After crossing the Barkly tableland we decided to head south to Tennant Creek at the Threeways turnoff which has T intersection and a big roadhouse for refuelling. Roads go east to Mt Isa, south to Alice Springs or north to Darwin. Two caravan parks to choose from in TC so decided to head to the Outback Caravan Park as some Tripadvisor reviews mentioned similar noise problems to what we had in Mt Isa. Not feeling in party all night mode we chose the furtherest from the residential area. Not a bad caravan park. Really big with lots of van & tent sights so they obviously get busy further into the season. It never ceases to amaze me that some reviewers of these outback town caravan parks mention the lack of grass & complain about the gravel. You are in the outback for Gods sake where rocky ground abounds & water is precious!
Tennant Creek has a population of 3000, mainly aboriginal people. Similar to Walgett many shops do not have windows. Lots of locals sitting around footpaths & parks - also similar to Walgett. Surprisingly in this isolated town we saw a nightclub sign. It would be a little different to The Valley music scene in Brisbane ! There is a huge sportswear shop with lots of label advertising on the front walls - I would imagine it could be one of the best businesses in town. The police station is two storey & a fair size, interestingly the court house is also quite large, but what is different to any other court house I've seen, is there is a large lawn area & picnic tables out the front. Quite a popular area by the look of it!
We drove 110 km south towards Alice Springs to the Devils Marbles. Once again the road was excellent. It's a pity the Bruce Hway wasn't as good.
The Devils Marbles (Karlu Karlu) were first mentioned by explorer John McDoull Stuart after whom the highway from Port Augusta to Darwin is named. It is a must see phenomena of huge granite boulders scattered over a few acres. They are weathered rocks from a huge rock mass though they look like individual rocks placed on top of other rocks. It is a sacred women's site and a place where the rock spirits can make children stay to play, they are never seen again.
The old 1872 Telegraph relay station north of TC was part of the chain of relay stations where morse code was transferred from station to station. This gave Australia communication from London overland to Adelaide. It took 7 hours to get a telegram from Adelaide to London in 1872.
The building on the left is the station consisting of the office, battery room & bedroom. Beside that is the kitchen & living room surrounded by a wide verandah. The building in the centre is quartes for maintenance men & the building partly shown on the right is the butcher. There was also a smoke room & a cellar. The buildings are built of local rock & the walls are about 2' thick providing welcome coolness from the harsh summer heat. A beast was killed weekly & the meat smoked to preserve it. Vegetables were grown & stored in the cellar. Other supplies arrived every 6 months. The buildings have all been restored but doors & windows are unfortunately falling into disrepair again.
An insight into the isolated lonely life of the telegraph operator in the early history of Australian pioneers.
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