Tennant Creek to bush camp (posted from Barrow Creek)

Tennant Creek to Bushcamp = 172km (day 1 = 81km; day 2 = 91km)
Cummulative totals = 5805km and 25,806km

Day 1

We had a good break over the weekend at Tennant Creek - caught up on some badly needed fresh food - since Porterhouse steak was so cheap we had it on all 3 nights and now I feel I have too much meat in my system! Here is a photo of Neil enjoying our Friday night meal - Saturday was beef stirfry and Sunday was steak, egg, potatoes and a roast vege cous cous salad 

As you may remember coming into Tennant Creek on Friday was very windy and hard for us and this wind continued even harder on Saturday and sort of blew itself out by lunchtime Sunday.
Looking ahead on Elders at the winds for Tennant Creek this week they winds start easing by Tuesday  but when you look at Alice Springs and even closer at Ti Tree the winds are like all under 10km per hour so clearly the strong east south easterlies are Tennant Creeks alone!
And this morning (Monday) the wind was light and although the forecast was for 20km per hour winds this morning and becoming less in the afternoon (this is the trend for Tennant Creek - the winds are stronger in the morning compared to the afternoon!) they were far from that and were light for most of the day and almost disappearing except for gusts) in the afternoon, which also meant the temperature was up today.
So we slept in since we thought the winds were going to be strong this morning and weak this afternoon so we didn't get away until after 8.45am! we stopped off and got some bread at the supermarkert (Foodland) and they only had frozen and we had to get Abbotts bread x 2 at a total of $11! OMG  there was no outback brand bread and Neil doesn't like the Buttercup brand so we had to go for the expensive brand ... oh well that means we won't stop at Wauchope (pronounced War-hope) for a shower and over night as that is $14 for 2 and we have just spent that on the bread!
Upon leaving town, about 5km out, we pass a group of Aboriginals doing community service (picking up litter from the side of the road), they were very enthusiastic when they saw us and waved, said hello and asked if we were going to Alice Springs ... we said no Adelaide!  One thing we noticed with Tennant Creek was just how clean it was whenever we went into town and we guessed that before everyone gets up they have the people doing their community service are going through cleaning up the town to remove the litter, bottles and cans from the night before - as there is NO litter at all in the town streets.
So Tennant Creek is not a place to move to, it must be a very hard life style up here for Aussies and Aboriginals.  I have never come across a town like it with nearly every place, especially government agencies, having massive iron bars across doorways and windows, or no windows at all and if they door they have metal security screens on them and I suppose it is the violence that causes all this.

Yesterday I made Neil get the metho - I refuse to ask for this as there is always some smart arse comment to follow and I get really offended ... so Neil came back with some and I asked if he got some comment and he said yes!  The supermarket had none so before he went to the hardware store he went to pay our camping fee and mentioned that he has to get some metho and the camp owner says something along the lines of don't forget the orange juice, Neil laughs it off and says it is for the stove it is a metho burner or Trangia.  So off he goes to the hardware store and has to ask for it (they don't sell it on the shelves) and the guy also has to make a comment along the

lines of that he must be desperate to resort metho ... again Neil laughs it off and says it is for the Trangia stove ... so why is it that everyone has to have some smarmy ignorant comment whenever we buy metho?  If they want to know what we intend to use it for then just say 'what do you want it for?' ... one day I am just going to say 'to drink it' and be done with it!  In saying all this I am very surprised Neil also got the comments I don't feel so singled out now!

So back to todays riding, due to the lighter than expected winds we were able to sit on 15km per hour comfortably.  It is flat and you can see an enscarpment way in the distance in the east, otherwise it is just the road and the low lying scrub on the side of the road.  Now we are going south the sun starts on our left side and is behind us for most of the day so when it comes to lunchtime we are struggling to find a spot in the shade - we  managed to find this one  

Due to our late start we didn't seem to be much traffic on the road, in fact most of the traffic was coming from Alice Springs and heading north.  There were very few trucks (both ways) and I cannot remember the Stuart highway being this quiet 20 odd years ago.  We did see the railway line at about the 75km mark but we don't know how far it is from us at our bush camp - it is on the same side as us but we are camped near a fence line.
So our spot is quite close to the road (about 35m) but we are hoping there is not much night traffic.  It is a good spot in amongst some scrubby trees that provides dappled (theres that word Sharon!) shade
photo of camp site
and in this photo I am standing right next to the tent while a car is going past

Tomorrow is a big day to Taylors creek rest area ... we are hoping to pop in and see the Devils Marbles ... we will see if they allow dogs there!

