I've started my Northern Territory adventure

Hi everyone

We have travelled further west along the Barkly Highway and through the Barkly Tablelands.  The land here was all dry Flinders Grass as far as I could see to the horizon.  We stopped at the Northern Territory border so I could have my photo taken. 

On the way to Tennant Creek we saw a massive brown and black eagle eating a dead animal on the side of the road.  There were also stacks of termite mounds.  Some were small and others were huge!

At a camp spot I saw the weirdest bug ever!  It turned its head to look at me and it had horns and spikes on its back.  Maybe I have discovered a new species.

The next day we stopped at a rest stop and I saw hundreds of little finches.  Somebody had put a water tray at the bore water tap for the birds to drink and it was empty so I filled it up for them.

The little finches at the bore water tap.  They are all over the wire as well.

At Tenant Creek we went on a tour of an underground gold mine.   I liked the little mining carts they used to use.  It was really interesting because gold is usually found in quartz but at Tennant Creek the gold was found in the black ironstone.  There was huge drill that digs into the rock to get samples of the ironstone to see if it contained gold and the drill could go into the rock for 2 km.  We also saw a mine elevator that could travel at 65km per hour.  After the tour the man showed us some real gold and now I have gold fever.

 The entrance to the gold mine

Pop and I in the explosives part of the mine and looking at the different fuses and timers to blow up the ironstone

After the mine tour we went to see the battery.  A battery is a gold and ore crushing machine.  The man started the noisy machine.  We had to wear ear muffs.  It was awesome how it crushed all the stone to a fine powder.  Then the powder was heated up to get the gold.  The man gave me a little piece of ironstone with little specks of gold in it and when I get back I’ll show you.

After the battery we started to travel south for 130km to Wycliffe which is the UFO capital of Australia.  It’s called the UFO capital because they have seen lots and lots of UFOs in this area.  While we were there a wild emu walked out of the bush.

Later we went to Devil’s Marbles.  It is a massive area of really big, orange, red, granite boulders balancing on top of one another.  The rocks were square but over millions of years the water and wind have shaped them and they are now round.  They are still weathering and layers of rock peel off them and crumble.

As you can see in my photos my Pop and I have super powers and we could move these rocks and break them in half! :)

We watched an awesome sunset over the desert yesterday.

At night when we were going to bed I heard wild dingos howling and in the morning there was dingo laying down at the front of our motorhome.  He looked really friendly but I wasn’t allowed to touch him.

Today we went to Lake Mary Ann just north of Tennant Creek.  I rode my scooter around and chased chickens, geese, ducks and fed peacocks.
 

Hope you’re enjoying my blog.

Alvida (Hindi for goodbye)