Day 127 – 129 Across the Tanami 29th to 31st July

There was a bit to pack away this morning so we were a bit slow out of the blocks. Finally got everything on board by about 10.00 a.m. and said our farewells to our Tru-Blu camper friends the Freemans. We had a few things to complete in town before we could leave, so we attended to these, got a coffee from Maccas, made a few phone calls before we were out of range and at about 11.30 a.m. headed off up the Stuart highway towards Halls Creek some 1240 km distant. The Tanami turnoff is 20 k’s north of Alice Springs and the first 140 km or so is bitumen to Tilmouth Well Roadhouse.
After lunch here and a petrol top, up we pushed on. The road was reasonably rough but we were still able to maintain a speed of about 75 -80 km/h for most of the time. The road actually skirts the edge of the Tanami Desert and is quite picturesque along the way with the landscape alternating between low hills covered with rock or spinifex to flat open plains of red dirt and sand. Everything is just so amazingly red. Everywhere you look. The stuff just gets into everything. Your hands become ingrained with red and it takes days of washing to get rid of the colour.
We pushed on into the afternoon and started wondering where we were going to stop for the night. We hadn’t quite covered the distance that we’d hoped due to our rather tardy departure from Alice. At this stage we were tailing a road train, which it turns out was carrying fuel to one of the mines located further up the track. We had been eating this blokes dust for quite a few km without any hope of getting around him. We came to a wayside stop and pulled over for a few minutes. There was a couple of “greys” also doing the same and I asked them where they were headed. They explained that they were going to try to reach a place called Renehan’s Bore, which was some 80 – 90 k’s distant. By this time it was about 3.45 pm and 80 -90 km represented well over an hour’s travel. Andy wasn’t keen because it meant that we would be setting up very close to dark, which is difficult with the younger children. I talked her into it so we decided to try and make Renehan’s. I needed to get around this truck first as he as only travelling at about 40 km/h. This is where the UHF radio is very handy as I was able to chat to the truck driver and ask him if it was all clear to overtake as I could not see a thing in front of him due to the dust. He gave me the all clear and we were away. We pulled in to Renehan’s, which was a way side stop at close to 5.00 pm with the sun sinking low in the sky.
There were 4 or 5 other people at the spot, which had a water tank but no toilets, so we decided to follow a narrow track off the road behind the stop. Here in the scrub behind the stop was 6 -7 other campers who had set up and were either heading north or south. So here we are at least 400 km from the nearest town, in the middle of nowhere and there are still people camping near us.
Andrea got straight into organizing the dinner and keeping Jassy and Daisy out of the way whilst the older girls and I set up the camper. By sunset we were all set up and ready for dinner. It was a very quiet evening and we were all tucked up in bed by 9.00 pm with only the sounds of the desert to listen to, aside from Ruby and Jasmine’s snoring.
A magnificent desert sunrise greeted us the next morning and we were able to welcome it with bright eyes and bushy tails. As we idled out of our little camp spot in to the rest area to get some water from the tank where the rest of the travelers were camping, we had a chat to a couple with 2 young kids and who were towing an “Ultimate” camper. The usual conversation ensued, you know, “Where you off to? Kununurra then Broome. How long on the road? Couple of months.. Where you from? Bulleen in Victoria. Really we’re from Montmorency”. So once again here we are on the middle of the Tanami Track and camped almost next to us, is a family from the next suburb to us. You are never really far from home when you travel it seems
Our aim for the day was to make it to the Wolfe Creek Meteorite Crater, a distance of 540 km. If we do make it, it will be a very good effort, remembering of course that we pick up an hour and a half when we cross in to W.A. Our next stop however, is Rabbit Flat “Roadhouse” some 150 km northward. It is the most remote roadhouse in Australia and quite an iconic place to see…. If you like roadhouses that is! Everything is served to you from behind mesh wire. As we were travelling up the road sitting on the usual 80 km/h or so, this Landcruiser Ute with AAT/KINGS written on the side, came flying past us. It looked like a mechanic’s truck, which leaves us wondering where he would be going to fix a bus around here? Perhaps a bus has broken down in Halls Creek and this the quickest way there?!?!....We push on to Rabbit Flat. Upon arrival, there are 4 or 5 four wheel drives waiting to be filled up and incredibly an AAT/Kings tour bus that is heading south from Halls Creek and has broken down. It has all its undercarriage doors and its engine bay doors open. Apparently the road ahead was so rough that the bus had destroyed 6 shockers and blown all the airbags!!!!, and they still had 700 km to go!!!!
After a fill up at about $2.50 per litre we headed off once again with the information that the road deteriorates markedly about 70km up the road, past the gold mine, until the W.A. They were right, it did. In some sections it just wasn’t possible for us to travel quicker than about 30 – 40 km/h. One could only wonder what was happening in the Chariot of Love! After the border it was much the same for the next 125 km until we reached the Aboriginal Community Bililuna for another fuel top up before the run of 60 or so km’s up to Wolfe Creek. Here the road smoothed out somewhat and we reached the campsite at 4.50 pm (W.A. time). This equated to 9 hrs travelling time for the day. Phew!!! The Chariot was intact, although on bumpy roads the cutlery drawer tends to rearrange itself and quite often we find the knives where the fork should be etc. Hardly a problem though.
Of course because we had gained an hour and a half time wise, upon entering W. A., this meant that the sun now set at 5.00 pm instead of 6.30 pm as it had in the N.T. But even worse it meant that instead of rising at roughly 7.00 am it would now be well and truly risen by 6.00 am. In a camper trailer when the sun rises, kids rise!!!! Danger!!!!
Wolfe Creek was a beautiful spot and nowhere near as scary as the movie, with a roughly a dozen camp spots dotted amongst the trees and grass and drop toilets available. After the day’s activities we were well and truly stonkered so once again it was early to bed and early to rise, although I did stay up a little later than the others to have a look at the brilliant star-filled night sky. It is so quiet at night in the desert, that it can be un-nerving, but then again so is Jasmine’s and Ruby’s snoring.!!!
Sunrise was at 5.50 am and we were all up by about 6.10. There was no great hurry to move today as Halls Creek was only a short 145 km drive. Nevertheless we were ready to go by 8.55, so we drove out and up to the crater to check it out. The crater was formed by a meteorite strike some 300,000 years ago and was originally about 120 metres deep. Over time it has gradually filled in with sediment and is now only about 20 metres below the level of the surrounding plain. It is a quite a striking (pardon the pun) setting especially as much of the surrounding country side is so flat. Of course Jassy and Daisy were fascinated by the idea of “the big rock” falling from the sky and were intent on replicating the event by chucking as many rocks as they possibly could into the crater!!
After leaving Wolfe Creek we took it nice and easy into Hall’s Creek along a road that became increasingly better maintained. There was much maintenance work being done on this section in preparation for the wet season. This part of the road was also different because we had entered the southern end of The Kimberley region and the landscape had changed markedly with rugged hills and rock outcrops beginning to appear. We left the dirt for bitumen once again at 11.50 a.m. as we turned on to the Northern Highway for the 20 km run into Hall’s Creek.
One thing that really struck us about the Tanami Trek was the amount of burnt out, abandoned or wrecked cars that there were within eyesight of the road. Olivia and Ruby counted over 60 of them along its length and I reckon we had passed at least 15 – 20 before they started their tally!!!