16 February 2000
Finally got out of Mt. Isa this morning (Lorraine was pleased, she didn't like the place at all) and crossed the border into NT (and lost another half hour in the process, so that we are now one and a half hours behind NSW time) at about 11:00 a.m., after stopping to top up with fuel at Camooweal. From Camooweal no more fuel was available until we reached Barkly Homestead, a further 272 km to the west. So we topped up there as well and had some lunch before driving the final 212 kms to Tennant creek, which we reached around 3:00 p.m. local time.
The country we came through was quite varied: mostly flat to gently undulating, but cover varied from grass only (basically Mitchell grass and spinifex, I think) to small trees and general scrub, but it was red earth all the way. Cloud cover was from heavy overcast to patches of blue sky. Came through a couple of rainshowers (but nothing much) and water was over the road in a couple of places - but not too deep.
After finding a motel in Tennant Creek we set about having a look at some of the nearby points of interest. On the way in to town we passed a couple of likely spots, and so returned to have a closer look. The first place we went to was the old overland telegraph station, which dates from 1875. The buildings are all original and have been taken over by the NT Parks and Wildlife Service which is in the process of restoring them. The telegraph station was part of a network of such stations along the overland telegraphic route from Adelaide to Darwin. These stations used to receive telegraph messages and pass them along to the next station, and that station to the next station, and so forth, until they reached the undersea cable (I think at Darwin) and thence finally on to England via Java. The system also used to work in reverse for messages from England. This was in the days before wireless and although slow and cumbersome by our modern standards, it was the ants pants in those days.
From there we went to have a look at "The Pebbles" (aboriginal name "Kundjarra") which is a large outcrop of granite rocks. It is apparently a smaller version of the Devil's Marbles, which we hope to go to tomorrow, and is an aboriginal sacred site for the Munga Munga dancing women's dreaming.
On the way back to town we went to the Mary Ann dam recreation lake, which must have seemed like heaven to the locals when it opened not that many years ago as they had always previously had to carefully husband every drop of water.
Tomorrow, in addition to the Devil's Marbles, we also hope to visit several other sites to the south including Bonney Well, Wauchope (not that one - a different one) and Wycliffe Well. All providing the rain holds off.