We left Alice on Sunday morning. We’re pretty good at a calm and productive pack up, even when the gear is covered in ice and the fly is frozen to the main tent. There was more moisture in the air in Alice compared to our previous camps, resulting in a thick frost. We all go quietly about our work during pack up, it’s actually quite meditative. The kids are under instruction that if they can’t do anything helpful, they are not make things any harder. Somehow this morning James managed to hit his head on the tap while filling up our water jerry cans and has a Harry Potter-esque scar to prove it.
The Coleman tent isn’t quite the ‘instant’ its branding promises, but I’ve gotten it down to around 15 minutes – which for a 16 square metre (10 person), three room tent with built-in strip lighting is pretty good. The job I least look forward to is getting the air out of the two double self-inflating mattresses. I’m getting better at it, but it’s a wrestle to get enough out that they fit back into their bags. It’s important that there’s room to spare as after a day on the roof copping full sun they expand noticeably and won’t come out of their bags.
The previous night represented the last cold camping night until the Warrumbungles towards the end of August. The kids have been incredible and have not complained of the cold. We were all though very excited to finally get to the warmer weather.
Our destination for Sunday night was the Motel El Dorado in Tennant Creek. Our original itinerary had us camping at Devil’s Marbles, just off the Stuart Highway. Sadly that would have left a further 10 hours of driving to Edith Falls, north of Katherine where were booked for three nights from the Monday. With frequent stops 10 hours can quickly become 12, so way too much for one day. We’d missed this in our planning but the problem was quickly resolved over a couple of beers at the Eldo Hotel in Woomera while we’d had internet coverage. We booked a motel further up the highway to better (not completely) even the two days driving out, forfeiting the camping fee at Devil’s Marbles. We did do the right thing and cancel the camping as most places are really busy and someone might need the spot.
The two day drive to Edith Falls was 1,240km, with day 1 to Tennant Creek taking out around 520km, leaving 720km for Monday. It was still a long second day but do-able after a restful night indoors for the first time for three weeks. The Stuart Highway driving was easy and the backdrop more interesting and variable than expected, regularly rotating through low scrub desert to river plain with larger trees and the occasional range. The road is generally narrower than south of Alice Springs which made some of the road train overtakes quite exciting (them overtaking us as they were doing 130kph and we were doing around 100kph). You really have no idea until it’s over how long they are going to be, some of them just seem to keep on coming.
Devils Marbles were impressive, but during the short walk around Ness and I noted the large number of flies, largely absent with the cold further south. We didn’t say anything to the kids.
We rolled in to Tennant Creek around 5pm, excited to be off the road and into what promised from the photos on Wotif at least to be an oasis with an in ground pool and on site Chinese restaurant. The motel room was clean and the beds were comfortable, but the pool was empty and there was no sign of the restaurant. There was hot water and some of the power sockets worked. The manager gave me some security advice adding the colder weather this time of year kept most of the wandering youth off the streets. Recent reviews of the Motel El Dorado were very harsh. I suspect most were really reviews of Tennant Creek. It’s a town with plenty of problems, extreme poverty and drug and alcohol fuelled violence. The murder rate is 30 times that of the US. Even a pool full of water and an on site restaurant would have struggled to make up for the general feel of the place. No easy answers I’m sure but it’s pretty disgusting that in 2022 a town in Australia relies on grandmothers sitting out all night at the BP service station to stop it being vandalised.
We had a very forgettable counter meal at the Memories Bistro at the RSL. The hour wait for our food did however provide good people watching opportunities. We slept poorly with one eye open but I gave Eldorado a four star review, noting that if we’re back this way in future it might be worth pushing on to Renner Springs.
At least we were back on the road early, choosing to skip the BP service station and instead fill up at Daly Waters, 400km further up the highway. We easily had enough to make it to Daly Waters and passed a few road houses on the way, including the extremely busy Dunmarra about 40kms short of Daly Waters. They were queuing out on to the highway to fill up. Just why became apparent when we got to Daly Waters – no diesel at the roadhouse or the pub, and no idea when it would be coming. Gas guzzling four wheel drives pulling caravans were turning around and heading back to Dunmarra as the next station north was 170kms away at Mataranka. We’d done 900kms since filling up in Alice Springs, so it was touch and go whether we’d make it.
It had taken us nearly two years of owning our old Troopy before we ran out fuel. Trouble hit on our honeymoon when we drove out to Lake Eyre. We were heading from William Creek to Marree on the remote Oodnadatta Track and fell short by around 10kms, cruelled by a stronger than expected headwind, and finally undone by an extended rise. Being a man of action I did what you’re not supposed to do and left Ness jerry can in hand to start the walk through the hot gibber plain to Marree. The day time maximum was heading to 35 degrees, but fortunately after an hour or so a car appeared from the south and its young Scandinavian occupants offered me a lift the remaining distance to the servo at Marree and then back to the Troopy.
