BARBARA'S KIMBERLEY ADVENTURE - THE TANAMI ROAD

Ant Hills along the Tanami......one of the few bare patches along the road

We arrived at Alice Springs around 9.30 and parked Barbara up while we went and had a big breaky at Macca's.   Stocked up on food for the next leg of the trip and then set off to find a visitor information centre.

Neither of us had been interested in having a stopover here, but it was quite a surprise.  I think we both expected to find a dirty seedy place, which is what you read and hear about the place.  It was lovely and pretty and clean and friendly. 

Fuel was only 1.80 per litre and meat was really cheap here.

We found the visitor info centre along with our Coober Pedy neighbours....the kids were very excited to see me and I had a very interesting conversation with young Morris, which ended up with me having to tell him these were questions he'd need to ask his mum and dad ;-)  The look on his mothers face was priceless :-)

We were given a bit of a runaround trying to find where we would get permits to cross aboriginal land, but by 2.30 we were on our way and in 10 minutes or so we turned onto "The Tanami Road".   Only 709km to the Western Australia border.....just a quick trip down the road :-) 

The first 120km's were sealed road and we thought it was going to be a breeze, but then we hit dirt with a bit of a bump and one hell of a rattle.   Only 900 km's to sealed road again!!!!!

I wasn't quite sure what to expect but it certainly wasn't what we got.  The desert is full of scrub and trees and lots of flowers if you look closely.  There had been quite a bit of rain in places and the road was really smooth in some sections.  We had let a bit of pressure out of the tyres and this made the trip far more comfortable.  We saw lots of cattle and wild  brumbies, and even a couple of camels, but very few birds.

There was a surprising amount of traffic considering we were somewhere in the middle of absolutely nowhere!!!   We had a south easterly breeze on the first day, so all the dust from other vehicles blew away very quickly. 

Our first night was spent at camp #82 Yuelamu Roadside Stop in the "Camps Australia" Book and only around 30km from Yuenduma.   It was a beautiful spot off the road where we watched the sun go down and the moon come up, and woke up to the long awaited news that GM was finally a Opa :-)  Can't wait for cuddles!!!!!

We were up and out of there early the next morning and our next stop would be Yuenduma to top up the diesel.   

Yuenduma is an Aboriginal Community and there is a sign when you first get into town asking you to help keep Yuenduma clean........pity the indigenous community didn't have a bit of respect for the land they so fiercely lay claim to.  There were very few people outside, and the ones that were out there kept their eyes down but watched you the whole time.  They didn't respond to hello and the mood  of the place was very dark and heavy.  The people who run the shop however are a different story.  It was like we were long lost relatives, they were that happy to see us, and what a pack of characters.   Almost worth visiting the town just to meet them :-)  It makes you wonder though what a pretty, young, European girl,  pretty, young, Yanky lad and a middle aged, laid-back, crusty looking Aussie  are doing way out in the middle of nowhere!!!

You had to wait for someone to unlock the bowsers and they DO NOT leave them unattended for one moment.  Everything in the town that might be worth something (gas bottles, fuel, electricity meters, aircons) was behind a locked up cage.  It is also the only place you can get fuel between Alice Springs & Halls Creek :-/

We high-tailed it out of there and it wasn't until we were about 20km up the road that I started to feel a bit safer and the piles of rubbish and wrecks were thinned out somewhat.

We stopped for lunch at Renahans Bore and met a couple from Brisbane who had decided to travel for 5 years.....that was 15 years ago, and they were still going strong.  I think I'd like to do that when I retire :-)

We camped on the NT side of the border for the night at the Border Rest Area.  It's so weird just pulling up with no one in sight and fully exposed to all the elements.  We decided not to put up the en-suite tent and had our showers in the great outdoors......it was very refreshing with the cool breeze that was blowing across the desert.  Needless to say we didn't waste much water ;-)

We have just been using the awning on the patrol and lining it up over the kitchen area in Barbara.  It is so quick and easy to set up and pack up camp and still have a little protection from the elements.  We are now expert at lining it up to fit perfectly.  It's very squeezy in there, but it keeps us out of the wind and dew and saves so much more time than setting up the full awning on Barbara.  Only good for short stops though.

Track Trailer have lived up to our expectations, and there is no dust inside other than what comes in while we have her open.  The car on the other hand is going to need one hell of a clean out when we get home.  At the end of each day my arms are bright red with thick dry dust where is blows in from the vents.  Even with them closed!!!!

