Waiting waiting waiting
- mcnovies
- Jun 14
- 4 min read
We completed all required tasks in Alice Springs … after our two night-stay we left with a restocked pantry, lots of clean clothes and the car sorted.
So far, we have been very fortunate that our travels have been uneventful ... not quite the same for our neighbours in the van park in Alice Springs.
While they were travelling down the Plenty Highway (which is a partly sealed outback road connecting the Stuart Highway near Alice Springs in the Northern Territory to Boulia in western Queensland. It's a "short-cut" between Central Australia and Outback Queensland) ... the suspension arm on their caravan broke! While they were able to contact tow truck operators via StarLink and to arrange for someone to fix the van … they couldn’t be towed into Alice Springs until they had some accommodation sorted … bad timing … they were trying to get accommodation in Alice Springs the same weekend as the Finke Desert Race! No sites available until the Tuesday after the weekend so they sat on the side of the Plenty Highway for four days. While there was a lot of traffic on that road (following the Finke Desert Race) only one car stopped to see if they were okay!
Having got themselves and their van into the van park, the workshop who had originally said they would check/repair the van said they could no longer do it … didn’t have the time. When we left on Thursday morning, they were hoping someone would be out to see them on Monday. Hopefully, they will be on the road before too long. The whole left side of the van had collapsed as well as the front of the van starting to peel open at the corner all (apparently) caused by a semi-trailer going the other way…
From Alice Springs, to the often missed East MacDonnell Ranges where we headed 85kms to Trephina Gorge after stopping at Emily Gap along the way.
Trephina Gorge is known for its sheer quartzite cliffs and River Red Gums. Our base for the next three nights, the Panorama Campgrounds, a small camping area with only seven sites overlooked by a sheer orange rock about 80m high. All sites are a good size and distanced from other campers.
Day two of our stay we headed up the road to Artlunga, 110km east of Alice Springs along the Binns Track to Artlunga.
Artlunga was Central Australia’s first town and was established following the discovery of alluvial gold in1887. The town once supported 300 people. Many of those who made the move to Artlunga travelled 600kms from the Oodnadatta railhead to seek their fortunate. Artlunga developed slowly, however the lack of water, harsh conditions and isolation meant the miners and their families had a very hard life. In 1898, the Government Battery and Cyanide Works began processing the ore, the following year a police camp was established.
Despite looking like Artlunga would have a great future many problems confronted the township; drought in 1890; the boiler at the Government Battery burst in 1901. The lack of a boiler meant the ore could not be processed for many months; hence the miners could not be paid. As the gold became harder to extract, the miners started to move on. In 1913, the Artlunga battery closed, in 1977 the area was declared a Historical Reserve.
We had a great day wandering around the historical site, there has been a large amount of work done to restore and maintain the buildings in the area. We took a walk up to Jokers Mine, a quick, very steep 150m walk/climb that gave us a great outlook and an old mine that was no so profitable, but owned by an interesting character.
The lease was owned by an Arthur Evans, who in evidence given in 1917, was described as “an absolute waster”, a “drinking man” who “for years past has not been able to support himself.” Did it produce much gold? Well … the first recorded production from Joker Mine was in 1899. From then until 1908, 27-oz. (840g.) of gold were produced from 63 tons of ore. By comparison, and on a grander scale, the Central Deborah Gold Mine in Bendigo, Victoria, yielded 929 kilograms of gold during its operation from 1939 to 1954.
Back on Binns Track, we headed over to N’Dhala Gorge, another beautiful gorge that contains approximately 6,000 stone carvings or petroglyphs. Unfortunately, we arrived late in the day so could only do a small part of the walk; we were lucky enough to see a few of the petroglyphs.
This morning, we walked around Trephina Gorge, a steep track up and we were rewarded with beautiful views of the gorge, dry riverbed and the surrounding mountains.
Next, we head up Binns Track to Davenport National Park ...
The weather to date has been 19-20 degrees during the day and 0-4 degrees overnight.
We have travelled about 5,500kms. So far, not a screw loose (except us)...
Looking forward to some warmth as we head north ...
Your travelogue is wonderfully descriptive.. enjoying following along…
Enjoy. G🥂