All ended well but these experiences leave a mark, and Ness and I were really in a bit of quandary.
If we headed back to Dunmarra there was no guarantee they’d still have diesel given the queues we’d seen. Even if they did we’d be adding a good hour and a half to our already long day. If we ran out on the way to Mataranka then we’d add a lot more than an hour to our day.
So it was calculators out and we analysed the problem from every angle, using every data point we had from our log.
We’d done 900kms since our last fill. At 7.5kms per litre, the 147 litre main tank should give us 1,102 km meaning notionally we had 200kms left in the tank for the 169km journey to Mataranka. But what if we’d not been getting 7.5kms per litre? We’d had the air conditioning on as it had been hotter (and it’s a big windscreen pointing straight at the sun most of the way to Darwin). It also felt like we were always going up hill. We’ve only had the car for a few months so don’t really have a reliable measure for different conditions, but we felt we’d be OK so pushed on.
The next couple of hours were fairly tense, driving at 80kph to maximise economy and hot as we didn’t want to waste precious fuel on air conditioning. The needle had been on a quarter tank when we left Daly Waters, but that means very little with this car. We’ve since measured it takes around 156kms to go from beyond full to the full line, and then just 111kms to go from full to three quarters and then 228kms to go from three quarters to a half. The warning light eventually came on around 30kms short of Mataranka when the needle was on E. We continued the maths working out how many litres we’d need to make it and how there had to be that many left. We made town and the fill was 127.32 litres – so there had actually been almost 20 litres left. Our economy had been 8.3l/100kms.
We celebrated with pies, ice-creams, some booze from the general store for later and air conditioning on for the remainder of the trip to Edith Falls which we made in time to set up camp before night fell.
We’d decided not visit Katherine Gorge this time as the commercially run campground was a bit of a zoo when we were last there, The campground at Edith was within the national park and offers grassy shady sites just a short walk from the waterhole. The walking options are great and there is a plunge pool below the lower falls and multiple options higher up. The kids made instant friends with most of the campsite rabble and had an absolute ball. They’ve become so good at making fast friends and then saying goodbye, which has been a huge shift for Jemma. We had a beautiful three nights, warm at last. Our walking and general pace slowed to reflect our new climate. We all did the walk up to the second falls and on day two James and I set off early for the longer walk up to Sweetwater which we basically had to ourselves. I do love walking with James. He’s normally fairly engaged on the way there, identifying anything that moves on the ground or air, but on the way back he normally likes some solitude and some time to scuttle. In between the walking and swimming, Edith Falls gave us some proper reading and hammock time. And gloriously still no phone coverage other than on the top of the ascent to the second falls.
We were a bit sad when Thursday came around, but the first hot weather pack went well and we were off on our way to Litchfield. Our destination was Tjaynera / Sandy Creek, away from the well beaten Litchfield track which takes in perhaps just the top quarter of the park. To reach the rest you need a 4WD, and we were headed down the 4WD Reynolds Track to one of our favourite spots from our last big trip. On the way we stopped at a few points of interest including the beautiful Tolmer Falls and some giant termite mounds having restocked at Batchelor (where they will sell you as much booze as you can carry according to the cashier).
We turned off the bitumen and into 4WD – a new and exciting light came on the dashboard. Sadly the first creek crossing was only 60cm deep. Enough to test the door seals but well below the 1m over the bonnet depth we’d enjoyed 13 years ago. The campground and day use facilities had been upgraded to cater for the now 30,000 visitors per year Sandy Creek and the falls apparently get. There are now 13 camping spots, large shady spots that are impenetrable to tent pegs. Firewood is easily (and allowed to be) collected and we had fires each night and two dampers. The first day we walked to the falls (coldest water in the park according to everyone who went in – I didn’t). James had a long swim and went over to the waterfall. He ignored the peer pressure of some camp mates to climb up the falls to jump in. Even James said he was cold. Jemma had a short dip and got stranded on a rock and Ness had to go in to rescue her.
The water at Florence Falls the next day was apparently warmer (I still didn’t go in but everyone else did) and we enjoyed a great walk at Wangi Falls, with the added excitement of hazard reduction fires close to the track and kites hunting the escaping reptiles.
The kids made some great friends (Indigo and Si) as well as the children of the camp hosts. A really great stop and with the full moon rising a little later the stars were excellent too.
The decision to retire the Volvo and go 4WD was completely vindicated by the trip to Sandy Creek. We have some incredible driving ahead and destinations we couldn’t have gotten into. But before that we are now relaxing in Darwin for sunsets, crocodile tours and a well earned shower (maybe more than one because I genuinely stink).
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