Mornington Station Holiday August 2000
Section Two - Alice to Mornington Station - the Tanami

Alice to Mornington Station - the Tanami

Thurs
We leave Alice, me dragging the chain buying bits and pieces and getting my processed film. I like to have my film processed as I travel as it proves the camera is working and gives us something to look at. We turn off and travel by a homestead with a wind generator that to my mind is wrong. It is position near a ridge but at the base of the ridge not at the top of the ridge... we are told that it is Troy Dan's place. Finally dirt, not bad. We sop in Yuendumu for fuel. This is the place where "bush mechanics" was made. Very good film, see it with a smile on your face and you wont be disappointed. We travel on for a bush camp. This one was made but may not be far enough off the road to avoid disturbances. No one stops so we have a good nights rest.

Fri

The next morning as we pack up near the side road that brought us a little way off the main track a landrover appears from the wrong side, they must have been camped further off than us. We go on to Rabbit Flat roadhouse. The road conditions have been good - lots of corrugations but no sand or bull dust to worry us. This is Rob Milton first time on a long dirt trip and he is taking it easy to avoid falls... I think to myself that this will change... Kevin buys a slab of beer at take away price (cheaper than drinking at the bar) but asks it we can each have one tin together with lunch.. OK he says. We all have pies and beer. Kevin asks for another round of tinnies and he agrees. We relax further into the afternoon. Kenny then goes up and asks for another round... that pops the volcano and its "you bought at miners price and expect to ... " so we leave for the "camp ground". Kenny is so impressed, with both the beer drinking and the camp ground facilities (drop toilet, no shower [$ extra back at the bar] and a bush camp) that he leaves. We sit and wait. And drink the beer. Rod and I go back to have diner, meat pies and Roma tomatoes.

Sat
Next day I head off in front as I had made arrangements to go in to Balga to see some art works. At the turn off to Balga the road in looks very good, over the hill though it deteriorates, loose red sand below the sounding country, a real quagmire if it rains. Balga looks great at the start, nice school, art building and a stone church. But things are not as good as they look, I find the general store - closed due to a funeral till the afternoon. As the guys would be waiting for me before that time I leave without looking at the art (probably closed for the funeral) nor any petrol. There is a choice of roads back to the Tanami, the one I came in on or another that will reduce the distance I travel. I take the reduced distance route... bad decision, very loose sand ... back to the already traveled track. On the way back I see Kenny heading towards me, stop and tell him the bad news. Meet up with the rest and we head on. A creek has some good clear water in it and we stop for lunch. The guys want to spend the night here, that's OK but I want to head on as I think there will be other places further on, and more interesting places to stop at. But we all go in to Billiluna for petrol, including a 4WD and get charged an opening fee of $10, which we pay collectively. I say my good byes and head off up the track. I go into wolf creek crater and walk in to the centre, some animals have scratched a hole down to water. The central part has a salt crust surrounded by scrub and further out small trees. Then grass lands before the crater rises up. From ridge top to ridge top it is 850 metres across. Very impressive. Onwards I travel, back to the Tanami track. This access road has the worst corrugations for about 50 metres of the whole trip! I find a dry creek crossing with a rocky base and a track off the road. Looks like a good campsite, not too much rubbish around 2 campfires 4 old cans of beer and no loo paper. I set up camp and eat. Try to adjust the right hand mirror. Then go to bed after writing the diary. About 3 am there are some strange cry... but they die down and I go back to sleep.

Sun
Early the next morning I wake to bird cry... several of them. I organize myself and things inside the tent. Get out and find that Corellas have a nest with at least one young in it 15 metres from my tent. I eat and pack quickly so the parents will feed the young without too much delay. The Road has a few creek crossings, some of them wet. Into Halls Creek and I go to the pub and ask about the road conditions. They tell me that the tableland track is boggy ie a 4wd spent 3 weeks in one bog hole there getting out last week. They could not say about tunnel creek but said the Gibb River was OK. The guys I left on the Tanami staid in the pub's backpacker rooms, $18 with TV - bargain. The pub gave me the information freely with out complaint and without expecting a finical advantage. The pub looks good, nice grounds and interior, yep this is a plug. Anyway I stick to my plan of going through to Fitzroy Crossing. Buy petrol and tar burn to Fitzroy. The blinkers are not working, they were yesterday, I think on it while riding along. When I adjusted the mirror the mounting slipped up (with the brake/throttle housing) this could have pulled the front brake light wires off and they shorted to chassis and shorted out. There is some great scenery along this stretch of road, jump ups rivers ... very dramatic. I check the tourist office in Fitzroy crossing, and stay at "the lodge" campground. The place looks too good but out the back is a good camp ground, could use more trees though. I take a short tour out to the old crossing pub, good but mostly locals + Abos. On to the old crematory - 5 marked graves the rest are unmarked - pity. Lasts one buried 10 years ago. Went out to Geikei Gorge, 4.30 sunset, too late for photos A very cool ride back in shorts. The long pants are in the wash.

