KUNUNURRA TO MATARANKA AND ALICE SPRINGS

MONDAY 14TH JULY  -  We left Kununurra in Western Australia and an hour later we crossed from the WA border back into The Northern Territory.   We travelled through Timber Creek and drove for 413 kilometres until we came to our overnight stop at Mathieson Rest Area.

TUESDAY 15TH JULY  -   We left  our overnight stop and headed to Katherine to stock up on shopping.  On the way we passed by “Skull Creek Major”, “Skull Creek Minor”, “Dingo Creek” and several “Please Arrive Alive” signs (hopefully we definitely will!!!).  We also passed by "Dick's Creek".

DICK'S CREEK IN NORTHERN TERRITORY 2014

DICK'S CREEK IN SOUTH AUSTRALIA 1978

After 210 kilometres we arrived at Territory Manor Caravan Park in Mataranka.  It was an older style park close to town with an on-site restaurant and billabong filled with wild barramundi where you could see them being hand fed twice daily.  There were lots of peacocks roaming freely around the park. Mataranka is close to the Roper River and a very small town with a population of 250.   It is called “The Gateway to The Never Never”.

The area is famous for the film “We of the Never Never”, the novel by Jeannie Gunn, a middle-class woman that came to live in the outback and tells the story of her life living on Elsey Station.  The book was made into a movie in 1982 and an exact replica of Elsey Station was built near the thermal pools for the film.  Some of the original costumes worn by Angela Punch McGregor are hanging inside the homestead.   Many of the characters from the book are buried at Elsey Cemetery.   The movie is shown in the bar of the Mataranka Resort Bar every day at midday.   

REPLICA OF ELSEY HOMESTEAD 

ONE OF THE BEDROOMS INSIDE THE HOMESTEAD

WEDNESDAY 15TH JULY  -   We went to the thermal pools in Elsey National Park.  There were lots of lush palms surrounding the crystal clear waters in the pool which were very busy with people swimming and relaxing in the constant 34 degree waters. 

THURSDAY 16TH JULY  -  We left Mataranka and drove 170 kilometres further south to Daly Waters.  We stayed there on our way up to Darwin and were eagerly looking forward to another fun filled night and the “Beef and Barra” dinner in the pub.   We were met by Ed the blackest Scotsman we’ve ever seen on his famous bicycle with a scruffy long armed monkey wrapped around the handle bars.  He ushered us to our parking spot and gave us the low-down on the place.  We got to the pub at 5pm for the start of the entertainment – two singers and guitarists who were pretty good, followed by a bush poet/singer/comedian/guitar player.   He was terrific and really funny and entertaining with a slightly different repertoire to our first visit.  We had the 6.30 sitting for our meal and help yourself salad bar, plus fresh hot damper and it was delicious.  It was such a fun place.

FRIDAY 17TH JULY   -    We left Daly Waters and drove through Dunmarra, Elliott, Renner Springs, Tennant Creek and Wauchope and came into Wycliffe Well on the very eastern edge of the Tanami Desert. It is green and grassy all year as Wycliffe Well lies on top of a large underground water table.  It is the Capital of UFO’s and one of the world’s top 5 hotspots for strange sightings.  Since WW11 there have been countless sightings of strange lights and shapes in the sky.  The RAF have conducted their own investigations. 

After our time at the UFO Centre, we headed out to the Devils Marbles, located 110 kilometres south of Tennant Creek.  They are amongst the most famous rocks in Australia, up there with Uluru and The Olgas.  They are a collection of huge red rounded granite boulders laying on top of one another -  some seeming to defy gravity.  They varied in size from 50cm up to 6 metres across.  They are called Karlu Karlu by the aboriginal people and their legend says they are thought to be the eggs of the Rainbow Serpent.  They were quite stunning and so colourful with the sun glistening over them.

We free camped on Friday at Attack Creek and Taylor Creek on Saturday on our way to Alice Springs.

Before we arrived in Alice Springs we stopped at the monument to mark the Tropic of Capricorn, the dividing line between the Southern Temperate Zone to the south and the tropics to the north.  It is one of the 5 major circles of latitude.





THIS PHOTO WON'T ROTATE FOR SOME STRANGE REASON!

This week we have driven 1,393 kilometres from Kununurra top end of Western Australia  to Alice Springs in the Northern Territory.

NEXT WEEK:  We will be spending 7 nights in Alice Springs.