Day 5 - 6/6/2016 - Barkly Homestead to Gemtree
Because we had changed our plans and were heading to Alice via the black top we were running a day ahead of schedule. So we weren’t exactly sure where we were headed today and there wasn’t going to be a lot too see or stop at.
The first stop was at the Threeways Roadhouse to top up with fuel. It had one of the best 3D wall paintings we had seen for awhile.
From the Threeeways it was south through Tennent Creek
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| Tennent Creek |
It didn’t take long before we saw a familiar sight along the Stuart Highway.
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| Car wreck |
Initially we were thinking of stopping for the night at the Devils Marbles but it was only midday so we had a quick lunch and photo stop.
We didn’t really feel like sitting around in a hot dusty and crowded camp site. Last time we arrived late afternoon and were only just able to squeeze into a spot. It doesn’t look like it has changed much since we last come through, you still need to get in early to get a decent spot.
And another familiar site.
Not sure if this is what is contributing to the wrecks. Either way, I wasn't going to open it up just to watch my fuel vaporise!
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| Open speed limit section - would have been great in anything other than a diesel towing a 2T camper! |
After two days of low shrub and ant hill scenery, it was a welcome sight to see some changes in the scenery.
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| The ranges near Barrow Creek |
We stopped at Aileron to top up with fuel and to also ring ahead to Gemtree to see if we could arrive a night early. Even through we were only 136km out of Alice Springs, the price of fuel at Aileron was the most expensive of the whole trip. At $1.99 per litre, lucky it wasn’t a big fill up! We have paid less than that in far more remote places.
Because we were ahead of schedule we doubted we would be able to get into our Alice accomodation early. We were planning to stay at Gemtree if we came across the Plenty Highway anyway so we decided to head there and have a rest day before heading into Alice Springs.
Along the Stuart Highway there are some pretty cool mobile phone antenna boosters to allow you to get mobile signal where you wouldn’t normally get it. I assume it works on the same principle as the “Whispering Dishes” at the Parkes Observatory http://blog.sjbowden.com/2011/04/snowy-mountains-trip-day-3.html
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| Call clarity was perfect |
We finally arrived at Gemtree at about 5:45pm. It had been a big day but I still had some energy to see what I could do with the GoPro. Unfortunately it clouded over a bit so the time lapse didn’t work too well but the star stacking didn’t turn out too bad.
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