Northern Territory

Monday 14th July – Once again Tracy gets up early to bike, after we enjoy a spectacular sunrise enhanced by the appearance of high cloud which lingers all day and keeps the drive pleasantly cool (the last few days have been warm for driving but fine with windows open). Tim meanwhile takes a run around Camooweal (whose most exciting history was in WWII when it was a staging post on the supply road and a US army camp) before driving the camper about 40km, picking up Tracy and continuing past many more km of grass.

Eventually we reach the Stuart Highway (which runs north-south through the middle of the country linking Adelaide to Darwin) and take a left to begin a long haul south. Our next stop at Tennant Creek is close and having forgotten which of two campgrounds we were recommended by Dave, our hashing contact in town we book into the closest which is a bit small and dusty. We find out the location for the night's run and walk down there through the centre of a town that is in the middle of nowhere but has a good range of services and a very large and mainly poor aboriginal population.

The run is pretty good and brings us to a viewpoint that would be more scenic if not situated beside the town dump, before we return into town for good snack food and some excellent home brewed beer. It is only a newish and small hash group but we had a lot of fun... and they kindly drove us home.

Tuesday 15th July – We move around the corner to the much more highly recommended Outback Campground and find it very nicely set up with shady sites and plenty of drive-throughs for big rigs like us. Then we settle down for a day of cleaning, laundry and doing all the chores we have put off for too long. The weather has returned to warm and clear again which helps get everything dry and by the time the sun sets we are in much more organised shape.

Dave, whose wife left today for a work trip up north, comes around for a drink at the campground bar (which makes the barmaid nervous as she recognises him as a policeman and suddenly becomes a stickler for the Territory's rather complex drinking laws) and dinner. He is a useful source of information about life in the Territory if not Tennant Creek where he only moved recently.

Wednesday 16th July – This is our day to explore the area and we get on our bikes early to ride out west of our campground to the town lookout then on to the mining museum. Here we opt not to go underground again but they do have an excellent little museum about frontier life in the 1930s during the gold rush here and a fine display of natural crystals collected by a man with local connections from near and far. They also have a working battery which is similar but more modern than the one we saw in Charters Towers.

After stopping at the camper for lunch we ride north to the old Telegraph Station, 7 miles (11km) away (that was the legal distance any town development had to be undertaken from the Station in the 1870s). A series of 25 Stations were built in 1871-2 when the overland Telegraph line was built from Adelaide to Darwin to connect with an existing undersea cable all the way to London. Here operators listened to faint degraded morse code from the previous station and relayed the message so it could be sustained up the line. Each station housed operators and line crew for maintenance and were located near water sources. They therefore became a magnet for overland travelers (one visitor in 1897 passed through en route to pedaling his bike from Adelaide to Darwin!) and sometimes for local Aboriginal people in times of drought. Much of the line followed the overland route forged by John Stuart, the first European to travel across the continent from south to north, a decade before the Telegraph... and then the road we use today (the Stuart Highway) followed the Telegraph line.

From here we ride 6km west on a red dirt road reminiscent of Africa to Kunjarra, a weathered granite outcrop leaving piles of rocks, sacred to local women. Returning south on the main road we detour to see the local lake and recreation area where a seasonal stream has been dammed. Though the water level is low it is a pleasant spot for a rest before we follow a purpose build bike path back through a low ridge of hills to Tennant Creek and the campground.

This evening we sample the limited nightlife the town has to offer, first meeting Dave at the Police Club for a couple of beers before we grab a bottle of wine (from a girl behind heavy bars in the bottle store!) and a couple of pizza's (not at all bad either) in a new pizza shop opposite.

Thursday 17th July – Time to get on the road again heading for Karlu Karlu or the Devil's Marbles, 100km to the south. The short ride allows us time to visit the local Aboriginal cultural centre and get in some internet time in Tennant Creek before returning to the endless highway. At Karlu Karlu another granite outcrop has weathered into a spectacular collection of rock piles and apparently precariously balanced spherical boulders, all in bright rust red colours from the high iron content and spread over a wide area. There is a basic but very popular campground here run by the parks department and we find a good spot before taking a long walk in the late afternoon sun to look at the many intriguing formations. Sunset is beautiful as the rocks glow in the last of the sun and we have an early night in preparation for the obligatory sunrise rockwatching. Tim does find time to run in the fading post-sunset light and we both use our outdoor shower after strategically placing the truck. Fortunately none of the dingos wandering the area want to complete for our water...

Friday 18th July – Another fine day dawns with more great rock colours and Tim takes another stroll for pictures while Tracy preps the truck for the haul to Alice Springs. After this brief scenic interlude the terrain returns to the same old scrub but as we climb slowly to Alice at 600m (2000ft) there are more outcrops to be seen.

