North or South?

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12th October 09 - 13th October 09

I went south to head north, if that makes much sense to you?

Tennant Creek is the nearest 'big' town to Three Ways and I needed to re-stock some food supplies so I headed south to Tennant Creek (only 24km away). There is a huge man made dam just out of the town, Mary Ann Dam, that I thought would be a nice place to have a swim. It's hotting up, a real dry heat. But I know it's just going to get hotter the further north I travel.

Tennant Creek is a town you want to get in and out of quickly. Not my kind of place. After stocking up I headed out to the Dam and it was great. The parks around the Dam are green and shady. The water was nice and cool and so refreshing.

On my way back up north I stopped at the Old Tennant Creek Telegraph Station. It was very interesting and alittle eerie to walk around inside the old building by yourself. Each time I went into a room I was half expecting the door to close behind me! I enjoyed walking around the old buildings and imagining what life must have been like for the old pioneers. Boy did they have it hard out here in the middle of nowhere, in this heat. I take my hat off to them.

The road north of Three Ways is nothing special, and really it's not till Daly Waters that there is anything I want to stop for. I stop for the night at Renner Springs Roadhouse, nothing special, just a campsite for the night.

I push on the next day up to Daly Waters and to make a visit to the 'famous' Daly Waters Pub (backpacker central). It's a quirky little pub in the middle of nowhere and ofcourse the first voice you hear is the strong sound of an Irish accent! Honesty, no matter where you are on this earth, there will be a Irish backpacker working behind the bar! All these outback pubs, homesteads, gas stations are staffed by backpackers. They must be the only ones who want the jobs! I think it would be quite fun working in one of these places for alittle while. But thankfully I don't have to start work just yet, so I shall be moving on.

Just alittle further up the road is my next stop of Mataranka and the thermal hot springs of Elsey NP.

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Photos

Mary Ann Dam
Tennant Creek, NT

Mary Ann Dam
Tennant Creek, NT

Old Telegraph Station
Tennant Creek, NT

Old Telegraph Station
Tennant Creek, NT

Sunset Renner Springs
Stuart HWY, NT

Daly Waters Pub
NT