We stood in the Northern Territory watching the sun set over Western Australia while a full moon rose behind us....it was pretty breathtaking.  The colours as far more vivid here than at home :-)

Sun setting over Western Australia

I expected to hear Dingoes howling at the moon, but not a peep, even GM resisted the urge!!!!

We left the Northern Territory at 8.30am the next morning and arrived 1 minute later in WA at 7am.....that was pretty cool :-)  Took the obligatory pics crossing the border......not the best kept signs here....WA tourism could do with a bit of a shake up I think!!

Western Australia

Northern Territory

Looks like a peachy place to visit ;-)

Only 350km of dirt to go for the time being ;-)

We saw a small cattle truck coming down the road just after we took off, but it was stopped in the middle of the road by the time we got to it.  There was no sign of the farmer, but a very happy looking cattle dog was sitting behind the steering wheel.

We had tail winds all the way but we also had Willy Willies, and the road was completely invisible at times until we started heading north.

WA roads were a bit rougher than NT roads and there is a lot more cattle roaming here.  There were dead roos everywhere with mountains of wedgetail eagles piled upon them.  It looks like you're coming up to a really large moving creature but they fly away when you get near.  We have Roo Shoo's on the car and have driven around 3500km without seeing a single live roo, other than a couple of Wallabies near Naracoorte in SA.

We were getting closer to smooth roads with every passing moment, and then we saw it.....the turn off to Wolfe Creek!!!  We were brave souls that day, and turned right for a bit of an adventure.  The road was really crap and there were 3 gates to get through, that's 6 gates I had to open and close....I must have had my blonde shoes on, for up until the last gate, I managed to close them with me on the wrong side.  Alas for me, GM had witnessed it all with great glee!!!  His words......You ripper Rita, get a load of this chick!!.....something he probably could have kept to himself ;-)  Well Wolfe Creek was packed with people and we climbed to the top of the crater.  Had the wrong camera lens for this unfortunately and couldn't get the whole thing in.  It was blowing a gale and virtually impossible to take a photo while standing up.  It did look pretty amazing though and would have been good to walk down into the middle of the crater.  But I didn't want to risk not coming out alive so I used GM's crippled back as an excuse ;-)

We left Wolfe Creek and made it back to the main road alive, after a cuppa under some lovely shady trees.  Only about 170km to smooth road......was getting just a wee bit excited as the rattles from the road were louder than the music.

We spotted our first Boab Tree at about 60km's before Halls Creek.  I always expect to see a face in them, they have so much character.  They remind me of something from an Enid Blyton novel :-)

We arrived at Halls Creek and it certainly wasn't what we were expecting.  We hadn't heard very positive things about the place.  It was another Aboriginal Community, but it was happy, clean and colourful.  Everyone was quick with a nod or a g'day, but it took about an hour to get a cup of coffee :-)  We fueled up here at 1.85 per litre (the fuel is definitely cheaper in the Aboriginal Communities)  and we took off out of town.  About 10 mins out of town we pulled into a truck stop for lunch............left over curried sausages.........and GM discovered the trailer plug had vibrated out along the Tanami, along with one of the rear tail lights.  The plug was a bit of a mess, and the wires had scraped along the road.  I held the fort and got his lunch ready while he went back to town to get a new plug.  A steel one this time!!!

I found some nice timber fence posts that were slightly scorched from a burn off, so that would do us for our firewood for the night :-)

We sorted out the problems, then headed north on lovely smooth road :-)  We were still a fair way out from Kununurra so we pulled up in a little bare spot where the road works had stored their gear at sometime.  It was very close to Lake Argyle & the Diamond Mine.  It turned out to be quite a good spot and the firewood had the most beautiful scent.  We were sitting minding our own business when we got a visit from 3 brumbies.  There were a heap more across the road and they were quite curious and stayed for quite a while.

We left camp at 8 the next morning and saw our first tropical plants at around 9.15, not long before we arrived in Kununurra.

We have done a lot of km's over the last couple of days on some pretty rough surfaces.  I wasn't sure about how I'd go travelling across the Tanami, but I just loved it and would recommend it for anyone who isn't in a hurry, doesn't have a problem with dirty fingernails and has a good sound vehicle.  I would have no hesitation in doing this one again :-)

Every now and then you will come upon a car just left sitting wide open in the middle of the road with not a soul in site, but we didn't stop.....you just never know ;-)

We have now been on the road for 2 weeks and there have been a couple of close calls, but we still seem to like each other, so all is good ;-)