This morning we said our goodbyes to Alice, Kerrie & John, and as
we left the hills surrounding Alice Springs, what do you suppose crossed our
path – yep – yet another Dingo. I
couldn’t believe it. He crossed the road
before us and stopped to look at us before disappearing into the scrub. It was a fine farewell.
Another collection of cars – burnt out / rolled – on the side of the
road, but what took our eye for this leg of the trip were the amazing number of
what we assume were ant hills. We
stopped to take some photos of them and discovered an unusual collection of
holes around the same area. While I have
seen insects and spiders build up the entrances to their nests, I have never
seen anything decorated quite as neatly as these. A few kms further on and obviously some
travellers got very bored with their trip or weren’t looking forward to washing
dirty clothes but we saw dozens and dozens of ant hills decorated in t-shirts
and hoodies, even one with sunglasses and a bra which gave us a laugh.
We finally crossed the Tropic of Capricorn and despite the overcast
conditions we could see clear blue skies ahead. Within a few kms the weather improved to no
end. Clouds cleared and warmth was all
we felt when we exited the car. Unlike
the chilly air we’ve had so far. While
we were a little sad to leave Alice – to be honest the timing couldn’t have
been better as tonight they are expecting -1 and tomorrow night -3
degrees. We’ve had our fill of freezing
cold nights for a while I think so weren’t sorry to be missing that experience.
A little further down the road and we came across a 4wd on the side of
the road, a young couple who were picking up the pieces of their car after
having hit (and unfortunately killed) a Wedge Tailed Eagle. Having hit the odd magpie over the years I
can only imagine the impact a wedgie would have.
We’ve seen lots of interesting perceptions of “holiday mode” while on
the road including cyclists, motorbikes with side cars, and every imaginable
size and shape of caravan, but this leg of the trip turned up one for the books
– a guy sitting under a tree on the side of the road and on the verge was
parked a shopping trolley filled with gear!
I reckon the next pub he came to he definitely earned a beer!
We stopped at Barrow Creek Telegraph Station and continued to be amazed
by the number of cattle races in the middle of nowhere. Unfortunately a number of stock are killed
each year having wandered onto the road given there are often no fences between
the stock and the highway. I would have
thought offloading stock right by the roadside would not have been the best
option, but there they were.
The constantly changing vegetation once again was notable. Just outside Alice as you come through the
ranges, the vegetation is markedly different where obviously the ranges create
different weather patterns. It goes from
green to dry in a matter of a few kms.
We are still though, quite surprised by the amount of green even this
far north. I think both of us expected
more “desert” than we have seen.
The unregulated speed zones which I thought may have created an issue
with us tootling along at a meagre 90kph was also a surprise with most doing
110 – 120 even in 130 zones. Not that
I’m complaining!!!!!
Our original idea for today was to drive to Ti-Tree and make camp there
and then travel to Tennant Creek tomorrow.
On arrival at Ti-Tree it was again overcast and cold, and given it was
barely lunch time we opted to keep driving.
We finally decided to stop at Wycliffe Wells which is yet another of the
advertisements we’ve watched on Imparja over the years. Also known as the Devils Marbles Caravan
Park, it is a unique park, with plenty of shade, and an unusual obsession with
UFO’s. Great I thought, it’s only 4.00pm
and I can spend a bit of time catching up on the blog – alas no phone service!
The park was very quiet despite a reasonable collection of vans in for
the night, that was until a group of Aboriginal people arrived at the Roadhouse
around 8.00pm, obviously intoxicated and yelling and screaming at one another
for about 10 minutes until a car drove off (apparently without all its
occupants) and finally things went quiet again.
This however, was the view outside my door today!
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