Then we went to the Underground Hospital.
In 1942 Darwin Hospital was bombed by the Japanese, Mt Isa feared that they would be the next target so the Community, with help from the mine, built an underground hospital.
In 1994 the local community decided to restore and showcase this underground hospital.
Obviously waiting times were just as bad then!
A very interesting museum, at the time of its' use there were only about 30 patients in the town hospital and if a raid was imminent these were transferred to the underground site. Out patient clinics also operated from the underground site. No births or operations were performed at the underground site.
Then we filled with fuel (at Liberty - at 152.9cents/litre less 4c a litre with discount voucher- we've used them all over Australia, with and without discount vouchers.).
Rumour has it that it's 240.6cents/litre out at Camooweal!
Then it was out into the outback and onto the Northern Territory.
The scenery out beyond Mt Isa makes the Nullarbor look interesting - ( incidentally we think the Nullarbor is interesting!) Unexpectedly we passed 2 cyclists plodding along - WHY!
We stopped at good rest areas for lunch and then again for afternoon tea but as it was around 30 degrees we were keen to press on to Barkly Homestead and plug in to power for the a/c.
We got to the Homestead at 5.45pm and were pleasantly surprised to find that local time was only 5.15! We set up and then went to the bar for a 'coldie' before returning to sit outside the the sunset.
Absolutely beautiful.
We woke to see the sunrise the next morning - looked out of the window and then went back to sleep for an hour. When we did get up and go to the showers at 8.30am - we were the last van in the park!!
We opted not to fill up at 199.7cents/litre and drove on towards Tennant Creek, 165 kms away!
The van's trip computer calculated that the fuel range was 165kms, we were sure that it was reading a lot higher yesterday. After 10 minutes we checked the calculator again - range now 163kms, hmm should make it. We should make it to Three Ways anyway, just 25kms before Tennant Creek.
A little further along the highway the fuel warning light came on - computer range said 151kms and
it's 140kms to Three Ways.
Then the 'low fuel' warning beeper sounded!
We had 40kms to Three Ways, I thought that the beeper sounded when we had 5litres of fuel left so we were still going to be okay. We checked the 'range' on the computer and got --- (3 lines).
There was no conversation in the cab after it was decided that I was the one hitching to the road house to phone the RAC as we would need a mechanic to get the vehicle restarted!!
We made it to Three Ways!! We slowed and cruised over the Give Way sign, thankfully nothing coming as we didn't want to stop and risk stalling and restarting.
We took on 83.6 litres (fuel tank holds 90 litres). We then agreed that we will never ever do anything like that again - fancy us trusting a computer over common sense and all "outback rules".
We were so relieved that we celebrated with lunch at the roadhouse - burgers (and chips for MM).
We can recommend the burgers and obviously they have kiwis working in the kitchen as there was beetroot in the burger!
We then completed the day's run with the last 25kms south to Tennant Creek.
We did the usual 'recce' of the town and then booked in to the caravan park, with a discount. The pool looked inviting but as we sat out writing and reading the clouds came over and the breeze came in - it was just so nice lazing around. The caravan park was cheap and cheerful but it was another night to run the fan all night to drown out the neighbourhood sounds, and the trucks from the 24hour fuel stop.
Next morning we were off south and the first stop was The Devil's Marbles.
Absolutely amazing!!!
We expected something like Murphys Haystacks in South Australia but these were individually smaller and there were many more of them, spread over a much larger area.
For future reference there is a camp ground here too.
Then we carried on through Wauchope ( a road house and a few houses), through Wycliffe Well
"UFO, capitol of Australia" - more sightings than anywhere else in Australia!!
Why?! well there isn't anything else out here!!!
Our lunch stop was a little rest area unfortunately with no shade, so after a quick break we continued on to a possible overnighter at Barrow Creek.
We were not enamoured of the roadhouse/pub/caravan park and the roadworks right outside was a real put off. But the old Telegraph Station next door was worth a look around.
We pressed on to the next option - the caravan park at the Ti Tree roadhouse.
