Rest day in Tennant Creek

Cooler weather as we travel further south has meant we've stopped using the fan.  Maybe the weather has blown a cooler change north.  I think we've noted that the temps were slightly lower in Katherine after we left.  There are a number of things to do here in Tennant Creek.  We stopped at the old Telegraph Station on the north side of town, and then also drove to the Lake Mary Ann (a recreational dam) also north of the town.  It was a pleasant spot, with green grass and picnic areas.  There is an art centre here which we looked through 4 years ago, but havn't tried this time.  At present the 'Desert Harmony' Festival is in progress for a week.  Today there was to be a combined worship service in the grounds of the Frontier Services aged care home, and we discovered that it was just across from the park where we are staying.

At 10 0'clock we walked across the road and joined the people there, mostly indigenous and including some of the residents.  The Frontier Services pardre lead the service, and had participants from the Anglican/Lutheran ch, the Uniting Ch, the AIM (Aust Indigenous Ministries) Ch and some visitors such as us.  It was great to chat to a few people afterwards.  We had a lovely lunch later with a couple who are assisting at the AIM Ch and went to that ch at 7 p.m. for an informal sharing time. It was again a privilege to be able to join in and be part of the group for the evening.

In the afternoon later we drove out along the road we are staying on past the tourist Battery Hill Mine, to the lookout, which gave a lovely panorama all around the area.
We then decided to drive further out to find an advertised bush camp, but missed the signage somehow and kept going.  Then there was a sign to the lookout over the old open cut mine, so we drove on and on for some distance realising that we were not seeing anything.  We'd taken the wrong side of the 'Y', so tried again.  We did have to walk a bit and fit through a locked gate, but we did see the old hole in the ground!  Nobody had been there for some time, and I think the viewing was closed off long ago.

It's a lot cooler here, there was a cold (almost) wind this morning, so we are wearing jackets again, and need the sleeping bag over us again and maybe a light blanket as well when we get to bed - which has to be rolled out and put in place each night (and morning).

So now we will be moving on again, further south, with 2 days to drive to Alice Springs.

For those who have been reading our suggested itinerary in detail, please do not take the dates as definite.  We are already about 5 days behind, though the route is approximately the same, so far.  There is not much we can change about the route, until we get to somewhere like Peterborough in Sth Aust.  We may be a week, or even more later than the 10 Sept as written in haste 2 months ago!