Tuesday Oct. 9th
Yesterday was the hottest day recorded since 1992 42 degrees C
. Needless it is going to be another scorcher today.
We left the campgroung here at Ayres Rock early as we had to retrace the 244 kms back to the Stuart Hwy for our journey to Alice Springs. We had filled up last night so were good to go and I wanted Eric to be more rested doing this drive as there isn't much to see. We stopped for lunch in Stuart Wells another roadhouse and then on to Alice Springs arriving early afternoon. It is hot (38C)and this place is situated on the Todd River which is as dry as a bone and the main street is Todd Street. We drove around looking for a grocery and then to the campground. The laundry dried in less than 2 hours which was nice as the towels smelled of sunshine.
We also had to deal with cockroaches tonight and they probably came in with the paper products from the grocery store.
Wednesday Oct.10th
It is abit cooler this morning and we have to get the tires checked at Beaurepairs. This was done and the front tires were rotated which was good.
There is alot of rock around here and the entrance into Alice Springs are these two massive pillars of rock which are quite impressive
.
Now we are on our way and stopped in at Ti Tree for a break. There were afew army vehicles in getting gas and while we were sitting there more pulled in behind the group of 16 already there. They came and asked if we needed gas andwe said no but they informed us that there were many more to come as they were moving from Darwin to Adelaide for manouvers.
Once we pulled back out onto the road we passed many more vehicles keepin us occupied as there was abslutly nothing to see. It is very barren and the drive is tedious. I am keeping myself occupied by reading a good book (have read 2 so for and am almost finished the 3rd).
We then stopped at Barrow Creek in front of the old Telegraph Station and a cop pulled in beside us
as he was taking a rest as well. We kept passing each other along the way and waved at each other as we did. We also passed Devil's Marble where clusters of red-coloured granite boulders appear tossed all over the place. This is also a very sacred place to the aboriginals.
We arrived in Tennant Creek for the night and the road kill today were all cows which is not a pleasant thing to see. We drove 528kms today.
Thursday Oct.11th
It is another bright sunny morning but much cooler as it rained quite abit during the night and they need rain desperately. Everything is parched and the rivers and streams are dry.
The eculayptus are beautiful and there are lots of them. The koalas won't starve with all these trees around
.The road trains are usually 53.3 meters long if they have 3 trailers so are much longer with the 4th trailer. We see these by the dozen on a daily basis.
Stopped at the memorial for Sir Charles Todd who was a pioneer with the telegraph.
We then turned off the highway to see what Daly Waters had in store to see. Well we were very surprised with the roadhouse itself as there are bras, t-shirts, thongs (the shoe kind), badges, hats,and anything else one can think of to hang. The back wall are old licence plates.
There were also 10 brand new BMW's parked in the parking lot and the Chinese fellows (2 per car) were test driving the new cars in the outback -- what a job eh!
This place also seves food and has a palce of a DJ or live band to play out the back. Hopefully Eric's pictures will tell you more. Across the road was a helicopter either landing or crashing into a shed. This was worth the trip in off the hwy.
The cows along the side of the road were alive thank goodness but there are so many kms that are not fenced so these animals roam and get lost
. We are seening these domes all over the place and it takes us awile to realize that they are termite mounds.
The temp has gone from 14C to 37C this afternoon. We have finally arrived in Katherine and before we head to the campground we fill up and get afew supplies at the grocery store. once again we are dealing with cockroaches.
Friday Oct. 12th
We are getting a late start thhis morning and our destination today is Darwin the capital of the Northern Territory Outback surrounded by the Beagle Gulf, Fannie Bay, Darwin Harbour & Frances Bay. The Timor Sea lies to the north of Australia here. It is warm,very windy and bright sunny skies.
The terrain has changed to hilly which is a nice change. We took a " scenic route" to Adelaide River and after 10kms we questioned what was so scenic as we have been looking at this terrain for days.
We finally arrived in Darwin and decided to do the laundry while we had lunch. After everything was hung up we headed off into Darwin proper as our campground was several kms outside of the city
.
We drove along the waterfront, saw the cruise ship terminal, the tunnels for oil storage and eventually came across the tourist information bldg. This is a beautiful bldg and is acroos the street from a shopping area where there are no cars. We took a walk around after we finished at the tourist info office. It is hot so now that we have all these phamplets we head back to the campground to ponder what we will do tomorrow. It is very humid even though it is only 34C.
Saturday Oct. 13th
It is going to be a hot sticky day as it is already hot first thing this morning.
Today we are doing the tourist things but first it is off to Beaurepairs to check the tire. While we are there the battery dies but they can't change it because the terminals are corroded and ther is no place open on Sat. to get this fixed. However they showed Eric what to do if this happens again.
I'm thinking that this is greatm as we are so often without telephone service out in the back country. Our first stop is Parop which is a marketplace -- it took us several trips around the blocks to find a place to park this big thing but we were successful in the end
. The fruit & vegetable stands were beautiful and unfortunately we were scaling back on these items as we had to get rid of all fruits and veggies to go into Western Australia. There were ethinic food stands, clothing, art work, jewellry, leather goods, tarot card readings, massages etc. It was so crowded -- got a banana shake and it was so good.This place was definitely worth waiting to see as we like going to these kind of markets wherever we go.
Our next destination was the Darwin Military Museum. I didn't realize that Darwin was bombed by the Japaneses on Feb. 18th 1942 during WW11. There is such a story about the bombings that took place over the next several months destroying all areas between Darwin south to Katherine and west to Broome. It was very interesting.
Our next stop as we were heading into town to find the library was the Casino. We didn't plan this one but we thought that we would check it out. Eric played &1.00 and won the jackpot. After that we played $2.00 more dollars and decide to take our money and leave
. We laughed all the way back to the van.
We then stopped for lunch just outside the tourist info office and had a lovely lunch sitting outdoors watching people walking by as well as the traffic. We then went driving around Darwin and came upon the Casauarian Mall and this place is huge. We could put at least 4 Quinte malls in this place and still have room left over. We walked around as Eric was interested in getting a stick for the computer and we could'nt get one that is unlocked.
We then went to the grocery store to get more water as we are drinking it by the gallons.
Sunday Oct.14th
It is going to be another hot humid day. Today we going to Jabiru just to see if the scenery is any different from what we have been seeing. We saw some wallabys and they are so small compared to the kangaroos.
Stopped at the Aurora Kakadu National Park to get our passes -- while we were there several white parrots were there due tot the sprinklers, drinking and getting wet.They were certainly enjoying themselves
.
We reached Jabiru midmorning, gases up for our return to Katherine. After having driven the 425 kms around the Kakadu National only to return to Pine Creek on the Stuart Hwy. There hasn't been much to see and this trip from Pine Creek to Katherine is a repeat. We have now travelled from the start of the Stuart Hwy at port Augusta to the very north culminating in Darwin. We have to return to Katherine so now we can head west.
Arrived in katherine at the campgrounds which are lovely and since it is so hot we went for a swim. Yhat was refreshing and it didn't take long for the suits to dry.
We have internet tonight so got Port Augusta to Ayres Rock done and posted.
The Top End, the amazing north
Friday, October 12, 2012
Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia
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