Tennant Creek to Barkly Homestead ...

When leaving Tennant Creek, we had a little over three weeks left of our trip. Although we'd thought of going to Katherine, that was another 675km or a few days travel - and then we'd need to back-track almost the same distance to get into Queensland.

Katherine is about 320km South of Darwin and after much discussion we decided we could better explore both on another trip - perhaps without Mr Dog, given all the National Parks.

Decision made, we turned right onto the Barkly Highway - about half an hour after leaving Tennant Creek.

Barkly Highway is a national highway - and the only sealed road between the Northern Territory and Queensland.

41 Mile Bore was about 70km from the turn-off.  We had thought there might be a loo there.  No such luck on that score but we've never seen so many birds in the wild! 

They were amazing and we loved being there with them!

Clouds of finches, diamond doves - so many others!  Such a fluke to see them all - I would have happily camped there, though would have needed a loo (and we've always avoided the porta-loo challenge)!

There were more birds at Frewana - whistling ducks, ibis and pelicans - but further away, best viewed through binoculars. 

Barkly Homestead, a remote roadhouse on the Barkly Highway between Tennant Creek and Camooweal is the only stop for travelers on the 460km stretch between towns.

Barkly Homestead is described as an oasis and it really was. We set up on a shady site, very happy to sit watching the resident lizards.  

"Barkly Homestead is owned and operated by a local rural family who take great pride in providing a beautiful place for all travellers to enjoy. We generate our own power using solar, and diesel generators during peak season and can use up to 500 litres of diesel per day. We also maintain our own bore and treat our own water – it is safe to drink".

Tennant Creek ...

We chose to stay two nights in Tennant Creek, which allowed for a full day of exploring.  And it was nice to spend some time - not just set-up / pack-up.

Battery Hill Gold Mining & Heritage Centre is at the site of the historic Gold Stamp Battery - where Australia's last gold rush began, in the 1930s.

First up was our gold mine tour.  Bandit stayed on the huge verandah of the main building. He wasn't thrilled to be left behind but we were pleased the staff could keep an eye on him, enabling us to do the tour.  

Next stop was the Barkly Regional Arts workshop, where we took turns to visit.  

One lady was working on a canvas depicting a seed gathering activity.  There were ants all around the border and we laughed about all the ant legs she was painting!

After lunch we took turns to do self-guided walks around the Tennant Hill Telegraph Station. 

In the 1870s stocks of flour, salt, sugar etc would arrive once every six months via camel train from Port Augusta (1735km away).  

All other produce was cellared below ground in the cooler temperatures, aided by quite rustic air conditioning - ie wet hessian over a simple air vent!

Kunjarra, The Pebbles, known as the smaller relatives of the Karlu/ Karlu/Devils Marbles, are a sacred site.

We took turns to walk around the site, as the sun set.  

On the way back to camp, we saw a bustard right beside the road.  What a day!

Ti Tree to Tennant Creek ...

About 20km North of Ti Tree was a pleasant rest area.  

There were two memorials.  One commemorated the 1860 discovery of the centre of Australia by explorer John McDouall Stuart.  The other plaque recognised Ian Dahlenburg, who founded Ti Tree Grape Farm in 1975.

I was interested in the information board, which gave detailed information on how mulga trees channeled water to their roots.

From the memorials, we headed another 90km to Barrow Creek Telegraph Station.  It was a great building and I took lots of photos.

It was another 90km from Barrow Creek to the Devil's Marbles Hotel.  

Somewhere between the two, we saw smoke from quite a long way off before coming to the stretch of road where the fire was active.

There had been police cars travelling in the opposite direction but nobody flagged us down.

 

We had great hamburgers for lunch in the beer garden, while admiring a big mulberry tree!

As we were leaving, Nick chatted to the local fire person whose job is to monitor fires in the region. He doesn't have any fire-fighting staff but landholders assist when necessary. 

Visiting the Devil's Marbles / Karlu Karlu was the day's highlight.  Bandit was allowed on leash in the carpark, so we took turns to walk around theGorgeous!

Tennant Creek was another hour up the road and we booked to stay two nights.

I was reading the biography of John Flynn (founder of the Royal Flying Doctor Service) before we leaving home.  We'd seen where he was born in Victoria, so viewed his grave when in Alice Springs.

A granite monolith from the Devils Marbles was placed over the grave in 1953. For over twenty years the traditional owners of the Devil's Marbles, the Warumungu and Kaytej people, fought for the stone's return. Eventually the problem was solved when the Arrernte people, acknowledging Flynn's contribution to life in the outback, agreed to replace the original stone with a similar stone from a local Caterpillar dreaming site. 

The whitish boulder in the collage is the one returned from Flynn's grave in 1999.  The distance between the sites is about 420km - so a long haul in 1953 and 1999.