Hello from Derby

Well, I have finally found some time and service to add to my Blog... We are now in Derby W.A. and stopped for a couple of days while we catch up on some washing and car maintenance, etc. Have written everything for the past 10 or so days, so I hope you don’t get bored with what I write....

Tuesday 3rd June
Wow, what a night we had last night.... Dingos howling all night!!!! When we arrived at Beresford Siding we saw a couple of them while we were setting up camp. Then as the night wore on, we could hear them calling each other out in the bush; their howls seemed to be getting closer and closer. We thought at one stage they were even in our camp... In the morning while having bacon & eggs, there were three just off the edge of our camp, having a squabble. We thought it was a Mum with 2 young pups; they were very close just the same.
Beresford Siding was one of the main siding for the Old Ghan Railway in the 1800s. The ruins of the station building is still there as well as the water tank for filling the steam engines, also a huge water desalination tank for mixing water softener chemicals to the Bore water to eliminate some of the minerals, because the water was putting a crust inside the boilers, therefore making them less efficient to run.

Wednesday 6th June
After leaving this camp site we headed toward William Creek. On the way we called into yet another lot of ruins. This time is was the Strangways Station; this little community was set up with everything and the promise of great fortunes being made. They bought in 3000 ewes 300 rams and 40 head of cattle to set, and because the seasons were so good they imported another 3500 sheep. Then guess what happened? They lost over 2/3 of their stock due to the ‘fickle’ weather (drought)!!! The stone work and the quality of the buildings, was really something to see. There was a 30,000gal stone and buttress tank construction, and is as good today, as it was when they built it.
The stockyards were all built out of stones stacked on top of each other so neatly; they are still standing in position today. Daryl and Ray walked out to find the cemetery where there was a 32yrs old female and a 41yr old male, buried in 1901 and 1903. There is lots of broken relics just laying about, specially broken glass bottles. Rum and Whisky bottles; it was amazing how think the class was and all the different colours of it. There was more of the ‘mound springs’ around this area as well.
William Creek Pub was where we had lunch, Ray tried a “Lamb Rivermint Pie” also on the menu was Roo Kurry Pie and Emu Kurry Pie. Daryl and I decided to just have a plain meat pie and Helen had a bowl of wedges with sour cream and chilli sauce. It was a great pub though with a great publican who was also the man that changes the tyres and ran the garage beside the pub.
We made camp at Peake Hill Ruins; this lot were 19 ks off the main road (Oodnadatta Track). This used to be an old telegraph station. Ray has had some 4WD driving today; getting in and out of there. Another good camp was set up with Daryl’s help and guidance. Was a bit windy at first which made the fire smoky for a start, bit in the evening was pretty good. We had another lot of campers come in as well, who came over to share our fire and a bit of a chat.

Thursday 5th June
The next morning we travelled along the Oodnadatta Track to the “Pink Roadhouse”. And was it PINK!!! Everything was pink. We called in to have a look at the “Algebuckina” Bridge see photo, good camping spot here. On the way after lunch and we saw the “Painted Desert”; this is just an amazing piece of landscape. Photos do not do it justice... We hit the Stuart Highway about 5pm, fuelled up at Marla and pulled off the road to camp the night approximately 120ks from NT boarder.

Friday 6th June
Packed up camp and were on the road by 9.25am – overcast and cold. Stopped at Kulgera and got fuel, coffee, water; had some lunch at Stuart Wells. Camped out at Rainbow Valley, would have been an amazing sight had it not been for the clouds in the sky. Oh well, can’t win them all. It was supposed to rain over night, but held off until we were packing up when it started to sprinkle, by the time we got to Alice Springs it was really raining...

Saturday 7th June
Did some shopping in Alice and stocked up on supplies etc. Had some lunch, fuelled up AGAIN, and headed out of town towards the Tanami Track. Stayed 2 nights at the Tilmouth Wells Station/Roadhouse. We weren’t sure if we’d be able to get onto the Tanami Track as they had had a bit of rain. At one stage the road was going to be closed. Had dinner in the restaurant, quite a few people in there for dinner, lots of miners staying there, drilling for Uranium...

Sunday 8th June
Lazy day at the Roadhouse did some washing, watched the local folk come and go into the ‘takeaway’ shop – played computer games – lunch in the BBQ area, very pleasant. Dinner again at the restaurant, the word is that the Track was ‘OK’ but a bit slippery in some places at the other end. So we will be leaving in the morning...hhmmm.

Monday 9th June
Hit the Tanami about 9am, parts of it was sealed or graded, but wet in some places, not as bad as expected. Had lunch on the road and then arvo tea at Rabbit Flats – Ray has always wanted to come to this place, now he’s been there, he’s happy... Made camp about 5ks out of Rabbit Flats on the side of the road. We were all pretty tired and hot by the time we set up camp. Cooked silverside for tea, it was beautiful, not bad for “bush camping”!!!!

Tuesday 10th June
On the road again about 10am after a nice camping – Tanami was very rough especially after we crossed the border (W.A.) had lunch between the border and Billuluna Creek. Called into Wolf Creek, we walked up the side of the crater, well worth the effort of getting up to the top. Starting to heat up now, got into Halls Creek about 3pm. Then headed out to Old Halls Creek to camp. It used to be the town until they relocated it to where it is now. All that is there now are a few ruins and the camping ground of course.

Wednesday 11th June
Travelled the rest of the Tanami Track today, very rough and wet in places. Arrived at Fitzroy Crossing, had some lunch at the Shell servo, visited the info centre. Then we went on a boat ride up through the “Geike Gorge”. It was lovely and very pleasant in the hot afternoon. We went back to Fitzroy Crossing to stay at the caravan park; it was getting dark by now. We paid for powered site but it was far to packed out and couldn’t find a spot at all. Decided to camp on the grass on unpowered, then get refund in the morning, which we did with a bit of an argument.

Thursday 12th June
Ray has had another good day doing some rough 4W driving. We took the track from Fitzroy Crossing to the Gibb River Road, had a couple of gorges to have a look at. Tunnel Creek Gorge and Windjana Gorge. Ray walked right into the Tunnel Creek one and said it was magnificent. The Windjana Gorge was spectacular though. We were able to walk into it as well, but only had to walk along the side of the river. Saw plenty of fresh water grocs on the edge of the water, but the sides of the gorge was a wonderful display of colours. We then travelled into Derby, where we have booked into a lovely caravan park for a couple of nights. Moving onto Broome on Saturday 14th so will add more in a day or two. Going out to Cape Leveque Monday for the week...
Bye for now hope all is well...