Day 4 - Warburton to Salt Creek Rest Area on the Luritja Road

Mon 17 Aug 2015

 

Today we were on the road by 6.30am and only 85kms down the road we came across a great camp spot and noted it for our next trip out this way. It’s called Yarla Kutjarra and has been provided by the Ngaanyatjarra people so travellers can rest and enjoy the bush surroundings. It’s got a toilet and phone reception!! so travellers can catch up with family and friends. We’ll definitely camp here next time where out this way.

A bit further down the road we saw a herd of feral Camelus Dromedaries ( one humped camels ). These guys thrive out here and unfortunately are so at home, some people could be forgiven for thinking they’re native to Australia. The camels were introduced into Australia around 1840. During early exploration and the gold rush these camels were ideal for transporting not only people but a male camel has the capacity to carry up to 600kg!. That was until rail and motor vehicles replaced them around the 1930’s. Hmm… what to do with all the camels? May as well turn them loose… Feral or not we grabbed some photos and also noticed out here, 135kms from Warburton, we had phone reception – again!

90 kms west of Warakurna we saw some “road work” signs so slowed down but nothing. By 8.55 am we began to wonder if road workers out here start at 9.00 am WA time and knock off at 3.00 pm NT time. After an ice cream at Warakurna we continued on toward the border. Some might think the scenery is pretty dull out here but in our opinion they’d be wrong. There is so much to see, the landscape is always changing. For example, as you approach the border of WA/NT you drive through some lovely scenery in the form of the Schwerin Mural Crescent. We’ve seen it before but the colors are always different depending on the weather. The Schwerin Mural Crescent was named after the Princess of Schwerin by Ernest Giles in 1875.

At the border we stopped for the obligatory “crossing the border” photos and got attacked by the tiniest Double Gees. They seemed to be flicked up in the air as you walked across the ground implanting themselves in your feet, ankles, shins and calves. They may have been small but they stung like crazy – Ouch!

The Great Central Road deteriorated badly after Kaltukatjara (Docker River), definitely worse than our first trip along here in 1991 before it became the Great Central Road. This time the corrugations were harsh and constantly changing in width and depth making it hard to find a favourable speed. Time for a break so we called in to Lasseter’s Cave for lunch, however we didn’t take a look at the cave this time.

Continuing on toward Yulara for fuel we heard a terrible clunking noise coming from the passenger rear wheel area. We were about 90 kms south west of Kata Tjuta. We thought it might be a shockie, stopped to check but the shockie seemed fine. Next we thought it might be the awning coming loose with the corrugations. Again we checked and it was still attached tightly. The noise continued on an off. We implore Northern Territory to buy a grader and grade the road !!!!

Around 5.30pm we were approaching Kata Tjuta and decided to pull into the car park and unpack the boot to see if anything in the boot or wheel arches was causing the noise; nothing. We measured the shockie heights and they were all correct, no joy there either. Our stop wasn’t wasted though, we were treated to a lovely view of the Valley of the Winds sunset. Post script – When we arrived in Alice Springs the next day and told family of our stop at Kata Tjuta, you wouldn’t believe what they said…. “You’re kidding we were there last night at sunset!!”

After filling up at Yulara ($2.00 pl) and grabbing a bite to eat we continued on toward Kings Canyon looking for a spot to camp for the night. Not long after turning onto Luritja Road we saw a dingo pup (also known as yellow dog) and stopped to take some photos, the pup seemed as curious about us as we were about it. An hour or so later we saw a rest stop called Salt Creek. As it was after 10.00 pm we coasted in to keep our noise down. The camping area was packed so we found a spot to park and decided rather than risk making noise setting up the tent we’d sleep in the car tonight.

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