We left early on Tuesday morning and began our drive across to the border. First stop was Camooweal 200km's away where we refuelled for the day($1.65).We would not be able to refill till Barkley Homestead in the N.T on Wednesday, where we only wanted to top up as fuel was $1.78. Camooweal is a small town with a Roadhouse come c'van park and not much else, run by Aboriginals. Soon after we crossed the border into the Territory.
The Barkley Hwy is long and straight and flat. The country surrounding it is low grass land and desert. We travelled much better and were able to travel further than expected, about 350km's. We bush camped at Woonarah Bore where there were only 2 others camped , a big change from elsewhere so far. We had a beautiful night and realised how lucky we were to be free camping under the stars in our own country. No wonder people are fighting so hard to keep this right from being removed by the Caravan Parks Assoc. Old timers who have been doing this for decades are angry – fancy removing this privilege from old bushies, drovers, shearers, travellers etc for the sake of money...???? The bore no longer supplies the dam, as we discovered was now common at all the old bore stops, but the windmill here was still functioning. We never use the water at these stops as we feel it is best left to those who may need it – we have plenty on board for drinking, cooking, showering etc.
Wednesday - we continued on our way early to beat the heat , topping up at Barkley Homestead. We reached Tennant Creek at lunchtime so headed out to Lake Mary Ann for a few hours. This was gorgeous – grass to have lunch on under big trees, next to a dammed area with water you could swim in. For others travelling this way later, we discovered a bonus – hot showers. We used these and drove onto the Devil's Marbles, a favourite from our last trip out here. The camp ground here, like many in the Territory Parks, was very well set up and a great bush camp. We spent the last couple of hours wandering through these amazing outcrops and climbing them, some too hard for me but not for Jessica and George, and watching the sunset with a few others.
Thursday morning was spent wandering the Devil's Marbles in another direction before setting out at lunchtime towards Alice Springs. We were heading for another Bore about 100 km's from Alice for the night where we spent the night talking with other travellers in a free rest stop before heading into Alice on Friday morning. Couldn't believe it – we were pulled up 120 km's out of Alice for a random Breathe test !!!!
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