Wed, 17th Oct, 2018 Stuarts Well Roadhouse, south of Alice Springs to Curtin Springs Roadhouse, east of Ayres Rock, NT (exploring)

Cool night. Lots of birds tweeting at sunrise.

Warmed up quickly as the sun rose. 7am 22 degrees, clear sky.

Packed up and said hi to the emus by the pool.

Chatted with the other couple from Victoria who were heading to Darwin with their four young daughters. I commented that they were heading into the heat and he said he would live in Darwin – he was so over the cold.

We continued heading south along the highway. Over the Hugh River which we had crossed going to Chambers Pillar. Passed the Cannonball Memorial site.

Across the Finke River which had a couple of muddy puddles from the recent storms.

Through some hills where the green grass is popping up beside the road and on the flats which the cattle are enjoying.

Still dry in the Palmer River. Mustn’t be any roos around here as we haven’t seen any roadkill and with the grass by the road I would have thought there would be some.

A few kilometres on those that changed and the dead roos started appearing by the road. The last one had two big wedge-tailed eagles on it.

Into open country. A small sign by the road said ‘cattle on road’ and when we rounded the bend there they were. They aren’t worried about cars, just the grass.

One kilometre down the road we spotted some horses then a lady on horseback and some cattle dogs. Obviously she is moving a herd to another paddock via the road. There was a bore nearby called Birthday Bore. Then a droving camp further along.

We stopped at Kulgera Roadhouse - the first or last pub in NT depending on which was you are travelling. Topped up the fuel tank. When we were here in June diesel was 199.9, now it is 205.9c/l.

Had a cuppa in the park beside the road house. Interesting picnic table and chairs.

18km south we turned west just above the NT/SA border (2km further on) onto the Mulga Park Road. Good gravel road.

Dead car by the road, looks like it hit a cow.

25km further west to Victory Downs Station which is the start of Len Beadell’s Gunbarrel Highway.

Three wedgies on a dead roo and there were five more circling above. Have to be careful around them as they are very reluctant to leave their dinner.

Stopped at the entrance to the Victory Downs Station homestead for a selfie to mark the start of this next adventure. We are at 590m above sea level.

Map of the full length of the Gunbarrel Highway.

Len started the Victory Downs to Mulga Park section of the Gunbarrel Highway with his Gunbarrel Highway Construction Party in late November, 1955 when it was surveyed. From Len’s diary – “Nov 29, 1955 – get 5.9 miles today. Hot as fury, dry sticks, hard stakes, etc. Grader flat tyre. Dozer boiling. Dec 10, 1955 – back over sand hills all day. Hot as fury. Engine goes red hot a few times, plugs no good. Two condensers, etc. Two flat tyres. Mend at night 43M.”  I wonder why he chose to start at the beginning of the summer!!

The good gravel road continues – Len would be proud of this smooth road. We are running parallel with the NT/SA border, a couple of kilometres south of us.

Open scrub with rocky rises.

Into red sand country. A few cars have passed us heading east. Lots of cattle and their calves about.

Turned onto a track near Sentinel Hill Bore and drove down to the NT/SA border fence. The fence line track is on both sides going east-west.

Back to the main track then further along we turned down another track which has a road that crosses the border but a big sign says ‘no entry without permit’ as it is all Aboriginal land along the border in SA. Maybe we need these signs on our houses for when ‘people’ transit onto our property without permission!!

Next turnoff though there is a sign about a roadhouse in SA so must be ok to drive down there.

Past a range of hills then the road went down to the border fence line, just north of Eagle Bore in SA. We have been slowly climbing in elevation too as we are now at 616m.

Drove across the grid in SA and we were greeted with another ‘no entry’ sign.

Turned around and went back into NT to have lunch in the shade of a tree.

Steve cleaned up some of the bottles lying around!

Continued on a straight road beside the fence. Looks like a fire in the distance. Land to our right has been burnt recently.

A very bloated dead cow by the road – lucky we had our windows up. Lots of bits of cars scattered by the road side – plenty of mufflers, front and rear bumpers, even a few bonnets.

A few wet patches on the road from the recent rain. Another one under the tree so the cattle are all resting there – no very healthy looking cattle either – all skin and bones.

Long pools of water along the track. The range of hills continues westward in SA with a few hills on our right.

Another long waterhole on the road. Just enough room to run alongside it.

Still climbing in elevation (662m) as we turn north towards Mulga Park Station.

Stopped at the intersection where the Giles-Mulga Park Road goes down into SA. There are no ‘transit permits’ given for tourists to travel the Giles-Mulga Park Road from Wingellina to Stuart Highway so we can’t continue on with the Gunbarrel Highway from this point. It also means we can’t access the Surveyor General’s Corner from this way either. 

This map shows the SA section of the Gunbarrel Highway – Mulga Park to Mt Davies section was built in February 1956.

Continued heading north past Mulga Park Station (639m elevation) towards Curtin Springs.

Got our first glimpse of Mt Conner from 40km away.

A goanna by the road stopped for a photo.

Up and down some sand dunes then we met an emu on the road. He quickly ran across the road then slowly climbed up over the dune.

We have been dropping elevation, 560m now as we run alongside a long escarpment that goes for a long way.

Leaving the escarpment we reached the Lasseter Highway which heads west to Ayres Rock (it was called then when I climbed it so I am sticking with that name) and The Olgas. We turned east, past the ‘tyre tree’ and drove back to the Mt Connor Lookout.

We remember arriving here 34 years ago when we came to Alice Springs for Steve to race in the Australian Titles in his Formula 500. We pulled up here and looked across at the rock thinking that the photos of Ayres Rock were false. Then we saw a big sign saying this isn’t Ayres Rock, its Mt Connor!!

Mt Connor is 21km away and you can see the lower escarpment that we were running alongside before.

Had a cuppa chatting with people from one of the tour groups that stopped to take photos from the top of the sand dune across the road. One girl climbed the Ayres Rock and said it was the scariest thing she has ever done.

We headed west then stopped at Curtin Springs Station and Roadhouse. Topped up the fuel tank - $2.25 per litre. Great sign.

They have accommodation and a free camping area and amenities too which is great.

Inside the roadhouse there was a great mural and a notice about their SSSS bag – interesting contents.

We decided to stop here for the night so chose a spot and set up camp.

Our route for today.

I worked on my blog for a while then we had drinks watching the other travellers come in and set up their camps. Still a lot of people travelling in this area.

I went for a wander and checked out the aviary of cockatiels and budgies.

Huge cactus beside the restaurant area and lovely green grass on the other side where the accommodation rooms are.

I went into the ‘Bough Shed’.

Lots information to read. Interesting facts about the Murray Grey.They have diversified too and are making paper from spinifex mixed with ‘other things’ – plenty of that available! (that what the SSSS bags are about.)

Some history on the station and the start of tourism at Ayres Rock. Len Tuit started a bus service for tourists to visit Ayres Rock. There is a rest area named after him on the Stuart Highway too. The original entrance way to Ayres Rock was built in 1962-63 by Peter Severin and 63-64 he helped put the chain to climb up the first part of Ayres Rock.

There was a pile of photos that have been laminated to use as place maps on the table. They were of the Severin family who have been working the station for many years and lots of pictures of them working the station, beautiful sunsets, drought and rains.

Only a small place, just over one million acres!!

Nice sunset. The park is filling up now and one chap has his noisy generator going. Now we remember why we like camping by ourselves in the bush. Lots of backpackers have arrived.

Had dinner then played cards. The noisy generator was turned off and you could hear people clapping!!

All quiet by 10pm. Fresh evening breeze as we had our shower in the amenities block before bed.