Sun, 4th June, 2023 Jon’s workplace, Alice Springs to Bonney Well Rest Area, south of Tennant Creek, NT

Bit warmer this morning - 16 degrees. Overcast and forecast for a storm this morning. We filled up the water tanks while Jon whizzed around on the fork lift getting the truck loaded for the job up the Tanami Road tomorrow.

Did a selfie with Jon to post on Facebook.

Said our goodbyes with big hugs. Won’t be long and we will see him in Cairns getting ready to be married.

Drops of rain started as we drove off. Headed north up the Stuart Highway and stopped at the Tropic of Capricorn rest area again for a cuppa. Only one car here this morning.

Rang Malcolm as we had noticed he had the bus up for sale. Still thinking of coming to Cairns when we home which would be lovely. Bit chilly down there, -2 this morning.

I forgot to take the Engineering plaque the other night.

A bit more rain fell then I heard a rumble and then we saw lightning and another long rumble. Luckily we are on bitumen and hopefully the storm is going south not north.

I missed Warburton’s Memorial - will do that next time.

The sky is clearing as we head north. Passed Connor Well - another rest area and part of telegraph line’s wells but no signage here.

Flat scrubby country. Through Native Gap in the Hann Range which really wasn’t a gap at all!

Spotted a Silver City Drilling sign at the turn off to a station - one of the other crews are in there.

Stopped at Ryan Well Historical Reserve for lunch. Checked out the well first. Very interesting and great information board. Smart thinking too having a two bucket system.

Across the road was the site of the homestead for the Nicker family. Great to see the government preserving this items of historical significance.

Had lunch in the camper as the flies are terrible outside. Another band of dark cloud is coming over us.

Continued north. Smoke was spiralling ahead of us. Obviously a burn off along the roadside.

7km further on we turned off into Aileron Station and roadhouse. The big statue on the hill stands out.

We stopped at the roadhouse to check out another statue and cute goannas. Steve said we should have put a bikini top on one of our geckos for me!

Across the road we spotted some camels and donkeys in the paddock.

There is also an art gallery but it is closed. It is in an old train carriage and had information about the train line to Darwin.

In the paddock beside it was another tall statue. A couple of Ringneck Parrots were chewing off the material for their nest?

They didn’t fly off when I went in for a photo.

Not the clearest to take photos. I zoomed in on the man on the hill.

Found the plaque on the other side and another photo of the two statues.

Back out to the highway. Through a cluster off hills called Yundurbungu Hills on the Hema. Through Prowse Gap - again just a lower section between the hills.

Into open country again. The sun is out but there are still lots of clouds about. The wind has picked up too but at present it is on our side so not affecting fuel economy too much.

Passed the Red Centre Farm that grows mangoes and grapes - they sell mango ice cream and have wines to taste but we didn’t stop.

Into Ti Tree which has a roadhouse and there is another farm further over. The roadhouse’s claim to fame is it is the Most Central Pub in Australia. Diesel is $2.60/L.

Continued north. A heap of Army vehicles passed us heading south.

Stopped at the next rest area where there was a memorial plaque to the chap who owned the Ti Tree Farm.

Also one for the mountain hidden behind the trees. Was originally Mt Stuart - now it is Central Mt Stuart! On the Hema its height is 846m.

A bit of information in the shelter shed too.

11kms on to the next memorial. This one for a chap who died in 1871 while surveying the Telegraph line.

More hills appearing. Up and down rises then through a gap to an open landscape of grass and low trees.

Forster Range comes into view. Flat-topped long hills and clusters of smaller rocky hills as we near Barrow Creek.

Across Barrow Creek which was dry then we pulled into the Barrow Creek Pub - “Home of Bullshit and Beer”.

There was live music playing so we went inside for a look. All the walls are signed or covered in money and lots of other things.

On Wikicamps it had that is was famous for the Falconio murder. I found some information mounted on the piano.

