The long drive out of Purnululu National Park was no easier than on the way in. The corrugated and windy roads taking their toll on my back as l tried to hold it together as l was scared Marty would just forfeit the camping trip and head back to Kunna. Today we were off to see Wolfe Creek Crater, with the night before getting into the mood by watching the movie.....you tell me, smart or stupid thing to do????
Getting back on the bitumen, the ride was smooth as we eventually got to Halls Creek, which by the way is so much cleaner and developed than what l remember of it. Most of the stores are managed by Asians which is a bit disappointing, if only the local mob took some initiative then they could really put some money back into their community! We grabbed some hot chips for 'chip sangas', which is a big treat in our family. Their were loads of people around today, tourists and local mob. I stopped off and had a chat to three local woman taking shad on a rock under a tree and they let me know that it was going to be a big night in town as the footy finals were on. So glad we wont be around, think it might get a whole lot louder and rougher after dark. We filled up with water at the info center who charged us 20 cents per litre, but totally understand, water isn't exactly affluent in these parts. We then headed just out the road, turning left onto the Tanami track where Marty had to make a pit stop to let the tyres down more.
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| Chip sanga's in Halls Creek... |
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| Tyre pressures down ready for the Tanami Track.. |
The Tanami track wasn't too bad, Marty being able to maintain speeds of 70-80kms/hr apart from having to slow down for the wandering cattle on the road. The track was corrugated, but we were able to ride smoothly over them without too much shack, rattle or roll.... There were loads of cattle roaming on the side of the road, passing many stations along the way. There were also many burnt out cars, busted tyres lying around and the occasionally cans of empty beer and wine bottles on the side of the road. After 2 hours driving on the Tanami Track we reached the L) turn off to Wolfe Creek Crater. OMG!!! This road was 10 times worse than the Purnululu road! The 20kms of road took us around 45 mins to complete, the corrugations so bad in some patches that Marty had to slow down to 20km/hr! He stroked the poor Nissan's steering wheel many times reassuring her that "it would all be over soon" and "keep up the good work".
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| The long road ahead! |
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| Usual sitings on the side of the road |
As we approached the Wolf Creek Crater we were overwhelmed with its sheer size out on the horizon. When we finally arrived at the car park, the girls, who had down a fabulous big day in the car, ran out and up the hill to the viewing area. Marty and l took a quick look at the info board where a cardboard sign that read "don't accept water from strangers" was pinned up. Marty and l had a quick chuckle and for those that don't know the movie, go rent "Wolfe Creek" and you will understand why. It was pretty warm and the sweat started beading on our backs on the steep short climb up. Wolfe Creek Crater is the second largest meteorite crater in the world and was formed after a huge meteorite crashed into the earth, only being discovered by Europeans in 1947 during an aerial survey of the area. The crater is 880m across and almost circular. The floor of the crater is almost 60m below the rim and is generally flat. There are trees and spinifix grasslands that lies in the crater. Most of the meteorite fragments vaporised but some extracts can still be found 4km from the crater crash site.
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| Wolfe Creek in the horizon.. |
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| Humorous sign if you've seen the movie! |
Well that's enough history of the place, now to the present. As we all stood at the viewing platform, it was quite hard to take in the magnitude of the place. Having seen aerial photos, it would be absolutely amazing to see it from the sky too. The girls took to heading down to the floor of the crater in their trusty Aussie hiking shoes, their thongs. I had been here before and not gone down, so even with a crook back l wasn't leaving this place without getting inside it. I slowly took to the steep rocky declining path and arrived a fair while after the girls. It was just so huge, stuff feeling like ants, l felt like a microscopic insect at the bottom of this crater. There seemed to be old cow footprints in the hard dirt, maybe in the wet they come down here for a drink. In the middle of the inside of the crater there is a little dense patch of trees. The Corella's even seem to like to hang out here. With Marty not even watching us from up top, we climbed back up to see that he had gotten too hot up on the viewing platform and needed shade. Pity if l fell or something hey.....
We headed to camp, which was free "yippee", and found our spot for the night. The campgrounds were hard dirt with small amounts of scrub lining the zoned off sites. There was no water or showers, but a bush toilet (for those that don't know that means non-flushing, which generally means, a bit smelly). We set up the awning tent and got the girls to do some school for an hour or so. They have been so adaptable in doing their school work anywhere and anytime, whether that is in the back of the car or on the mat at camp, morning or arvo. They did really well and as the sun began to set, the air became cold quickly. We were now in the middle of the desert so you can appreciate how cold the nights get and how hot the days are. The sunset was stunning, with the bright orange and deep blue sky above lining the horizon.
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| The camp set up for the night... |
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| ..girls doing their schoolwork! |
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| What a stunning backdrop... |
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| Sunset time again... |
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| The sky colors are stunning... |
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| Marty getting his shot! |
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| Night sky in the desert...stars so bright! |
We hit the hay soon after dinner, purely because it was too cold to sit out. The place did have an eary side to it, you can understand how things can happen out here and no one finding out. It was so quiet and strangely enough, we had no trouble getting to sleep. No dreams of Mick unzipping the tent thank god!!!! We woke at 6am and everyone was accounted for, packed up and off by 7:30am....god these days are going to be long with these early starts!!!
Bell Xxx
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