Up with the sun at 7:15 , this free camp was really quiet overnight . Some had driven out earlier , but we weren’t in a rush to leave . Got some great sunrise shots before breakfast .
We cleaned up , pulled the slides in and lifted the stabiliser legs , then drove out - it was the easiest pack up we’ve had . We fiddled around and were on Route 66 at 8:15 . Pulled onto the road in front of a roadtrain - about 700m away from us , and didn’t have to worry about him again - we stayed at or around his speed , and maintained our gap . It wasn’t long before we reached Three Ways , and turned south to Tennant Creek - about 30 klms away . We’d reached our destination and it was only 9:45 , so went up to Battery Hill where the Information Centre is . Brochures were gathered , videos watched , minerals inspected - we were just wasting some time , so we headed back down to the caravan park and checked in at 10:15 am - think we might have been the first ones in for the day !!
We found a spot and set up , prepared some lunch and jumped back in the ute to do a bit of sight seeing . First up , we went to the lookout , the landscape is interesting around here with a lot of small hills covered in clumps of spinifex grass and very few trees . They must have been having some rain here as there is a tinge of green in the spinifex .
We drove around , out to 2 old opencut mines , that you couldn’t get to , back around town and out towards some other small hills and another closed mine . Tennant Creek is the first in the world to have gold discovered in ironstone !!
Next we headed out to Mary Anne Dam - a little oasis for the people of Tennant Creek to relax at / in , on those hot days . You just have to watch the chickens and roosters - they will come and steal the sandwich out of your hand - just ask me , I have first hand KNOWLEDGE !!!!
Next , just 10 klms out of town is the Overland Telegraph Station .
We were again driving in the 130 klm/hr zone , so when in Rome , anyway the ute isn't really that pleasant at 130 , you need a loud hailer to talk to each other , and you need to concentrate a bit more - okay novelty over and done with , we slowed to 115 , it still felt fast!! We got here a bit quicker than you would otherwise .
You can walk around and through the buildings , there is a cellar & a smoking shed , butchers , lineworkers accomodation & and a blacksmith , then there is the telegraph building and the main residence . There is a reason it is this far out of town - there was a rule that the station must be at least 7 miles from town !!!
There was a small gum tree on the way in that had the biggest gum nuts I’ve ever seen - they are the size of apples !!
We headed out a bit further and went west out to The Pebbles - a cousin of Devils Marbles maybe??? The Spinifex Grass had lots of seed heads on it and the sun was catching the colour of it as it bent in the wind .
We chatted to a couple who were going to camp there the night , like a few others that were already there , it turns out she used to teach at Moss Vale High for a short time in1973, but now lives in Cairns , small world !!!
Back to the RV to take care of some cooking & some researching where we are going in the next few weeks . Lyn made another salsa that is really good , it sends you taste buds into orbit !!!
That’s it for today !!
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