It looked clean and quiet with 8 vans already setup so we filled with fuel (lesson learnt!) and checked out the price - $20.00 - SOLD.
We set up and then enjoyed the cooler evening air, chatting to neighbours from NSW and watching the peacocks parading around.
As we arrived in Ti Tree we had had a moments panic seeing signs to "Eat Fruit Now" "Fruit Fly Exclusion Zone" but we realised that these are for people travelling at 130kph as they would be at the SA border in a couple of hours. We have about 5 days to eat the fruit and veg we are carrying.
After a good sleep, with just a bit of 'local' noise, we were showered, packed up and off.
We drove south through Aerilon (no explanation of how it got its name) towards Alice Springs.
Miles from anywhere - actually about 115 kms from Alice Springs we suddenly heard an ominous sound - either a helicopter has landed on the roof of the van or we have a flat tyre!!!!
We stopped and I got out - yep it's a flat tyre!!
It was about 10.30am, there's no mobile phone coverage and it's getting hotter.
We started to tackle the job ourselves but although Michael was able to lower the spare wheel (carried under the vehicle) he couldn't release it fully. After 3 attempts we went to plan B - flag down a passing motorist and ask him to call the RAC on our behalf (giving him our membership details etc.). Whilst we were waiting 3 people did stop and each one tried to release the wheel for us, scrambling under the back of the vehicle. One was a French tourist and he tried really hard - merci beaucoup monsieur!
Just after we'd had lunch a guy in a ute stopped to let us know that our message had got through and that someone was coming out to us.
Then at 2.00pm Outback Recovery pulled up - our saviour's name was Brad. It took him a while and some lateral thinking but he managed to release the spare wheel and then changed it for us.
(He had a rental camper on the tray of his recovery truck. It was rented by 2 girls from Melbourne, they had spent the night with us at Ti Tree, before they left home they had been told constantly not to let the vehicle run out of oil, so they had topped it up, putting in 10 litres!! They had broken down just after heading north from Ti Tree at 9.30am, misunderstanding the person on the phone they at first thought that the repair would cost $40,000 in shock they adjourned to the Ti Tree bar and asked if it was too early to get a drink, they were told 'not if you're buying it here' so they had a gin and tonic!! They were feeling very happy when we met them).
By 2.45pm we were rolling again, on our way to Alice Springs.
It was getting late in the afternoon, on a Friday, when we arrived in town and began our hunt for a tyre to replace our spare. In the whole of town there didn't seem to be one in stock - "we can get you one, it should be here in 10 days!"
We were forced to try a Bridgestone store - he had one! A Firestone - it was 4.30pm on a Friday, (they were not open on Saturday) - so we said yes and waited while they fitted it. We'll sort out getting it into the carrier under the van later, we're just happy to have a tyre.
We drove into the caravan park and it shows how tired I was, I didn't haggle for a discount.
We booked in for 2 nights and settled in to relax; the sites are a really decent size and as we unwound we looked over the tourist info and tours available.
For $199 we can get a full day tour down to Ayers Rock and the Olgas, including 3 meals, dinner being a BBQ overlooking the Rock at sunset.
We decided to go for it and do it on Monday - our 35th Wedding Anniversary.
We also decided on 5 nights in Alice Springs, a real holiday break.
Saturday we just totally relaxed, not even walking into town for a newspaper. I went to the office to book the tour and the extra nights - what chaos! the girl was obviously out of her depth booking sites.
The manager came to help and then it got really complicated when the couple who were booked to move onto our site on Monday (we were going to have to move for our extra nights) arrived early, insisting that they had phoned and changed the dates! I left the manager to sort it out and went back later. By then he'd placated the couple (found them a new site for their whole stay) and booked us on the tour, so I said in that case we don't have to move, we can stay in the same site - he said that he could do with me on his side of the desk, did I want a job as I obviously had a good grasp how things worked.?!! All those years of shuffling patients' appointments has paid off!! I declined the offer.
So we have another day just lazing around and then a full day as a tourist, Ayers Rock tour - we're being picked up at 5.50am and will get back at midnight, that's why we have another day to recover before we hit the road again.
Details on the day trip soon.
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