Back to the Northern Territory

So we made it through rainy Queensland, luck seemed to be on our side as roads re-opened and we seemed to be the one of first 2WD vehicles to make it through to the Outback Way, the Highway connecting Outback Queensland with the red centre of Northern Territory.

Pilosaur Fossil

The distances have been huge and since we last posted we have covered 5,000kms in Lola!  But there have been some interesting sights along the way.  We began the dinosaur trail at Hughenden, where they discovered the fossil of “Mutt” the Muttaburrasaurus, there was an amazing replica of the skeleton found on a nearby homestead – the original bones are now in America, where most Archaeology research and funding seems to be.  Impressed, we headed onto Richmond & their Kronosaurus Corner.  Millions of years ago Richmond would have been underwater as part of the Great Inland Sea, consequently the dinosaur bones on display here were mainly of ocean dinosaurs   The Kronosaurus is thought to be the T-Rex of the Ocean - think Jurassic Park 3 when the huge shark type dinosaurs attack the little boat!  And they have also discovered full Pilosaur skeletons, which look more like dolphin dinosaurs.  The incredible thing being, that these are generally discovered by farmers in the area, there is no real research, digs or teams looking for the fossils, who knows what else is out there waiting to be discovered!

As we passed over the border, the familiar bush land continued, vast and flat – not much to see, just straight road and expensive petrol – a bit of wildlife though, Eagles above us and snakes on the road!  The first larger place we got to was Tennant Creek, a fairly large, rough looking town, we passed through to get to the Devils Marbles.  These are huge red boulders, some sphere shaped like marbles.  They pop up from nowhere out of the flat bush, they are thought to be magma that millions of years ago was pushed up onto the Earth’s surface, over time the wind and rain has caused the shapes and now the erosion / splitting of some of the rocks.  They were very pretty to see and we could camp there and watch the sunset over the rocks. 

Alice Springs was the next stop off, for reasonably priced fuel, a Coles shop, a visit to the Reptile Centre (fell in love with a Bearded Dragon named Blossom) and to top-up our car rego.  All good jobs done, then it was off to the MacDonnell Ranges.  These are not far from Alice Springs and there are lots of gorges, water holes, viewpoints and walks amongst the beautiful scenery.  It was really lovely on the West and we stayed there overnight in the National Park with a huge gorge behind us.  The East Macs are much smaller and sadly we were foiled by a boggy road, so couldn’t get to many of the sights, instead we ended up rescuing a mother and baby whose car was stuck in the mud – at 40degrees they were very grateful for a lift to air-con and a telephone!

Chris at Kings Canyon

Our next stop was Kings Canyon.  This is a giant red rock canyon in the middle of nowhere; we walked up the steep gorge and were amazed at the sheer size of the canyon.  The walk was lovely as you went amongst big rock domes which eroded into different shapes over the years.  We also saw wild dingoes and monitor lizards whilst there.  After that is was down towards Uluru.  Ayres Rock is a real symbol of Australia and driving to it feels like a real pilgrimage as you can see it from quite far away slowly getting larger as you approach.  It’s the sheer scale of the red rock on the fairly flat bush landscape that is impressive.  A lesser known wonder is the Olgas nearby, it’s a similar formation of rock but looks like giant beehives.  The walk here was beautiful and you could get amongst the big rocks up a steep climb to a wonderful viewpoint.  The whole Red Centre experience was a good one, the distances are definitely worth it as the sights are so impressive.

We are now back in South Australia in opal mining town Coober Peddy – the flies are even worse here than the centre!  Lola is a bit poorly...again...we have fingers crossed for a minor blip and then we need to head south to source some fruit picking work as the piggy bank is getting a little low and there is Tasmania to visit next month!

Lots of love,

Kat & Chris xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx