In case you are wondering Wycliffe Well is a roadhouse / caravan park about 375 kms north of Alice Springs.
We had a most enjoyable drive up today. We managed to pass quite a few significant spots on the road. In no particular order, they included; the tropic of capricorn, the highest point on the Stuart Highway and Central Mount Stuart, which, according to Stuart's calculations, was the centre of Australia. This is not mentioned in the memorial plaque.
We also passed the village of Ti Tree, which, believe it or not, claims to be the centre of a Central Australian table grape growing industry that uses bore water to grow grapes in the desert. I have to say, I didn't see much evidence of that, just one vineyard.
Another significant spot was Aileron Station Roadhouse. Many Australian towns have gigantic replicas of fruit or animals that represent the rural industry of their surrounding areas. Coffs Harbour has the Big Banana, Goulburn has the Big Merino, Adaminaby has the Big Trout, and so it goes. Well, Aileron has the Big Man.
Another significant spot on the route has to be Barrow Creek Roadhouse. To say that it was not a particularly salubrious place is to make the understatement of all time. The fact is it makes the adjective "grotty" seem like a compliment. However, the bar does have its own kind of charm. The walls are covered in bank notes, old hats and messages left by generations of patrons.
Barrow Creek owes its existence to the Overland Telegraph repeater station that was built here in the 1880's. These buildings continued to be used for almost 100 years, long after the OT ceased to exist. Consequently they were in quite good repair when taken over as a museum and have been maintained in good order ever since. Unfortunately, the buildings were not open when we visited.
Finally we came to Wycliffe Well yet another significant spot on the road. It claims to be the UFO capital of Australia. More sightings here than anywhere else in the country. These were the only aliens we saw.
The other significant feature is the road itself. Normally the speed limit on this road in the Northern Territory is 130 kph. However, this section is an Open Speed Zone, that's right, no speed restrictions, you can drive as fast as you dare. The thing is, however, that nobody did this while we were driving. Everyone seemed to be content to travel at normal highway speeds.
It's interesting that you thought the same thing about Barrow Creek as we did on the occasions we passed through there. We were never up to going inside the bar and the telegraph station appeared to be well and truly closed to prying eyes. Barrow Creek OT history is rather grim as well.
ReplyDeleteTalking of Wycliffe Wells, was the big restaurant still falling into ruins, as was the man-made lakes and the small scale steam engine?