25 MATARANKA NT TO CAMOOWEAL QUEENSLAND

foreign [Music] again we've just turned back onto the Stuart Highway and larimar is [Music] 75k ahead 130 [Music] we're just a few decays down the road from mataranka and we're visiting the famous LLC symmetry [Music] many people have tripped in here to have a look around and that's just what we're going to do pastoralism came to this area in June 1881. [Music] imagine the conditions and the wildness of this area they were brave people the story behind all this is that the author of we of the never never came as a Young Bride from Melbourne as a station wife and she was only here for a few years and her husband died of malaria [Music] Genie Gunn returned to Melbourne and then began her author Korea and she wrote a very poignant we of the Never Never and all these people in that book were real persons and some of them are buried here her story in her novel is very real we've bought the DVD these are the grave sites that they have been able to put names to and these people are all mentioned in a genie Gunn's novels for example William Miller a gold miner died in 1902 but Mrs Genie Gunn mentioned that his death was in 1901 this grave is in memory of the unknown [Music] another in memory of Mr Miller a traveler who died in 1901 all these people were very courageous to be out here in 1874 all these Graves tell a story we've yet to watch the movie and to understand all these people but when we watch it we'll look out for this gentleman and others of course [Music] there's quite a way to walk between all these grave areas and this is Lee kin and as you can read down there the burial service for this man was performed by Genie Gunn's husband I need a scan this grave site is of a very Gallant mailman who drowned in the river trying to get a message through about a dangerously ill woman [Music] and this is the plaque in memory of Aeneas James Gunn Genie Gunn's husband who unfortunately died a short time after they were married but she had been up here long enough to have many memories and then to go back to Melbourne and write a novel we of the Never Never and this is a plaque in memory of Genie Gunn set with her husband Genie Gunn after the death of her husband never returned here but the place was always in her heart and the base for all her novels I think by the tracks that are between all these Graves all the visitors to this area every year will go home and re-read the novel we of the Never Never another marked but yet unnamed grave and another [Music] this very large Memorial is in memory of the last survivor of we of the Never Never bet bit the little black princess Dolly bonson who died in Darwin March 1988 aged 95 years she sleeps awaiting her savior's return and the gift of eternal life she must have been one grand lady with a lifetime of memories and stories [Music] so this concludes our rather poignant walk through this Cemetery respecting and remembering the lives of those that have gone before we're now just down the road from the cemetery and overlooking where the original House that we looked at yesterday was standing very remote and they would be very brave people in that era to live here so this is the actual site that the replica of the house we looked at yesterday stood and you wonder about the vision the people that settled here could see when they built these homes in areas like this and especially what happened during the wet season when all the rivers flooded and also taking into account that in that era in the early 1900s there would have been absolutely no roads just dirt tracks and we've been just a hot step and a jump down from the cemetery we're now back on the highway heading south many many many kilometers ahead of us three ways [Music] we're turning in now to the Daily water Historic Hotel foreign [Music] airstrip at Daily Waters and this is the hangar this is still an active airstrip for daily Waters but this was the first oldest airstrip built between Alice Springs and Darwin during World War II Cole Bailey would be very interested to see this as he was one of the many soldiers that traveled by cattle truck from Alice Springs to Darwin during World War II this place is Heritage listed and I think they're going to make it into a tourist icon certainly many many people visit this area I have the reflection of the windows but this is a Dakota DC3 on the ground at Daily Waters Aerodrome in November 1930. the airstrip doesn't look long enough for a airplane this size to land but it must have and this is an rwaf mirror away and it landed here or was based here in 1939 and this is the Aerodrome during the war the area is very well preserved and this is a very good display and here we are looking at the front of the hanger Robert said it would make a very good Farm shed a little different in the year 2015. I don't know what flower this is [Music] tourists tourists tourists all visiting the famous daily Waters Pub we couldn't go past without taking a picture of the old daily Waters hotel or Pub as it's known this is the Outback Servo that I don't think is used and helicopter flights have been canceled I wonder why this is the Caravan