DARWIN 2019 Day 04 - Friday 18th October

LAWRENCE GORGE TO BOGGY HOLE

Our camp in Lawrence Gorge was less than a kilometre from Haunted Tree Bore, so named by early drovers because cattle became "spooked" there by strange noises.

We were in the Owen Springs Reserve, formerly Owen Springs Station. The historical information boards and restoration of the old homestead provided an interesting drive through to the sealed Larapinta Drive .

Driving west we were soon aware that we were in Albert Namatjira country.

 

The historical precinct at Hermannsburg was most impressive, telling the story of the old mission.

Amongst the many restored buildings were the church, school, dormitories, mission houses and more.

The church.

A tannery produced leather from cattle and kangaroo hides and made saddles and harness as an early income source for the mission.

A surprise for us was finding a photograph of the wedding of Rex Battarbee who taught Namatjira water colour and promoted his paintings. Rex married Bernice Loone, a missionary colleague and friend of John's parents. We visited Rex and Bernice at their home "Tmara-mara" in Alice Springs a few times while we were living at Amata.

Palm Valley called us next - just over 20 kms of what we knew, from a previous visit (2004?), would be tortuous track back into the range over a mixture of rock and sand. 

Palms

  Cycads

Camp for the night was to be at Boggy Hole in the Finke River Gorge. Warnings were only that 4WD should be used but just over half of the drive was probably the most demanding driving that we have ever experienced - constant twisting in and out of the creek bed, over rocks and through sand. We eventually reached Boggy Hole (and got bogged there for a short while) before taking time to explore its beauty and make camp.

DARWIN 2019 Day 03 - Thursday 17th October

POOTNOURA CREEK TO LAWRENCE GORGE

We awoke to a sunny morning and were soon breakfasted, packed and on the road north again..

More solar cars were out on the road early.

 

Refueling at Marla included a quick tour of the town, revisiting the house where John lived for some of the time that he was working at Indulkana (Iwantja) School. 

Along the stretch of road that he travelled to work each day, we encountered the last two cars of the solar challenge and a couple of cyclists.

Target for the day was to camp somewhere in the Owen Springs Reserve about 70 kms from Alice Springs. We chose a site in the Lawrence Gorge.

DARWIN 2019 Day 02 - Wednesday 16th October

MULOORINA STATION TO POOTNOURA CREEK

We awoke at Muloorina to an almost refreshing breeze, signs of distant lightening and a few barely existent raindrops. Breakfast and our usual photography session were a joy with the rising sun and awakening bird life.

 

 The trip into Marree for fuel was uneventful and pleasant.

Mutonia Sculptures at Callanna.

Travelling north along the Oodnadatta Track to William Creek was familiar but with evidence of rising wind and blown dust on the horizon.

Our first and hopefully only puncture for the trip. (John normally wears a hat when in the sun. The puncture was found while changing drivers hence the lack here. The matter was rectified after this picture was taken.)

A female station owner?

 The formidable "Molly Braeden" of Todmorden, out from Oodnadatta, remains a memory from John's childhood.

Somehow we had never travelled the road from William Creek to Coober Pedy. The eastern half mostly follows a broad creek bed through sandhill country.

We even discovered "John's Bore".

Lake Cadibarrawirracanna was a must for us to visit, just a few kilometres off the road and beautiful - well deserving of the song by Rolf Harris..

Henry and John at Lake Cadibarrawirracanna.

By Coober Pedy we had decided that the day had been long enough and we would use a motel, only to find the town fully booked out.

We gave up and decided to continue on to Cadney Park as a suitable place to camp. We soon realised why Coober Pedy was booked out - the "Solar Challenge" cars were on the road with many of them arrriving at Coober Pedy that night.

Tiredness was forgotten as we spotted and photographed the cars and their teams along the highway. 

Our day ended happily, realising another dream of John's - to camp at a spot by the highway that he has noted over many years but never used - Pootnoura Creek.

DARWIN 2019 Day 01 - Tuesday 15th October

LAURA TO MULOORINA STATION

Leaving Laura at dawn, we travelled to Port Augusta then north on the unsealed road by the rail line along the western side of the Flinders Ranges - somethng that John has wanted to do for some years.

Joining the main road at Hookina we then travelled on to Marree and still further north to Muloorina Station on the south-eastern end of Lake Eyre - another John dream. We gave up on getting right in to the main Lake Eyre after seeing enough to know that it was dry and not particularly attractive at present. Although the road was quite clearly defined, deep sand patches made driving difficult. John actually bogged "Henry" before we gave up - all his own fault for not deflating Henry's tyres before encountering the sand. With deflated tyres and some vigorous digging by Beth we were out in about ten minutes.

Back at Muloorina we camped by a wetland created and maintained by the station owners with artersian water. The location was a joy but spoilt by a hot, unrelenting wind that just wouldn't let us relax. - almost had us wondering if we are not getting too old for bush camping. The bird life was still exciting.

DARWIN 2019 - INTRODUCTION

Our initial plan was for a trip to visit our family in Darwin via the Kimberleys, again travelling tracks so far untravelled by us, including the  Tanami Road and Gibb River Road. We knew that it was late in the season and would be uncomfortably hot but had to change plans because of an early closure of most places in the Kimberleys due to the dryness of the season.

"Plan B" was for a more leisurely trip to Darwin and back visiting many places that we have wanted to visit or re-visit for years.

Sunday 13 October saw our old friend Bwana delivered to a holiday with family and his friends Della and Geordie. Monday was a move to Laura for us for final packing of our old Ford Maverick "Henry 2".

The trip to Laura was a delight of ripening crops and haymaking. Some of the haymaking sadly is because of inadequate rain for a good grain harvest and the need for hay in northern New South Wales and Queensland.