On the move again, at Telegraph Pool we watched 5 boats troll for Barramundi over the weekend with only a few being caught. They appeared to be locals but when they went swimming (adults, kids and dogs), netting, fishing and camping on the river sandbanks we thought they would soon be croc food. A 3m Saltie and a 2m shark inhabited this small pool of water measuring about 400m by 100m and 3m deep.

An Impressive Boab Tree at a rest area on our route.

Arrived at Derby and met up with Uncle Ross again. We had a swim in the caravan park pool then a drive around the wharf at high tide to see the light chocolate coloured waters swirling amongst the piers and mangroves on the shore. A few small boats were heading back to the boat ramp and having a hard, wet time as the chop on the water was quite heavy.

Heading east we stopped at Geike Gorge and had a swim amongst the freshwater crocodiles, or at least I did, Sandy was in and out that quick she hardly got wet. The Ranger told us where there was a beach on the river to swim from and that it was safe. As it was over 44 degrees today we had to cool down but Sandy didn't like the croc tracks leading from this sandy beach into the water hence the quick dip.

We stopped at Mary River Crossing for morning tea, lunch and some washing. With this heat the clothes were washed, dried and back in the van in less than 2 hours. Not a lot of water, mainly small mud holes but plenty of birds to keep us company with numerous cattle wandering thru the camping area.

At Halls Creek I pulled the solar panel off the roof, as it wasn't working again. Still couldn't find anything wrong but it appears to be working again. Later on at Alice I found a faulty Blocking Diode in the solar panel which I have replaced and all is working well now.

On the way to Alice via the Tanami Track we stopped off at the Wolfe Creek Meteorite Crater. There was a lot of ash on the ground from previous bush fires and these dust devils were impressive, though a bit scary. I'm not sure how strong they are but we gave way to them when we saw them.

Willy Willy about 10m wide

Wolfe Creek Crater is the 2nd largest meteorite crater in the world and is about 900m across and 50m deep.

Scroll right for more crater.

Halls Creek to Alice on the Tanami Track was 1056Kms with many corrugated sections traversed in 1st gear. The whole route was littered with hundreds of tyres and rims but thankfully not ours. Were not likely to do this route again, as the following is an excerpt from Sandy's diary for the 2nd of 4 days travelling.

"WHAT A SHITTY DAY! The road got rougher. Milk leaked through the fridge onto the floor. Freezer stopped working so our icecream was thrown out onto the verge. The Inverter fell off its mounting and dust in the caravan everywhere, cupboards in an absolute mess. We stopped at Rabbit Flats Roadhouse for diesel at $2.06 a litre. We found a rest area about 170kms from Yuendumu. Who wants tea tonight! Not I. I don't think it was as hot today, only 37degrees. We are now in the Northern Territory."

