Today we left the powred site in town and headed for a bush camp 10km east of town. At first we wondered if it was still operational as it seemed deserted until we found a couple of caravans parked down the back and spoke to them. We found this out of the way place, Juno Horse Centre, with only a couple of neighbours and decided to stay the night. This is a working horse and cattle property and is a very relaxing place.
After lunch we went back into Tennant Creek to check some local spots. First we went to have a look at "the pebbles" 10km north of town - a smaller version of the devil's marbles with naturally created rock formations sacred to the local aborigines. A nice spot with bush camping available but had a walk around then back to the track.
Next stop the Telegraph Repeater Station - one of the 12 along the route from Adelaide to Darwin - the last one was at Alice Springs. Similar to the others we'd seen it was established in early 1870s as the telegraph line was being built. This one became a critical stop off point for graziers and stockmen as well as a hub for the local aborigines. Then in 1932 one of the linesmen was digging a hole for a telegraph pole when he found an unusual rock and sent it away to be analysed - they found gold and the population went from 7 to 600 within days - this finally led to Tennant Creek becoming a town.
After this we stopped off at the Mary Ann Dam - a water source for the town based on Tennant Creek and a lovely spot to visit.
Then back to camp and had a lovely steak dinner cooked on this ready made camp oven arrangement on site.
Then some fellowship with the other campers including Harry and Topsy and their 3 dogs from WA - they live on the road and seem to be having a great time.
Then there is Jane and Ross Wood who it turns out live in Ramsay Street Toowoomba so we had lots to talk about. During the conversation it came to light that as part of her work at National Bank Travel in Toowoomba in th 1980s she arranged the Europe trip for my father and mother along with other subsequent trips to Norfolk Island etc. Jane rememberd them well and it was great to make the connection.
Chris and Marie from Vicrotoria were also there. Marie had to ring the fire brigade at one point becasue we could see a reasonable bushfire burning about 15km away from us - fortunatley it died down within the hour and all was well. A lovely night around the camp fire then off to bed.
The Campbells
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