Park beside the pub and when we were here last time this was shockers [Music] we're calling in for the lunchtime special over here is the chuckman's place with the famous helicopter that's no longer taking rides place is just full of character [Music] and we're waiting for a lunchtime at Berra rap thank you and this is where we are everywhere you look it's original ideas and this is the entertainment area at night with the stage in the center of the picture and the Chuck man has his show [Music] it's only two o'clock in the afternoon and Caravans are just pouring in [Music] Caravans come Caravans go that guy on the gate has been sitting there since 2006 when we were last through whether he has a Chuck on his handlebars of his bike and he's just sitting there waiting to guide the Caravan Park people in a bit of activity ahead we are just drawing into Elliot [Music] we have 223 K's to go to three ways turn off there's the police station [Music] yesterday we left mataranka and we traveled down and had lunch at Daily Waters south of daily Waters we moved off this map for a short time onto another and last night we stayed at Banker Banker which is just North of Tennant Creek there's quite a few indigenous communities through here and really we were quite glad to reach Banker Banker by Nightfall it was a very long drive nine years ago Banker Banker was owned by the Kidman group it has been sold back to the aboriginals and has a manager here for the caravan and camping Park area today we move on to tenant Creek to get fuel have a look around and our aim is to then head out here towards Mount Isa and the border and to reach the Barclay Roadhouse by Nightfall you can walk to the top of the range behind the banker Banker Homestead area this Banker Banker station mudbrick Homestead is of Interest [Music] and this is how things used to be made out in the bush we will never wear out and here is another and it's such a good thing that these buildings have been restored because you know the modern buildings are just not going to last like these we enjoyed a sit around the fire last night but on the whole we do think that uh in nine years the general population is just drinking themselves silly with alcohol it just must be costing them a huge amount of money every evening and this is the mud brick building from afar and there are some outbuildings [Music] and this area last night was filled with Caravans and campers and camper trailers were in this Paddock here on the right and we are now moving off towards Tennant Creek and as we move on I forgot to mention that all this for ten dollars per person per night compared to that sixty dollar fee for that campsite at Cape levique amazing and this is the road ahead and those were the dakes [Music] yesterday as we traveled south we met at least seven cattle trucks taking cattle North to Darwin we guessed to be shipped out and here's some uh waiting to be taken the lens of this camera does a beautiful job and it's a long shot foliage on the side of the roads has changed from further north the land looks more prosperous and ready to hold cattle further north it was just uninteresting low Shrubbery we've just stopped by the side of the road and this is the foliage close up [Music] I am looking up isn't the sky so blue foreign [Music] truck stop and now it says there's 81 K's before the next one [Music] big miles this is refreshing country to drive through this morning it was long and interesting miles south of daily Waters yesterday I we can tell you that [Music] this is indeed the long road ahead three-way and we're going into tenant Creek first when we're coming back here to continue on to mount Isa tenant Creek 25 Alice Springs 550. they have these big red signs trying to slow people up when they're coming into towns we're coming from the north into tenant Creek and the reason Tennant Creek was established in the first place was because of gold was found here so this is welcome to Town Creek from the north and there must be have been gold in them for their Hills Mrs Tennant Creek everything locked up behind fences [Music] we've just pulled in at The Visitors Center at Tennant Creek and it's out of town and there are no huge offenses lovely gold is the reason for tenant Creek's existence and this is where it used to happen on battery Hill [Music] just taking a look at Tennant Creek from Battery Hill [Music] different to what you'd expect [Music] so many barricades and so many high fences it's really quite sad to see there's a lot of Aboriginal people and they're just standing sitting looking going nowhere and everywhere has huge barricades the shops the buildings um very Bleak and not inviting and there's the local car yard behind a fence we're visiting the old tenant Creek Telegraph station and in the center of the picture you can see where it ran from Adelaide to broom and cable Beach and that's why Cable Beach was given that name and the first structure was 1872. all these places are becoming Heritage listed and it is good to walk back in time these buildings are so cool when you get inside built down into the Earth these have weathered many a storm I was