Itinerary summary:
Day 1
Darwin - Litchfield National Park - Katherine
Day 2
Katherine - Elsey National Park - Daly Waters - Kunjarra - Tennant Creek
Day 3
Tennant Creek - Devils Marble - Alice Springs
Day 4
Alice Springs - Kings Canyon - Yulara
Day 5
Uluru - Olgas - Yulara
Day 6
Yulara - Alice Springs - Darwin
Day 7
Darwin - Singapore
We started the next day bright and early to head to Tennant Creek. The second leg of this journey would take us approximately 8 hours on the road, excluding the time taken for short breaks and meals.
By now, we have seen quite a number of termite mounds along Stuart Highway. We made a short detour a small township of River Meyer.
There was a huge termite mound near the carpark and this was the explanation pinned on the mound.
We then continued our journey and made another brief detour to the Elsey National Park where were greeted by this peacock.
Elsey National Park is a popular camping spot, and I believe it could be due to the fact that this national park is the home of Mataranka Thermal Pool. We didn't take a dip because we were just making this short detour but there were quite a number of families taking a dip there. We also met an uncle who told us that decades ago, the Roper River area is also filled with crocodiles but they're no longer sighted these days.
Elsey National Park also houses Rainbow Spring. It's a small little spring surrounded by these beautiful trees. It feels really like a resort, with bare necessities.
Took a picture of this tree bark because it looks like something left their prints on it!
And we continue to hit the road towards Tennant Creek after this brief detour until we reach the next town.
The next town is called Daly Waters and it is about 2 hours drive away from the national park. Daly Waters is probably the "most developed" of the other towns so this is the main spot for every single visitor who is doing a road trip to Uluru. You'll find tour buses, cars and loads of people and everyone will patronise this little cafe.
This cafe is pretty interesting. The inside is filled with notes and random scribbles from visitors far and near and the exterior is filled with either recycled items or some leftover junks from the past or from visitors.
It also has a stage for performance at night, just like any other outback pub, which has this neighbourood warmth.
Some of the items made our of recyclable items such as a canned-drink scarecrow.
And a hut made out of thongs! Those people mst have left the area barefooted.
There must have been a thriving tourism community here in the past but unfortunately, most have left the area leaving behind all the signage unmanned.
A friendly visitor perched on a seat next to our table and waited for us to finish our lunch. These birds must have fed on the chips many times in a day!
We took another quite pit stop at the next available petrol station and I found that the washrooms in Central Australia are different from the rest of Australia. They don't use the usual ladies and gents but sheilas and blokes instead.
We arrived at Tennant Creek around 4 pm so we decided to head out to the nearby scenic sight to catch the view of sunset. We checked with the receptionist at Eldorado Motor Inn and decided that the nearest place to go is Kunjarra, also known as the Pebbles.
The area was filled with a few campers who setup tents there to enjoy a beautiful view of the horizon and I believe it would have looked heavenly at night with stars shining right above in a pitch black condition. One of the campers told us about this short little trail that we can take to walk around some of the bigger "pebbles".
And a beautiful sunset to end the day! It was a tiring day filled with driving but quite an experience nonetheless. As we drive back to the town of Tennant Creek, there were some kangaroos hopping alongside the highway. That was quite an experience on its own!
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