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Published: August 9th 2009
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We have travelled 600 kilometres from Katherine to Tennant Creek, a long trip but with quite a few interesting things to see on the way.
Yesterday, our first stop was at Mataranka, in the Elsey National Park. Jeannie Gunn's wrote of her life at Elsey Station in We of the Never Never and in Mataranka's park they have statues of Jeannie and her husband Aenaes and also the Little Black Princess, Bett Bett. Their homestead was recreated for the movie, We of the Never Never and stands near the entrance to the Mataranka Springs. We donned cossies to have a swim in the beautiful clear blue water of the springs - quite an oasis amongst the palm trees growing there. Last time I swam there the water was 34C, too hot for me, but this time it was several degrees cooler and just beautiful. There were quite a few of us enjoying it, including a couple of women I spoke to who are travelling around Australia solo but have teamed up for this leg of their trip.
We drove on to Daly Waters, which mostly consists of the Daly Waters Pub and caravan park, and went inside the pub
Elsey Homestead
Recreated for the movie to have a look. It was an eye opener. Hanging from the ceiling and everywhere else were bras donated by travellers, caps, t shirts, foreign notes and coins, thongs (the sandal variety), and all sorts of weird and wonderful things. We had seen various trees of underwear as we crossed the Nullarbor, all strange. The entertainment each evening is by a comedian who does his sketch with a chicken on his head ... outback 'uma!
We took some photos and decided we'd definitely press on - to Dunmarra Roadhouse where there was something of a caravan park attached. We had electricity and water but no radio, phone or computer service. I filled in the afternoon making cupcakes which we decided we'd try cooking on the barbie - we cut the burnt off and had some for morning tea today - next time we'll turn the BBQ down lower. We watched a DVD and went to sleep to the steady hum of roadtrains tearing down the highway.
We continued south today, mostly in desert country ,but we did turn off to have a look at Newcastle Waters. Once an important town in the days of droving cattle, it is
now a ghost town on the edge of Newcastle Waters Pastoral Company. We had a look at the few buildings in the town - there are a couple of houses where people still live and a tiny school - and at the old building which was a shop and was restored for the bicentennial but is still pretty basic. Qantas (and Ross and Keith Smith) used Newcastle Waters as a stopover to refuel but constant flooding in the Wet made the airfield too rough and they stopped their service there in 1937. The Drovers' Memorial Park is in the town and contains a bronze sculpture dedicated to the Drover.
In fact we have passed quite a few memorial cairns today - one to Sir Charles Todd, responsible for getting the Overland Telegraph from Adelaide to Darwin and another to Flynn of the Inland, the Rev. John Flynn, who began the Australian Inland Mission and the Royal Flying Doctor Service and several bush hospitals. We also passed the tree where John McDoull Stuart, the explorer, carved his name on his journey north here - it seems to be what explorers did those days and vandals do today!
We should
Hanging donations
Bad taste personified! have turned left off the Stuart Highway and headed east down the Barkly Highway but decided we'd go an extra 25klms to Tennant Creek where we are staying the night. It is like most other outback towns, a main street with all the necessary shops - supermarket, newsagent, pharmacy, a clothing store, two or three hotels, but being Sunday most things were closed. There is once more a bush poet who is also a bush tucker man as entertainment here tonight.
Tomorrow we'll go back the 25k's and head east. I think we'll have a couple of days of lonely road until we hit Mt. Isa.
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