Australia So Much to See

To the Northern Territory and back to Western Australia– several times.   We continue to travel along the Duncan Road to Old Halls Creek, Halls Creek, view Wolfe Creek Meteorite Crater accessed from the Tanami Road, and take the Tanami Road to Alice Springs 2008.

Continuing south on the Duncan Road, we travelled for a little while in the Northern Territory before crossing back into Western Australia again.  The Bungle Bungle Range was in the distance to the west.  After a while the scenery changed from spinifex and grassland plains to scrublands and undulating gorge country until we reached the junction with the Buntine Highway which heads east into theNorthern Territory while the Duncan Road turns west.  We visited the former Nicholson Station. This station is now a Heytesbury property, and the pastoral side of the station is run from Flora Valley Station. Nicholson Station homestead has a collection of houses and accommodation which had become derelict and was going to be demolished.  They were saved when the dwellings were taken over by Ord River Resources Ltd, as this company has geologists in the area looking for copper and bauxite sites. 

Some of the buildings are being used as headquarters for the Kimberley Cane Toad Busters; a group of volunteers trying to prevent the dreaded cane toads making their way into Western Australia.  Read about their work, the spread of cane toads into Western Australia and the devastation they are causing to wildlife here

We parked at roomy flat area and walked a little way down to a stream with small pools.   The sun was low and the red of the rocky ground intensified.  Sharp rocks alongside a pool were in layers of cream and red.

Another short track leads to Marella Hole, which is quite a large pool. 

We explored the other tracks, at first crossing a stony washed out creek line.  Side tracks lead to lookouts over the gorge.

The main track ended at a creek which was in a substantial cutting, and we were able to walk down the creek, being careful not to slip on the wet rocks.  Water was oozing out of the hillsides into the creek and its rocky pools. 

We walked following the creek line to where the water tumbles down some distance into the Nicholson River way below us.  

Looking way down into the river from the top of the creek’s cascade. 

We walked a little way further along the top of the gorge, looking downstream along the river gorge which runs for forty kilometres.  The Nicholson River joins the Ord River where the latter forms the south eastern boundary of the Purnululu National Park. 

After leaving Marella Gorge we followed the Duncan Highway further west through cattle stations, passing through flat areas of grasslands; treeless except for the creek lines.  This section of grasslands drains south into the desert, in contrast to where we have been where drainage was into the Ord River or Lake Argyle.  The scenery changed again to eroded hills and drainage here was north towards the Ord River.  The hilly terrain towards Old Halls Creek was quite scenic and fairly barren.    

A pretty spot alongside the road 45 kilometres from Old Halls Creek is Palm Springs, where a palm lined small pool is at the base of a steep red hill.  There are a number of other pools, such as Sawpit Gorge and Caroline Pool nearby which we did not visit. 

At Old Halls Creek, once the centre of a thriving gold mining industry, street signs and remnant ruins show the extent of the original town when it had a populations of around 3,000 people. 

A group of mud brick building ruins has been preserved under a roof.  The bricks were made with termite mound mud and spinifex. In 1885, it was the centre of Western Australia’s first gold rush, which was short lived, although fossickers still find gold in this area.   

Although it has long been known to Aboriginal people, who called it Gandimalal, the Wolfe Creek meteorite crater was only discovered by Europeans in 1947 during an aerial survey.

Wolfe Creek Crater is the second largest crater in the world where meteorite fragments have been found.  It lies on the edge of the Great Sandy Desert amidst extensive spinifex plains.  The average rainfall of the area is 400 mm per annum, but with an evaporation rate of 3,000 mm per annum, it really is desert country. 

Dating of the crater rocks and analysis of the meteorite fragments have shown that a meteor of over 50,000 tonne crashed into the Earth around 300,000 years ago - relatively recently, in geological terms.  Fragments of the meteor have been found up to four kilometres away from the crater. 

Tiny brown ringtail dragon lizards abound in the rocks around the rim, with their spotted bodies and ring striped tails.

Heading east along the Tanami, we camped at an old gravel dump where we enjoyed a peaceful night after a colourful sunset. 

A pile of feathers indicated a bustard had been eaten; perhaps by an eagle. 

There was a bit of respite from the corrugations and washouts around the Coyote mine site, where they had maintained the road through their lease .  Here it was a different soil type where scrublands grew instead of spinifex. 

Soon after we entered the Northern Territory, the country became undulating and the road was no longer straight.  The road condition improved in the vicinity of the Tanami Mine until after The Granites mine.  Both mines are run by Newmont Mining Corporation. The area is rich in gold, and Newmont has a number of mining leases in the area.  They obtain adequate water supplies from bore fields fifty kilometres from The Granites mine. 

We called into the quaint Rabbit Flat Roadhouse, but it was locked up with no-one in sight except for a very old grey dog who greeted us.  Diesel price on the pump was by far the dearest we had seen.  We had enough fuel, so continued on.  Update: Rabbit Flat Roadhouse no longer operates as a fuel outlet, closing late in 2010. 

These large termite mounds were alongside a rest area near The Granites mine where we stopped for the night.

Further south, smaller termite mounds in a barren landscape.

The terrain became undulating again, and we passed through Aboriginal lands as well as cattle stations which were in mulga country. 

After another night in the bush near Yuendumu, we reached Tilmouth Well Road House.  After the roadhouse, there was a narrow bitumised strip for the rest of the way to the Stuart Highway to the north of Alice Springs.  This ended our Tanami trip as we settled into a caravan park not far out of town at Alice Springs to tour the red centre.