he hunts in Arnhem Land, othertimes at the local super market (Coles?). We travel down the river part way and then have to get off the boat, walk some distance then reboard another boat. This is the dry season, so the water level is way down. Our guide points out the cliff of movie fame, then we continue along the river hunting for crocks (salties). At the end of the water that is deep enough for the boat, we go ashore and take some pictures (see later reference). We are now in Arnhem Land, a permit is necessary to enter. The land is under the ownership of the Abros (the specific tribe I did not get). Next we all gather for a discussion of the way of life in the Arnhem Lands. Women are the gathers. They pick the roots, leaves and bark. Food, medicine and weaving material result. The men are the hunters. Various spears, arrow heads, blades and throwing sticks are demonstrated. Seem quite real, not touristy. We then go to the Warradjan Cultural Center. Arts and crafts and some movies

Note if you see a picture with a cloth over it in one of these museums, DO NOT pick it up to see the picture. The process is to cover the picture of the fairly recently dead. They can be covered for quite awhile.

Saturday and Sunday night we stay at the Crocodile Holiday Inn (in Gagudju). Yes, it is in the shape of a crocodile! One of the main attractions is trees full of fruit bats! Literally thousands! DO NOT stand under these trees without an umbrella! Luggage handling proves very poor here. We all want to take showers, do some laundry and get to dinner. We skip the laundry. There are two machines on the second floor and there seemed to be an opportunity to use them here. Oh, A$2 for wash, A$3 to dry, often requiring 2 drys. We took enough that the one load we did would get us to Darwin.

Monday it is off toward Litchfield National Park. My notes are a mess now. The Parks start running together. Litchfield is smaller and on the other side of the main highway. We experience the jumping crocodile cruise on the Adelaide River. We got some great pictures of the crocs jumping for a pork chop on a string! You may want to find these. Later we went on a hike in Ubirr to see Rock Art. . This is the second time. Most of this rock art is quite modern, as is the case of most of the viewing that we have been exposed to. We also travel to Wangi Falls, where a swim was offered, but declined by all on the bus. Not really facilities, time or interest. Remember this is the dry season. In the wet season these falls are wonderful, but naturally the roads to access them do not exist. Tonight we stay at teh Novotel Atrium Darwin (Accor). Here we have our farewell dinner, a great bbq, with lots of lamb chops, barramundi, steak, sausage and chicken (never saw a live chicken, wonder where they come from). Did I say I ate 7 lamb chops...soooo good!

It is not a total farewell, as there is breakfast. Everyone asks me about tipping, as it is not a custom in Australia and New Zealand. I give them some clues and tell them about sealed envelops. The broshure, like on cruises, suggests a huge amount. Most people, those that got off earlier, did not tip the drive or the tour director. We did.

While the next morning breakie was included, we were actually were give 4 vouchers. While we were staying at a far better place across the street (Saville Suites) that night, we did manage to return the following day to have breakie with the few remaining friends from the tour. Everone seemed to have a bit of a different program. We were staying a week in Darwin at the Saville.

Time for another stop. More tomorrow. A week in Darwin. Lots to do.