We break the journey with a stop at Barrow Creek which has another Telegraph Station and a strangely decorated bar in the Roadhouse before rolling on to Aileron. This is the site of another Roadhouse, but also has a historic cattle station on site as well as an amazing statue of an Aboriginal warrior set high on a hill behind and a gallery of local Aboriginal art. The statueis is the work of a sculptor friend of the Roadhouse owner and Tim opts to take the short climb up the hill it is set on while Tracy checks out the pictures.

The walk is well worth the effort, the statue is even more imposing close up with great views from the hill, there is also a paddock of captive Red Kangaroos en route (we see quite a few Kangaroos early morning and when we occasionally drive after dark but few close up). Meanwhile Tracy has selected a few pictures and we decide on a colourful rendition of an emu dreaming story.

The final stretch in increasingly attractive scenery brings us to Alice Springs where we visit the Tourist Information to find a campground and settle into one on the west edge of town, but within easy walking distance. As sunset approaches Tim takes the chance for a long run on the dry Todd River to the Telegraph Station, the most developed of the three we have seen.

Saturday 19th July – We take the bikes out to look at the city on what begins as a pleasant and warm day, riding down to “The Gap”, a narrow cleft in the Quartzite Ridge of the MacDonnell Ranges cut by the Todd River. Then we ride up the river which is merely a strip of sand most of the year studded with River Red Gums that sink deep roots to find water trapped far below, and again stop to answer a couple of questions at the Tourist Information. From here we plan to ride north, but the wind is whipping up dust all of a sudden, and a short but stiff climb to a lookout on Anzac Hill demonstrated that the wind is not only howling but dust clouds are rising all around the city.

We do have to do some restocking of the food and drink supplies before embarking back into the outback so we occupy the early afternoon with a major shop and refuel. Then Tim gets on his bike later in the day while Tracy avoids the dust, riding through the city and up to the Telegraph Station to get pictures. It is a pleasant city to ride around, weather notwithstanding, with a number of bike paths, but the local thorns do a number on a rather worn front tyre and 6 repairs are needed by days end.

In the evening we decide to walk in and look for an Indian restaurant we've seen advertised, only our map is wrong and after wandering the middle of the city (not exactly hopping even on a Saturday) we opt for a so-so eatery and repair to the local pub afterwards. Having got used to Queensland's draconian no smoking rules it is a surprise to find a smoky bar where the divide between the smoking and non-smoking areas is a line (strictly enforced by the bouncers however); we are also surprised that even here in one of the world's more isolated cities there is a live internet feed from cameras in the bar. Yes, you can dance like an idiot and the whole world can watch... we avoided embarrassing behaviour.

Sunday 20th July – We have decided to skip town quickly and get on our way to see some of the spectacular natural features in southern NT, but plans are stymied when Tim's attempt to manoeuver and back onto the camper hitch reveal a sudden failure in the power steering system. A trail of power steering fluid on the truck's short route suggests a sudden leak but with no obvious loose hoses a call to RACV (the Victorian equivalent of AA/ RAC/ AAA who we signed up with at the start of the trip) is in order. They send out an NT affiliate who confirms that yes we have a problem, no he can't see anything obvious and that we'll be doing nothing till the place wakes up Monday.

No point moping about so we change plans and take a ride out to Simpson's Gap, a narrow cleft in the West MacDonnell ranges. There is a purpose built bike path out to the Gap through the bush running 17km and connecting with another path that leads 7km from our campground. We really enjoy the trip, the weather has turned much colder today but it is cloudless, there are great views of the ranges and interpretive signage informs us about the desert plants we see. The whole area has had 30 years to recover from the destruction wrought by cattle grazing and it is interesting to see where some areas recover fast, other places have barely begun to regrow.

In the evening we begin to plan for an extended stay in the city, even if the local Holden dealer can fit us in quickly it takes a while to get parts in. It could have been much worse though, on many other mornings we've been in isolated areas without cell service and even our camping site has plenty of room to fit in a tow truck. Plus there is plenty to do in Alice compared to almost anywhere else in the outback!

Monday 21st July – Tim is up early and onto RACV for a tow and to arrange a hire car (we opted for a deluxe level of membership so the camper will be covered, and it comes with benefits we are now glad of!). The truck just makes it onto the towtruck, but the Holden dealer can't fit us in till Wednesday so we leave the truck there and pick up the car.

The weather is not that good today, cool, windy and overcast early with some improvement after lunch. We spend the afternoon looking around the town on foot and use the car to visit the town's Indian restaurant in the evening.