There were trophies and sashes from Speedway too on top of the piano and a photo of Formula 500s but not from when Steve was racing.

Nearby is the Barrow Creek Telegraph Station - this is the info about it.

The Pub has been serving drinks for a long time.

Alec Beckett was the live entertainment so we bought some drinks and sat down with a few other patrons to enjoy the music. He was very good and the publican and staff got in on the act too joining in signing or doing some dancing. It was very entertaining. Alec had some CDs for sale so we decided to get one for Terry as he loves his Slim Dusty etc and Alec does a lot of his songs and has written a few too - one he wrote about Slim Dusty and he said he gave it to Slim too.

He finished his session so we thanked him and the publican and headed off around to the Telegraph Station. First though I checked out the grave of the station master and a linesman that were killed in 1874.

It has been restored too which is great. The work done back then was amazing.

The diary gives you an idea of what life was like for the workers.

Inside - tin ceilings. Not sure why the edge has rocks around each room - maybe to catch water that ran down the walls!

Info about the official opening in 1872.

Outside in the courtyard was a water reservoir. Steve is holding the handle that would have pumped the water inside.

A bit of artwork has been added to the kitchen. Steve was interested in how they fixed the problem with the window and having a water pipe there - cut a hole in the window. 

Out the back. New water tank stands out.

We walked over to the wagon shed.

Then up to the Blacksmith’s hut.

Looking back over the Telegraph Station.

There is one pole with an insulator in the bush as we look up at the mountain.

Back onto the highway looking up at the end of the mountain.

Continued northward on the very straight bitumen. Turned off a bit further along to check out the site of a WW2 staging post. There was one information board as we entered.

A few other caravanners were staying for the night and were parked on the concrete slabs left over from the Army’s camp. We did a lap around the area which is bordered by Taylor Creek to the north (which is dry) then headed back to the highway.

A bit further along we crossed Taylor Creek.

Across the overpass with the railway line from Alice to Darwin beneath us.

Wycliffe Well Roadhouse came into view but it is closed now and the access road down to it was blocked. Steve pulled onto the road edge and I went down the slope to take some photos. The owners had put a lot of work into creating the alien attraction and there were lots of statues of famous ‘people’ too, Elvis, The Hulk. There was some NT Heritage Trail info boards too. I looked it up online and found out that it was originally developed by Lew Farkas in 1985, making the most of the area’s claim to be a UFO hotspot. Apparently there have been UFO sightings for decades. He intended to work it for 5 years but that turned into 25 years. There was a 300 seat restaurant (Galaxy Auditorium), a stage for shows, a train he had brought over from the Grampians to take tourists around the lake which was filled with Barramundi. Sad to see it closed down now. Wycliffe Well began as a watering point along the stock route for the Overland Telegraph Line in the 1860s. WW2 saw it become a market garden to service the troops and at the end of the war, two soldiers stayed on and continued selling vegetables and garden products to Alice Springs. 1960 the petrol pump was installed.

Next stop was Wauchope where a heap of travellers were parked by the roadside near the roadhouse.

Passed the turn off into Devil’s Marbles that we explored last year.

Smoke is hanging in the sky from the burn offs. Turned off into Bonney Well Rest Area. The bitumen section by the road was full of travellers. We drove down the dirt track where more people were parked. Found a spot near the railway line - hope it doesn’t come through in the middle of the night! The sun is starting to set through the smoke band.

Shouldn’t be as cold now we are 450km further north. Forecast for Tennant Creek, a bit further up the road, is 16/17 mins and 30/31 max for the next week.

Had our drinks as I cooked dinner. A few truckies tooted as they drove past the rest area. In the quiet we could hear some dingoes/wild dogs howling from down under the rail bridge. Then one answered from further over. Reminds us of a spot on the Canning Stock Route when they seemed to be all around us, calling to each other, but we didn’t see them which was good.

At 9.30pm the train came through giving us all a few toots too.