Alice Springs to Tennant Creek

Continuing North along the Stuart Highway.

Barrow Creek Telegraph Station

A historically interesting stop with more info about the building of the Overland Telegraph line.

Wycliffe Well

Claims to be the UFO hotspot of Australia.

Has a caravan park that’s fairly run down and some alien souvenirs at the shop.   Someone quipped on Wikicamps that Wycliffe Well was probably the last place aliens would visit.

The Devil’s Marbles/Karlu Karlu

These are 393km North of Alice Springs.   They are huge, rounded boulders, scattered over quite a large area.  According to Aboriginal legend, the boulders are the eggs of the Rainbow Serpent laid during the Dreamtime.  To the first English people who saw them, it looked as though the Devil had emptied his bag of marbles around the place.  Geologically I believe they are called a ‘degraded nubbin’.

Tennant Creek

The town has a population of around 3,200 and is 70% indigenous.  It was interesting to read an article written in The Guardian this week that said people in the town are diagnosed with infections and diseases that have been eradicated from the rest of Australia for nearly a century.  An African health care worker said the town reminded him of his home in Zambia.

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2017/may/20/return-to-tennant-creek-healthcare-going-backwards-says-di-natale

We stopped at a very nice caravan park but that’s the best thing I can say about the experience.   The only part of town that showed any signs of life was the pub which absolutely stank as you walked past.

Tennant Creek Caravan Park. The view from our van.
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