Day 2
We set the alarm for 6am this morning with the intent to get an early start and also detour to see The Devils Marbles.  And we did set off early and it was about 7km to the  Bonney Well rest area where we picked up water.  There was an Australian couple cycle touring and they had stayed the night there.  I think their names were Aila and Simon.  Aila works in a cycle store and has her own website dedicated to cycle touring in Australia and is working on expanding it - Cycle Traveller is the name of the website.  They are cycling from Adelaide to Darwin then catching a plane to Cairns and will cycle back to Adelaide.  From what I can understand she is mapping out cycle touring routes and they have cycle routes for roads in NSW between the coast and New England highway which we think would be interesting to see as there are not too many roads through there that run north south .... most run east west / coast to inland direction.

So we chatted for at least an hour and that put us behind a bit but not too worry.  The Devils Marbles were further down at the 27km mark.  This is a very popular place and does have camping that is if you want to place your tent in and amongst all the caravans, 5th wheelers, mobile homes and trailer pop tents!  There is no water here but eco toilets are dotted around the place.

here is a selfie!

This place is great if you are a photographer and is particularly beautiful in the evening.

We had a cuppa there and went on to Wycliffe Well for lunch which is a further 25km down the road.  We did pass the Wauchope roadhouse where there is cheap camping but we thought we would try to make the Taylors Creek rest area.  At Wycliffe Well there is a Big 4 campground (no pets though) and a roadhouse that sells food supplies - a loaf of white bread cost $5.  We stopped for lunch in the shade and this is the place where they use to grow veges for the Army that was dotted up and down the Stuart highway during World War 2.  Although now there are no army places or vege patches ... except vineyards and citrus down the road at Ti Tree.  I suppose they have used up all the water!

From here our rest area just got a further 10km than anticipated - it was another 49km I thought and by my calculations it would be about 40km south of Wycliffe Well ... I must have miscounted my kilometers.  But we decided to push on and aim for the rest area which would mean a 103km day.  That was okay as the wind which is gently blowing from the east is okay and if anything it was gently blowing from across and behind the shoulders a bit as the road was veering towards the south west so that made the going easier.

Yesterday I mentioned the railway line was behind where we camped well we saw it again today (still haven't heard a train!) You actually cross over it just south of the Ali Curung turnoff.  If you approach it from the north like us all you can see in the distance is the road sharply rise and as you get closer you see it is a manmade hill with the road going over it and it is completely flat either side of it ... so your first thought is what the (insert bad word) didn't they go around this bump! and as you go over it you realise why there is this manmade hill ... the train line goes under it!  It does give you a very good view of the landscape ahead of you since it is the only bump for miles around!

This is the new trainline that runs from Darwin to Alice Springs and joins with the Alice Springs to Adelaide line.

You know we are particularly surprised that there is hardly any truck traffic.  Just the odd road train either Gilberts (which goes to Adelaide) or cattle trucks.  So we are riding along quite well and know that we are not going to get to this rest area until well after 4pm so we decide that we have enough water that we will bushcamp alongside the road at 15km before the rest area as by the time we will get there it would be crowded and we would have to camp well out in the open and it would be difficult to wash etc. and really I don't like the rest area camping and prefer to camp before one and then pick up water the next morning.  So we are beside the road again but night traffic is basically non existent so being so close to the road is no worries

Dinner tonight is weetbix as we have to eat the yoghurt we are carrying!  Tomorrow Neil thought we might go to the rest area and see if it is nice (it has a tick in the camp 5 book) and if we like it we might have a short day and make it sort of a rest day. Who knows as the next night is also a bushcamp and that would mean by the time we get to Ti Tree camp ground we would have been 5 days without a shower ... mind you the bird baths we have at the end of the day are pretty good as we carry extra water for that and since water is so readily available we sort of have a luxurious bird bath with 2 litres of water each!!!
Internet reception is not available at Wauchope or Wycliffe Well but is available at Barrow Creek (just recently since mid July) and Ti Tree.  Tomorrow we will reach Ti Tree and there is internet reception there and I will update the blog again.