Mon

The next day I do a morning cruise, the CALM one as the Aborigine one is not running that day. I find that the front brake light wires need reconnection then replace the fuse and blinkers again. But no stop light... the blub has blown with the corrugations. Replace the broken hose clips - then notice that the sub frame is broken. Then I check the town for a welder, get the sub frame fixed. Jill and David are filling up so I tell them about tunnel creek road having one wash out according to the tourist office. They are in too much of a hurry and travel on. Before sunset I go back out to the gorge and take some photos - they turn out pretty good.

Tues
The next day I travel out to tunnel creek, there are a few creek crossing with wheel swallowing trenches across the road where the water flowed. At 80 km/h you see a floodway sign hit the brakes to lockup point and slide into the hole, other wise you could endo or buckled a rim. At last tunnel creek. There is a GSPD parked, I make similar arrangement, boots off beside bike, jacket and gloves on the bike, pegless clothesline with yesterdays washing hanging out to dry. Taking torch and camera into the tunnel with the water flowing I remember the tourist office words about water up to the neck. Then I see a large group coming back... their pants/swimmers are dry! Well the legs maybe wet but it is possible to go through without too much drama. In the middle of the group I manage to pick the GSPD riders... We do stand out in a crowd :) Onwards I ride past a strange outcrop of white rock in the range... a small out crop of limestone. Then to some ruins of an old police station, part of the "pigeon trail". A brief description... Pigeon was an Aborigine employed by the police to track down people who the police wanted. Unfortunately on one occasion the people were part of pigeon's tribe including his elder trainer, pigeon was talked into letting them go, in doing so pigeon killed a policeman and he became wanted. Pigeon hid out in tunnel creek with success as the police though there were only 2 entries to the tunnel, a third in the middle caused by a roof collapse was not known to them. Any way pigeon was killed eventually. While looking around the ruins an OKA (WA built 4wd tourist buss) pulls in , no one gets out the driver talks into his mike, and they continue on their way. Why bother? A video would be as good. I continue to rummage in the ruins for a while getting a picture of the place, thick stone walls with a solid floor and about 5 small buildings closely spaced. You could put covers over the spaces between them to create shade. The small holes in the walls were to give riffle fire, bad days indeed. Water would have been hard to find just here though. It would be some distance away so you would need a stockpile in case of trouble. On to Windjana George. I do the walk in and then set up camp. I go back for sunset. The campsite has cold showers, flushing toilets and water. Again could do with more trees. A German arrives on a GS, I tell him about the Mornington meeting but he does not have the time. Tough.

Wed
Next day I go to Bell gorge. The campsites close to the gorge are closed due to the pump used to remove effluent for these sites failing. The road in is OK, the 4wds complain about a bog hole but it is easy on the bike - take the middle that they cannot use as there are two trees on either side that crowd the track. The middle is flat and smooth, just don't slide off it into the quagmire! Bell gorge is supposed to be the best gorge according to some on the Gibb river. It is very good. I go onto Barnett river roadhouse for the night. On the way meet a couple on two Yamaha singles, tell them about the Mornington meeting, "not enough time". Not having much luck with my message am I?

Thurs

Next morning I walk into Manning River gorge. The walk in was very good through the palms, gums, grevilleas and wattles. The corellas feeding on the grevilleas have blacken breasts due to the scrub fires. These scrub fires create a lot of smoke that can cause haze that makes distance photos poor, but it can also make sun rise/set very red. I pack and ride off to Galvans gorge. The is a 10 minute walk to a very small waterfall, small plunge pool. Onwards to Mornington past the now closed Mt House station. There is a range to the east of the road that provides some good scenery. The last 10 km to Mornington are narrow winding and cross a creek with water a number of times. Little more than a station track I go straight through the water crossings with out trouble. I do see where someone has gone to one side to get around the water, but I don't bother. I Arrive at Mornington Station and the Queenslanders are they're drinking. The staff try to book me in, I say beer first! Beers cost $4 each, they put it on a tab system along with the camp site and total when you leave. This works well as you not fussing for money all the time, you also don't realize how much your spending day to day...

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