Mataranka to Tennant Creek

Mataranka to Tennant Creek

Hey Everyone!

It's day 2 of our road trip. We left Mataranka on schedule and with all our stuff! We drove for hours down the Stuart Highway, strips of red dirt either side of the bitumen - heading from the Top End towards the Red Centre. We saw a kangaroo, a couple of frilled neck lizards, wedge-tailed eagles and even brolga. I took a few photos, then my three-month-old phone died. I was looking at photos in the gallery when it switched off. It had full battery but won't turn on or even charge anymore. Luckily we saw more brolga and I got an even better photo on Luke's phone.


There were termite mounds of all shapes and sizes, from the tiny ones by the roadside to the larger ones in the scrub. Every few minutes we saw termite mounds wearing t-shirts and other outfits. My 130 kilometre an hour photo is a bit blurry, but you can see some clearer photos HERE.


We pulled over to give our new mate, Tom, a hand. He'd shredded a tyre and someone had stolen his jack. Our jack turned out to be not much use as it couldn't lift his ute up high enough. We flagged sown another 4-wheel-drive, but they didn't have a jack with them. Hopefully, someone with a 4-wheel-drivejack stopped to help him soon after. He was delivering some mineral licks to the cattle on his million hectare station and having a bad run with his farm ute. As well as the shredded tyre, he'd been bogged earlier, and a wild turkey flew into his windscreen. 



We had better luck than Tom, but only just. Note to self - when checking the computer generated range on the dash to see if we need to get fuel at Elliot or Renner Springs - remember that the car uses more fuel at 130 km/hour than at 60 km/hour and we should check that 30 km leeway we thought we had, might actually end up as 2 km. 

Renner Springs Roadhouse - the best sight of our whole trip!
We made it safe and sound to Tennant Creek and had a welcome swim in the salt-water pool.Tomorrow morning we'll make sure we have all our stuff and plenty of fuel.