and this taken from her letter home to family

"We decided not to continue north as the weather was around 40 every day and what we wanted to do was not suitable for the hot weather. There are a few gorges around Halls creek on the first part of the Gibb River Road but with the heat we wouldn't be able to walk through many of them. Also the Tourist Bureau said that most of the gorges didn't have water in them. One was so dried up that about 40 salt water crocs were sitting in what water and mud that was left. We decided to head to Alice Springs. We had been umming and arring about doing the Tanami track as we had heard all different reports about the condition of the road. After checking with the Tourist Bureau in Halls Creek we decided to give it a go. Plus it saved about 1000 ks. The first 100 ks were okay, a lot of creek crossings but the gravel road itself seemed okay. This was just a tease. We turned off to have a look at Wolfe Creek Meteorite crater and the 20kms in were rough. We saw some amazing Willy Willys, huge ones that were black. In one place we counted 6 together. The reason they were black is a lot of the land around us had been burnt at some stage and nothing had grown back. The crater was okay, Pete was impressed with it so that's all that matters. That's okay back onto the Tanami and now the road starts getting corrugated and then it gets even more corrugated, and very dusty. The corrugations are that bad that we were down to first gear a lot of the time and I could have got out and walked faster. The first day we did roughly 300kms. When we stopped for lunch at the crater my cupboards were a mess, so I re organised them. What a mistake. By the time we stopped that night the bread machine met me at the door, the fridge was a mess and so was my cupboards. Okay so I clean them up as they need to be packed properly for tomorrows driving and maybe the road won't be so bad. Boy was I in for a surprise. The only good part about today is I knew that I had a good walking track for tomorrow morning away from the main track. It is still 40 degrees and I am having problems getting water cold as the caravan is around 42 inside and all the water in the tanks are hot. Even the floor of the van is quite hot to walk on. Another day and it got worse. The track was even more corrugated and when I say corrugated, the corrugations were huge bumps in the road. So it is first gear all the time with the occasional speed up which would last about 5 minutes. Every hour or so we stop to check the van. Cupboards all over the place, bread machine at the front door and the start of the fridge not keeping cold. We stopped at the most remotest roadhouse in Australia called Rabbit Flats and paid $2-06 for diesel. It's lunch time and I am ready to cry. It did not help that I just got the start of a migraine. Mid afternoon we stopped to check the caravan and opened the door to see milk pouring out of the fridge and running down the cupboards. Once the fridge was opened we realised that my soy milk container had got a hole in the bottom from bouncing and the freezer had finally stopped working. Fortunately we had decided that morning to put all the frozen meat and chicken into the Waeco and the ice cream and icy poles into our freezer. I must tell you that in Derby we decided that while the freezer was going we might as well buy some ice cream as a treat. Pete had eaten some of his icy poles but I had only had a bite of my tub of ice cream, as it was still a bit too soft for me. Well any way the ice cream and icy poles went onto the side of the road all melted, with the remaining soy milk. We cleaned the caravan up and headed off again for another hour or so and again we were lucky that we found another good camp site off the road and no one else around. Again it was clean the cupboards and try to put the caravan back to some form of order ready for the next day. I must say at this time that I am not complaining it was just the worst road or track that we have been down, but in all honesty we have driven through the middle of Australia and through one of it's deserts. It was an experience. Next day I have finally decided that what happens happens and tonight we just fix the mess. Before we can head off we have discovered that the front water tank has started to fall out so that has to fixed first. Also I have to clean the fridge and freezer, as we couldn't do it last night, as the caravan was still 40 odd degrees, so too hot to start leaving the food out and cleaning a fridge. Back on the road and things are starting to improve. By this time we are around 400 ks out of Alice and we do know that the last 200 are on bitumen. Today was much the same and we arrived at Tilmouth Bore by 5pm and this roadhouse has a caravan park attached."

We arrived at Alice and booked the fridge in for repairs (10 days delay) and the Waeco for maintenance as it wasn't switching on and off like it used to. They quoted me $1140 for a new compressor for the fridge. $250 to freight it up overnight plus installation. I checked the price of the compressor with another firm in Alice who told me that over the last 2 years Danfoss have doubled the compressor price. I will be getting an Engel next time, only $600 for their compressor. Lots of phone calls and checking when we finally found a new fridge in a camping store that was exactly the same as ours but made by Waeco. Only $1300 with 12 months warranty! The next day out with the old in with the new. The Waeco freezer had a new filter/drier installed and is working much better now.

While waiting for the fridge appointment we toured around Alice and later watched the Todd River flow as it had rained for 5 days while we were stuck in Alice.

Todd River with Heavitree Gap in the background

After 2 weeks we were finally back on the road again heading for the West MacDonnell Ranges. First stop Standley Chasm for lunch and a walk through the gap. $7 a head for entrance fees.

Sandy log climbing on the way to the second chasm.

After a few more stops we set up camp at Ormiston Gorge but if it gets overcast we may have to leave, as the Northern Territory Parks don't appear to allow generators. With all the rain we recently had the gorges were full of fresh, running water. Ormiston's 4 hour pound walk would have included a fair bit of wading/swimming if we had done it. We had a few swims and a couple of smaller walks. I've started a new painting and Sandy is making a brass bracelet, her first venture into jewellery.

One night Sandy found a big hairy huntsman spider in her shower and the first I knew of it was Sandy wrapped only in a small towel crying hysterically at the caravan door. Boy were the other campers entertained. The Alice Springs Nymph runs again.

Travelling south we were surprised by the dense vegetation and hills expecting to see a flat, dry landscape in central Australia. Everything is green with water everywhere from the recent rains. Even the Tanami Desert had much vegetation and many hills with only around 50kms of flat grounds with low vegetation.

Still hot but expecting showers any day now.

More from Mintabie Opal Fields next month.

Peter and Sandy