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Gunbarrel | East Kimberley | North Kimberley | Broome Region | East Pilbara

TANAMI TRIP DIARY
DAYS 10 - 15

Day ten – 1/7/01 rest day and food shopping

Being Monday, we assumed that our tyres had arrived the previous Friday so lifted camp and headed to the tyre shop only to find that the tyres had gone missing in transit and couldn’t be found! 

The saying “not happy Jan” had new meaning. Numerous hours and phone calls later we had the only Coopers tyre in Alice Springs fitted to our vehicle (and yes it was replaced under warranty). But the problem was that this was not the same tyre – we had to take an AT rather than an ST. The ST never arrived so we arranged for it to be re-routed to Kununurra where we expected to be in another weeks time after going up the Tanami Track. We re-repaired the staked tyre and put it back on the vehicle. We like to have 2 spares for desert/outback driving.

So for the Tanami we have the Grand Trek as our main spare and the odd AT Cooper as our second spare which will be switched with the ST when we get to Kununurra. A bit confusing for all concerned but finally we were able to leave the city and get out in the bush again, although it was 2.45pm.

The first 118km from Alice Springs was bitumen. The Tanami turnoff is just 19km north of Alice Springs on the Stuart Highway but from then on its just a single lane tar road. We encountered over 20 oncoming vehicles including caravans, camper trailers and trucks so we began to look for a bush camp a bit off the road. We past a few interesting spots such as Kunoth Bore on the left at just 50km and Cadney Bore on the RHS and through a gate, also a sandy river bed at Hamburger Creek and Charlie Creek about 2km east of the first marked roadside P bay. The P bay was not tent friendly, with broken glass and rubbish strewn everywhere so we pushed on further and found a side track off the Papunya turnoff that led to a couple of secluded campsites behind the gravel pit that were ideal. 

We had a big camp to pack up with a couple of roasts and a pudding and muffins cooked in camp ovens from the night’s campfire and didn’t depart until 10.12am. We only had about 40km to Tilmouth Roadhouse where we had a leisurely stop to admire the enormous range of aboriginal dot paintings on canvass from the neighbouring Tanami communities – Napperby, Billiuna, Yuendumu. Jutunta. It’s actually a fabulous facility, and so I wasn’t surprised to read their own promotional brochure where they call themselves the “Oasis on the Tanami”. 

At Tilmouth you can buy hot chips, pies, etc plus a good range of basic supplies and even fresh cut fruit, vegies and icecream! The camping looks good, the grass is green and the pool area looks like a resort but it was too early to stop for a camp and we were on a bush camping mission. The track so far has been like a highway, in terms of both condition and the numbers of travellers. We have been jokingly calling it the “Tanami Expressway”. There has been little gravel, mostly hard packed red earth road base and much evidence of grading. There are only a few washouts and bulldust is minimal at this point. Past Yuendumu we saw the first ranges come into view and groups of rocks, similar to the Devils Marbles near Tennant Creek. There were various dry river beds with tracks which could be worth investigating for possible campsites. 60km from the Yuendumu turnoff, an unmarked track on the RHS leads to Mt Doreen where a bore, creek bed and mining ruins made our next camp. The track winds around behind the distinctive looking mountain and we spent the entire afternoon exploring before setting up camp in the river bed beyond the bore pond about 1.5km from the Tanami Track.

Our riverbed camp was hard to leave but by 10.30am we were all packed up. Sandy is an amateur club competition photographer and spends enormous amounts of time wandering camp (and stopping the convoy) to find her prize shots. It’s actually quite inspirational so we don’t complain at all. She has 2 Canon camera bodies, a swag of lenses, 3 tripods and a Sony digital still camera plus Colin has a Sony hi-8 video camera. We’re also rather “Japanese” with our 2 tripods, Sony DC-TRV20 (that takes both video and stills) and a Minolta 7000i SLR camera with a swag of lenses. Our most used being our 19mm-35mm wide angle for landscape photography.

