Once again I was up before sunrise, packed up and headed off. By the time I reached the Stuart highway the sun was rising and I headed south to Alice Springs. About 40 km further I saw a wondrous sight. The sun was at the back of me and I saw a bright light reflecting from the road ahead. It looked like a copper color rod lying across the road, reflecting the sun. I slowed down to get a better look thinking that somebody might have dropped part of their load.

As I got closer the color changed to bronze and I saw that this was no rod, but rather something with a ‘Z’ shape stretching across the national highway from the middle of my lane, across the white middle line,back  into my lane and across the other lane terminating in a small neck and much bigger head that was raised above the grass verge on the side of the road. It was an awesome sight of a King Brown that was around 5 meters long. Needless to say I did not stop for a pic (scared), but also swerved to avoid running over this magnificent creature.

The road continued forever and south of Tennant Creek I stopped at the Devil’s Marbles. This landmark is right beside the highway.

See more images at:  https://www.google.com.au/search?q=devils+marbles&biw=1366&bih=639&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&sqi=2&ved=0CEgQ7AlqFQoTCJuIocPyhMkCFcTfpgodvyUEMw

After a short break I came across a 4wd that had rolled, the driver had fallen asleep at the wheel. That served as a reminder of the dangers of long distance driving and the need to have regular stops. I was getting very tired and eventually pulled of the road for a few hundred meters to set up camp for the night. I was an hour away from Alice Springs.

The next morning I drove through Alice and headed for Coober Pedy. Many hours later I reached Coober Pedy and refueled. 22 km south is a lesser known gravel road that turns east and reaches the famous William Creek 163 km further on. William Creek is situated on the Oodnadatta track which is one of the famous Australian outback tracks. This is also the location of the internationally famous William Creek Hotel. It is famous for its superb steaks and the fact that it is situated on Lake Eyre.  Lake Eyre in turn is famous for standing at 12 meters below sea level. There is a very basic caravan park cum camp ground.

The bar and associated decorations

I spent an hour in the bar before enjoying a brilliant steak in the dining room. The bar had been cleaned up from the previous time I had been there.

The next morning I headed south along the Oodnadatta track along lake Eyre which was sparkling as it reflected the light of the rising sun.

Dazzling Lake Eyre

An hour or so later I turned west again on the road to Olympic Dam which is a massive BHP mine. Another 25 km or so I reached the very neat town of Roxby Downs. See https://www.google.com.au/?gws_rd=ssl#q=roxby+downs

This town had been developed for the workers at Olympic Dam.

I continued towards the Stuart highway and reached the town of Woomera. This is the town where many missile tests took place in the 50s and 60s. The word ‘Woomera is from the aboriginal and means ‘spear thrower’. See my pics below.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woomera_(spear-thrower)

Just before I reached the highway I took the pic below as my farewell to the red dirt country.

The last of the Red Dirt

I was keen to be on my way and heading to Burra in South Australia. I had heard from a few sources that the Burra Hotel served a mighty fine fare. I had a few more hundred km to go and arrived there in the late afternoon. After settling down I was amused to see a line of geese parading along the river in the caravan park. That evening I had my meal and have to say: ‘I can vouch for the food at the Burra Hotel’.

Getting Home

The next morning I set off on the last leg from Burra to the Victorian highland a trip of 810 km.

This took me 10 hours to complete including stops. After all this time it was good to be back

• 4 Weeks  -  10500 Kilometers:
• Home – Alice Springs – Tanami Track – Broome – Gibb River Road – Kimberley – Katherine – Home.         What a trip!!!!

I was up before daybreak, packed up the tent and headed off back to the main road. I was well on my way at daybreak. Kununarra to Katherine is 510 km.  I had heard of the beauty of the Katherine Gorge and was keen to do the day tour on offer. Katherine is a small town on the Alice to Darwin road only around 300 km from Darwin. I thought about going on to Darwin as I had never been there. However being short on time I dismissed the idea as you cannot go to Darwin only, but  HAVE to visit Litchfield and Kakadu National Parks as well. Then there is the Roper River. All of this would take another 2 weeks. So I have shelved this for another trip.

This trip was done in 2018.

Once the sun was up I could see that the landscape was sub-tropical scrub and trees, but very dry. I went cruising along until I reached the great Victoria River at Timber Creek. Earlier I passed the sign/ entrance to Bullo River Station of Sarah Henderson fame. The Victoria River is known to harbor many Salties. Would not want to swim in there for any money in the world.

Victoria River

I reached Katherine early in the afternoon and proceeded to The Caravan Park at the Katherine River resort. The resort is situated on the banks of the Katherine river has great facilities including a huge salt water pool.

The next morning I joined the Tour of the Katherine Gorge. The gorge is gorgeous (J) with steep rock walls rising on both sides of the river. In places there were sandbanks in coves that looked like secluded beaches. The tour is in three stages where rock banks terminate the cruise and passengers have to disembark and walk a few hundred yards to the next level of the river.

Change over to next level

Along the rock walls are many places where ancient aboriginal art is visible from small pictures to 4 meter high pictures of dream time beings.

I have failed to mention all along this trip that everywhere I went I had a supply of water bottles. So I had a sip of water often as the temperatures were well into the thirties every day. We returned home in the late afternoon. After a hot and sweaty day I decided to take advantage of the large swimming pool for a few hours before I had a drink and cooked something to eat. The next morning it was time to head back south in the direction of home.