It was great sleeping last night. There was a strong cool breeze blowing through the windows all night. None of us had to use the 12v fans. It was slightly cloudy but almost perfect solar panel conditions when we woke. We left the panels out as long as possible before setting off and heading to a World War 11 staging camp a few kilometres south of where we camped last night. It was called the New Barrow Staging Camp. It housed approximately 1000 troops at any one time while waiting to be sent to battle fields further north. It was wonderful to walk through the low scrub and discover concrete slabs and evidence of past activity. It is hard to believe that it was 70 odd years ago that this place was a hive of activity. From there we drove to the Central Mount Stuart Memorial. This is the place where John MacDouall Stuart climbed Central Mount Stuart and declared it to be the geographic centre of Australia. We had lunch and a cold drink (non alcoholic) and it was on the road again to Ti Tree a small aboriginal township. We refuelled at the Mobil Road House then drove a further 45kms to Prowse Gap Rest Area. This is where we will spend the last night before arriving at Alice Springs tomorrow, hopefully. It is a secluded rest area separated from the highway by a row of low shrubs. There is a toilet and a water tank. The solar panels are out and working overtime in the bright sunshine.
21/3/2012
We were on the road, early for us at 9.15am and drove a whole 10kms and stopped at a historical hand dug well. The well was dug by Ned Ryan in 1889. The stone works are extraodinary. Across the highway is the historic ruins of the Glen Maggie homestead. The roof has gone but the stone work is still in good condition. It is amasing what people built in the middle of nowhere over one hundred years ago. Many of the materials were gathered locally and others transported thousands of miles. It was back on the road and a short distance later the girls wanted to call in and see the township of Aierlion. There is not much there but the most striking feature is the statues of an aboriginal male, female and young child. They must be twelve feet high. Then it was another short drive of 30kms and we had to stop and see the Tropic of Capricorn Rest Area. We also had lunch there. By this time we had been travelling about 2 hours and travelled a total of 50kms. I started to think we would not make the 120kms to Alice Springs today. The girls were given an ultimatum - NO MORE STOPS!!!! It worked and we arrived at Alice Springs at about 12.30pm. We had a quick drive around town to check things out and the girls went beserk when they saw a K Mart. It was then onto the caravan Park. The name is great - G'Day Mate caravan park. $30 per night is not too bad and the park is great. There is green grass and plenty of shade trees. The best thing is air conditioning for sleeping. After tea we went to Anzac Hill to view the sunset. What a spectular view. We were as high as the surrounding McDonnell Ranges and you could see the whole of town and the surrounding country.
Explanation of the use of the camp and a map of it's layout
A heavy steel drum probably used to boil water
The Central Mount Stuart Memorial
Wording on the plaque
Sunset at Prowse Gap Rest Area
Statue of female and child aborigine. Couldn't show the male he was rude.
Stone work at Ned Ryan's well
Ruins of Glen Maggie Homestead
Tropic of Capricorn north of Alice Springs
Sunset from Anzac Hill at Alice Springs
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