Day 21 Floodout Creek, Tanami Road

Knowing we’d be out of range and somewhat isolated for at least a couple of days, we took extra care when packing up to leave Alice. Jacqui and the boys would gladly have stayed longer but with the threat of rain on the Tanami, I felt we had to take the opportunity to cross while we knew we still could.
The 1st 200km is easy as the track is in fact a 1 lane sealed road but the sealed section stops at a place called Tillmouth Roadhouse. Fuel was $1.85 and it’s still somewhat daunting to arrive at some isolated shed masquerading as a service station and remaining detached when you realise there are 3 or 4 carloads of locals gathered across the shop entrance.
Our next planned stop was the town of Yuendumu (You-an-da-moo). We’d planned the trip around getting fuel at Yuendumu and settling in to the local caravan park for the night. As it turned out, Yuendumu is a 100% Aboriginal community, other than the local priest and his wife. We happened to see the priest’s wife walking toward the church and asked her about fuel and accommodation. When she stopped laughing, she let us know that the service station had closed down and there was no chance of us finding any accommodation of any type. She generously offered to include us in her prayers and we then headed back out onto the track.
You see some strange things out in the bush. Having the road ahead blocked off by cows is one thing but one of the strangest was the two ladies we saw sitting in what had to be an old horse-drawn Gypsy Trailer now being drawn by camels. A road-train had pulled over and we later found out the driver was delivering fresh water and meat to the ladies who were on their way to Broom. We kept on driving and wondered if the priest and his wife had included these two girls in their prayers also. Along the way, we were astounded by the number of ant nests we saw. They numbered in the thousands on both sides of the road and seemed to go back for miles.
Some kilometres down the track, we pulled over for a coffee when after a few minutes, the road-train that we saw stopped with The Camel Girls came along, and pulled up behind us. Out of the cabin jumped a 6’3”, 120kg giant with a watermelon-slice smile on his face and a finger crushing country handshake. My 1st thought was Ivan Milat, only bigger. Jacqui’s 1st thought was a brown Shrek. It turns out the driver, Kelly has been driving road-trains on the track for 26 years. He let us know he only has 18mths to go before settling into the house he and his wife have in Toowoomba, Qld. He completes 3 return trips per week to The Granites gold mine delivering fuel as they use up to 1,000,000 litres per week. It’s paid his bills for a long time now and to keep it interesting, he also delivers meat & water to the camel girls when they need it. They’ve been travelling the track for a few years as well.
Kelly stopped behind us because he thought we might have been broken down. He’d been trying to raise us on the UHF radio but I’d had it turned off. After a bit of a chat about where we were headed, we agreed that Rabbit Flat was out of the question. “Too far by a long way”. Kelly told us about a spot about an hour up the track where we could get well away from the road and not be bothered by passing cars.
As we continued to drive and chat over the radio, thoughts of Ivan Milat slowly faded away. It turns out the local population at Yuendumu indulge in a beer run which takes them to Rabbit Flat and back again. About 4-5 hours each way. Apparently 2-3 cans of warm beer will get you smashed rather than 6-8 cans of cold beer, so they pick up the beer at Rabbit flat and let it warm up on the way back to Yuendumu. A couple hours into the return trip, the beer has warmed up nicely so they stop to sample a few before getting back on the road for an exciting trip back to Yuendumu. According to Kelly, it’s gets extra exciting at about dusk so it’s a good idea to be off the track before the locals spot you.
Floodout Creek was the name of the spot Kelly suggested to us and in hind sight, I’m embarrassed by my Ivan Milat thoughts, and also the Jaws theme music running through my head. Floodout Creek was the ideal spot for a bush camp and as it got darker, we heard the rally drivers roaring past, and we sat happy in the knowledge they couldn’t see us from the road. Jacqui whipped up some tuna and tomato wraps and the boys had a great time teasing the giant ants that came to collect anything we dropped.
Just before we climbed into the (still attached to the car, just in case), Camper, I took the boys out into the darkened night and they saw the milky way in a clear non-city sky, for the 1st time.
Cheers,
Jorg