The road north of Mt Doreen was still very firm and travelling speed was still as per highway. This was quite obviously the result of considerable roadworks as the area was low lying and the roadbase built up above obvious floodwater. About 40km before the Granites, huge termite mounds poke through the Spinifex plains for as far as you see. Unfortunately, there is no access to the Granites ruins, which is fenced off by Aboriginal landholders. A little past the Granites Mine on the LHS tracks lead up a distinctive hilly outlook called “Quartz Ridge”, which makes a nice lunch stop or behind the hill you could make a camp. Our day didn’t end until we found a camp on the LHS in a river bed about 30km north of the Tanami Mine, just before the track makes the big swing to the west.

After lifting camp this morning (9.50am) we came across some more good campsites about 2km north also on the LHS. The road continues to be great all the way to the NT/WA border, which we found was marked 2km short of where our GPS and Auslig and GDT maps said it should be. Once over the border, the WA part of the Tanami track deteriorates markedly, however with recent grading it still no trouble. The track from the border narrows down to just one lane wide and is straight as a shot-line. 

There seem to be lots of well used tracks of to the LHS to possible camps? The section between the border and Balgo turnoff is in very good condition and the views of the Selby Hills are quite pretty. We had seen photos of this section of track taken just 6 days ago before the grader had been through, and its was definitely a boggy mess then but now it was smooth and dry. Even the Sturt Creek causeway crossing (which is concrete) was dry, although the creek itself was supporting loads of birdlife, including herons as it was flowing quite fast.

At no point between Alice Springs and Sturt Creek has there been water or boggy sections on the track. We stopped for lunch at Sturt Creek and enjoyed total solitude, however it was short lived. We agreed it was an idyllic camp and picked out the best of the grass sites by the river. By 4pm there were probably 10 other groups of campers. It rained lightly overnight but it made no effect on the track or the creek level.

We changed time zones overnight so our departure time today was 9.50CST or 8.20WST. There was some light rain last night and a little more this morning, but it had no effect on the track or the crossing. The Wolfe Creek Meteorite Crater was formed many millions of years ago when a meteorite shower hit the area, creating the world’s second largest meteorite crater at 800m wide at the rim. The turnoff to the crater is about 30minutes drive from Sturt Creek and is one of the reasons for driving the Tanami Track. Visitors to the crater from Halls Creek are frequent in either hire cars or tourist buses so you can sure that the access track is kept in good condition. We found driving conditions along the access track to the crater were good enough to sit on around 80km/hr. It seems a shame but camping is not allowed along the access track as it passes through aboriginal lands, however CALM have just opened (this week) free camping at the crater. The camps have toilets and info sheets on the area. No water is available and fires and dogs are prohibited.

The crater is impressive, with just a short scramble to the rim for views. The final leg of the Tanami, from the Wolfe Creek Meteorite Crater to Halls Creek is quite dusty and dry but very scenic with the first signs of the Kimberley ranges coming into view. We had hoped to move fast and make it into the Bungles for tonight’s camp but at midday Colin stopped for his 3rd flat tyre on the Tanami – his 4th flat in 2 weeks since leaving Sydney. Colin’s GU Patrol runs on Bridgestone Desert Duellers, but 2 of the tyres were on their last legs and due for replacement somewhere along this trip.

 Thankfully, with tubes and spares by the roadside, he was able to get going again to make it into Halls Creek. Amazingly, the local tyre shop had 2 new replacements (at the same price as in Kununurra - $230!!) and fitted them on the spot while the girls grabbed some foodstocks from the supermarket.

The drive north from Halls Creek to Kununurra along the tar passes over a number of great creeks – most are popular stopovers for caravaners, but all are delightful camps. Heading out of Halls Creek a sign indicates distances to roadside parking bays that are suitable for camping and we estimated we’d make it to the 100km camp, just before the Spring Creek access track through Mabel Downs Station into the Bungles. At the 50km mark however, it was 4.30pm and we came across a parking bay on a sidetrack with a concrete causeway that was flowing – creating an enticing waterfall into a stream below. We doubled back and after a little exploring found ourselves the ideal camp on a gently sloping grass lawn overlooking the cascades. As the sun was setting a number of other cars cruised by our camp hopefully but there was only room for 2 and we were well setup by then.