Tuesday 22nd July – The weather is a bit clearer today, and we'll use the car to ride out along the West MacDonnell range as far as the sealed road goes, taking in several natural features on the way. The ranges are the remnants of a huge ancient mountain range that once stood here and eroded leaving the hardest layers, often Quartzite. Geological upheavals 350 million years ago have left some of the rock layers in waves while other more ancient layers up to 890 million years old were thrust to the surface. Early in the day we get the good news that the truck's problem was simply a blown hose so it'll be ready shortly, they found time to check it out in case parts had to be procured and fixed it as soon as they could. Good service!

First up on the ride west is Standley Chasm, a 2.5m (8ft) gap between sheer Quartzite walls where water pours through after rains. We take the walk to the chasm up the dry creekbed, then opt for the more challenging option of climbing to another smaller chasm, then up and over a ridge for great views of the surrounding hills. From here we drive to Ellery Big Hole, a large permanent waterhole at another break in the ridge, to Ochre Pits where local Aboriginals dug the red, white and yellow ochre that was important for ceremonial decoration and in trade and finally to Ormiston Gorge.

Here water that falls in Ormiston Pound (a wide flat bowl between rocky ridges) races down through the Quartzite layers leaving an impressive gorge and towering red rock formations (a high iron content explains why everything is red in central Australia, it is all rusty!) Tim jogs around a circuit up the gorge and skirting the Pound while Tracy enjoys a talk on identifying animals from their tracks before we ride home to beat the sunset.

Wednesday 23rd July – With the truck fixed again we can finally leave Alice but not before we spend the day at the excellent Desert Park run by the Parks Service. This has plantings representing three desert environments, aviaries with native desert birds, examples of lizards and lots of information on desert survival strategies. We go to a talk about how Aboriginal people used the sparse resources and a show about birds of prey before hitting the road south late in the day.

Our plan now is simply to cover as much distance as possible towards Uluru and after about 320km (200 miles) of the 440km (275 mile) journey we pull off at a rest stop which we have to ourselves. It is a cold night without our heater (it only worked when we were plugged into the mains electric) but with no other people for a long way around the lack of light pollution and no moon made for spectacular views of the stars, especially the Milky Way.

Thursday 24th July – We get up swiftly in the morning chill and get straight our on the road, stopping only for views of the little known mesa of Mount Connor. We are at Yulara (the resort village housing all the accommodation in the area) by 10am and soon get settled into a pleasant campground before unhitching the bikes and heading out on the 55km journey to Kata Tjuta (The Olgas). The roads are smooth and relatively quiet as we pass Uluru and ride west with increasingly impressive views of the 37 rocky sandstone outcrops that make up Kata Tjuta. We ride around to the west side where there are two walks, one running into a crack between two outcrops that we both do and another around and among several of the smaller outcrops which Tim jogs while Tracy rests up for the long ride home.

The setting sun makes for excellent colours but we have to ride hard to avoid a long stretch in the dark (and cold), and we only have to put on the lights for the final 10km. The road is busy at this time with people returning from the obligatory sunset views of Uluru but the cars move slowly and we get home safely.

Friday 25th July – We are going to spend today at Uluru (probably still better known to the rest of the world as Ayers Rock) and have an easier 25km ride to get around to the south side where the main tourist facilities are located. First up we take a fascinating Ranger guided walk around the south-west of the rock which provides a good background about the history, geology, mythology and ecology of the area around the rock and shows us some of the caves, cave paintings, rock features and the waterhole which feature in this area. Then while Tracy headed for the Park museum Tim embarked on a 14km (9 mile) run around the rock, camera in hand, to have a look at all the features which are explained in Aboriginal myths.

Pictures tend to make the rock look like a smooth, grooved, colourful lump but up close it's a complex mass of cracks, caves and weathering patterns which makes moving around the base a fascinating exercise. It also has an abundance of life at the base (not counting the tourists) because of the water run off that is trapped by buried rock (there is at least 2x as much mass of rock below the surface as above).

We ride back to the campground in mid afternoon in time for Tim to get a shower and return to the classic sunset viewing point for a succession of pictures as the setting sun emphasises the rock's colours from red through orange hues to a dull brown after dark. This time he travels in the truck to avoid riding in the dark!

Saturday 26th July - We are up in time for the ride back into the park for sunrise, from the classic and popular spot on the east side. With some cloud in the sky it is an attractive sunrise and the rock glows briefly until the sun rises far enough to disappear behind the cloud... not that we care as we head straight back to collect the camper and hit the road back east. The early start allows us to really put in some distance today, back to the Stuart Highway and south again, finally exiting the Northern Territory and getting into the final new State we'll visit (Tasmania will have to wait).

Again tonight we stop at a roadside rest area and this time we have some companions, so Tracy joins a retired couple at their camp fire while tim does the cooking. One couple heading north have the most impressive bus we've seen yet looking brand new and complete with garage... or at least a trailer containing a car, tools and spares.