Graham and Chris on tour 2014 – Update #6

Alice Springs 22^nd June.

Getting away around 9:45am to head up the Tanami Rd., I dropped Chris off at Coles for some last minute supplies while I went to the Woollies/Caltex servo and fuelled up. Interestingly I was able to fit 22 litres into a 20litre jerry can that I had previously only been able to fit 20.6 litres into. I must say I got a very cool reception when I told the attendant to tell her boss that the bowser needed calibrating. So much for the 4 cents per litre saving – I figure the bowser was not far short of 10% out. The extra fuel in the jerry can was needed to ensure that we could safely traverse the Tanami now that the Rabbit Flat Roadhouse had closed a few years ago.

Heading up the Tanami, the first fuel stop is Tilmouth Well about 200km north of Alice. 100 Km further up there is Yuendemu. I had read on a few internet forums suggesting that there is usually only a 1 cent difference in the price of fuel between Tilmouth and Yuendemu. Consequently we by-passed Tilmouth and went into Yuendemu (an Aboriginal Community) for fuel. We followed a bloke and his wife who only required about 13litres of fuel as he had filled up at Tilmouth. Speaking to him we found out that now the price difference was about 20 cents per litre. Ouch! We paid $2.45 per litre to fill up. Oh well, “them’s is the breaks” when travelling the outback.

Brown Falcon – Rufus Morph

Brown Falcon on the wing – normal colouring

Now the Tanami Road is a shocker and it hasn’t improved much since we last travelled it in 2008. The corrugations are terrible. No joke, they rub all the printing off my cans of VB in the back of the Cruiser. At about 3:00pm and around 35 K’s on from Yuendemu, we headed into the bush for about 500 metres and made camp. Well hidden from the road by woodland and set up our camp. Got out the Webber Baby Q and roasted a chicken. Sensational; Chris and I do prefer these type of camps. Incredibly tranquil. Wish I was a poet to give justice to the experience in an environment void of any background sound with just the stars and nature as companions. Probably something one needs to experience first hand to fully understand.

Not Bad: Hot roast chicken in the middle of nowhere cooked to perfection on the Webbere Baby Q

The camp was so good and the fabulous weather made us reluctant to get away the following morning, Monday the 23^rd of June. While it was fresh, about 12°C,the air was still and the sun was gentle and warm. We didn’t hit the road until about 10 am.

Once we passed the Granites Gold Mine (we had mobile coverage for a short period due to a Telstra tower at the mine) the road improved somewhat. All the heavy transport from the mine goes south to Alice Springs and so the road is cut up by the numerous road trains. Taking it easy and generally travelling at a speed of 70 to 80 Km/Hr, we completed about 300 km by about 3:00pm so started looking for a camp spot. As luck would have it, in a somewhat barren landscape we found another fabulous place to camp off the road and hidden from view, again completely on our own.

The following morning we got away a little earlier (around 9:15am) with half a mind that we would head into Balgo 35 Kms off the main road and then onto Mulan, another 45kms further on. We had read that Lake Gregory out of Mulan was worth a visit. To get there we needed to get some fuel at Balgo and then at Mulan (pronounced Mullan) we needed to get a permit to camp on the Aboriginal Land around Lake Gregory.

Petrol Station – Balgo Style – ultimate self serve.

The information that we had on hand indicated that you could not get a permit between 12 noon and 2 pm so designed our arrival in Mulan for 2:00pm. Now getting a permit in one of these communities just cannot be rushed. In fact we had to go to extraordinary lengths as just prior to us a Britz hire camper charged through the community with some foreigners on board and did not stop to purchase a permit from the Aborigianl Ranger at the community office. When we arrived to purchase our permit, Bess, one of the traditional owners was going right off because of the disrespect shown by the foreign tourists. She looked at our rig in her outrage and put us in the same category, waving her walking stick at the Cruiser. Her grandson Jamie, the ranger, who issues the permits tried to quieten her down to little effect. Jamie delegated the bloke in the administration office to issue us with a permit but that did take some time. You simply cannot rush the process as it is important it seems to chat for a while before things happen. After issuing the permit, the admin guy, Mark, suggested we go and chat with Bess (she could be still heard outside showing her outrage at the disrespect of the foreign tourists) and subsequently took us outside and introduced us. We thanked her for permission to camp on her land and chatted a little before setting off for Lake Gregory. This process seem to put her in much better spirits and after bludging a rolly off Mark, was quite cheery.

Sunset over Lake Gregory

Lake Gregory is an enormous lake filled with lightly salt water and attracts a huge variety of bird life and is a favourite destination of the more adventurous bird watchers. However the camp ground is not qite what we were expecting. Open space and crudely cleared camp area around 1km from the lakes edge with no vehicle access. Apparently, it turns out, all the good areas around the lake are excluded from tourists.

Yours truly trying to chase down some Brolgas for an award winning photo.

Not award winning but OK

So we decided that we would only stay the one night and head back to the Tanami Road via the Mulan Back Track which joins the Canning Stock Route about 25km short of Bililluna. On the way we called in at Stretch Lake camping area. It was such a delight we decided to camp the night despite arriving well before lunch. We sited our first Rainbow Bee Eaters here – an amazing little bird with exquisite markings and plumage.

Rainbow Bee Eater – Bees are not the only thing on his menu.

The following morning we packed up and headed into Halls Creek for supplies, water and to do the laundry. Lake Stretch will be noted as a good spot to return. The Halls Creek Caravan Park leaves a lot to be desired but it was only one night and suited our purposes. Booked ourselves into Purnululu for three nights on the internet. The turn off to Purnululu (Bungle Bungles) is only 100km up the road from Halls Creek.