just looking in the door of the cellar or one of the cellars certainly a different temperature to out here and this is the Homestead also very well preserved and behind the house is the telegraph office where the action took place and all the messages along the line were done in Morse code and that is Three Dots and a Dash for those that don't know or it may be three dots and three dashes and then three dots I'm just not sure but each letter of the alphabet had a different code and this is how the linesman maintained the lines looking for faults and of course anybody that worked out here and probably still the case has to be jack of all trades just like a farmer in the mallee in Victoria I'm inside now looking at the butchers slaughtering area and it's so much cooler beautiful in fact and in another room just beside these are the sort of Windows obviously the best way to keep cool and to ventilate and over here is the blacksmith shop and look at the size of these early model that trees we could have got the key at the visitors center in Tennant Creek but that's 15K South and we'd have had to return it if we wanted to get into the homestead and of necessity sadly the cemetery is over there in the distance a very hard life this place is very well kept and it's in the care of the lands department and they make it very worthwhile for the traveler to call in and take a look as you can see by the blue dot we're halfway exactly between the Barclay the Road House and three ways turn off this road is just a dead straight we're just a bit further down these very straight road and the bushes on the side are quite dense and you just cannot see through them we left or to the right at the moment by the side of the road is green and it really does make the countryside look a lot better than further up north yesterday this is how we expected it to look across here some caravaners bumped down for the night this road from three ways through to Queensland so far there's not been much change in the Simi it's the same on the left and it's the same on the right [Music] and we've just missed a road sign that says Queensland 290 K's ahead foreign [Music] from 130 if we like and we're taking a break from this long straight road and we're staying at the Barclay Homestead of fuel Roadhouse [Music] can't get across here from Tennant Creek to Cammer wheel without fuel if this is it [Music] stripes on the road to guide the traveler in and lights go to go to Crawford on our left 5 30 in the afternoon and we didn't see one kangaroo [Music] and this is sunset at the Barclay Homestead Caravan Park yesterday we left Banker banker and we went into Tennant Creek and went to their tourist bureau and had a look around very indigenous town with its problems but they are trying to make things better we left there and then we looked at the telegraph station here and then we traveled out here to Barclay Homestead Caravan Park today we leave here and head across to the Queensland border camera wheel and mount Isa we haven't stayed on these two maps very long because it's been just long distances between towns not much to see and so we're nearly into Queensland all being well by night we should be over the border and this is Mount Isa and we're on the same level here as Townsville and this is the big picture [Music] beautiful blue skies and we are one of the last to leave and as I've said before this area last night was filled with Caravans and they'll wait for another lot tonight Barclay Homestead Roadhouse and there's more over there amazing number of Travelers at this time of the year we're just turning into the Barclay Homestead and truck leaving and this is the dearest place on our trip that we have purchased fuel big Caravan Park in behind those Motel units it's a big place out in the middle of nowhere on the road again and it's the same as yesterday much of the same country side that we're traveling through this morning is very flat and it's miles and miles of the scene occasionally it opens out onto Prairie country [Music] and then there are miles of this scrubby type country [Music] and a much straight road in front of us and this is the type of terrain we are driving through [Music] there's not a lot to catch your eye as you travel much of the same we've stopped for lunch at the Avondale 24 hour stop all right we're about 55 K's from the border and there is a very lonesome police presence over the road and we wonder why I suppose they're only 55k out of camera wheel but their life would be quiet we think but who knows the more we travel the more we're glad that we have a home base these people go from these 24-hour spots one to another there's been a couple of obvious cattle stations between here and Tennant Creek but a very lonely road there's a correction to my previous statement and this road is very bumpy where a 79 K's from the border [Music] thank you [Music] foreign [Music]

Channel: Travel with GJ and Pa

Views: 6,616

Keywords: MATARANKA NORTHERN TERRITORY, CAMMOOWEAL QUEENSLAND, ROAD TRIP, CARAVANNING, OZ, GREY NOMADS, TRAVEL, AUSTRALIA

Id: hxi4JAd1q18

Length: 31min 0sec (1860 seconds)

Published: Tue Jul 11 2023