To The North - Devils Marbles, Tennant Creek and Daly Waters!

Leaving Alice Springs for the second time we are heading north to the Devils Marbles for a quick overnight stay before heading to Daly Waters Pub. The marbles weren't as we expected them to be and overall very disappointing!

The Devils Marbles are directly beside the highway heading north to Darwin, and therefor an easy and VERY POPULAR overnight stop for travellers. We arrived reasonably early in the afternoon (lucky for us) to find only a few camp spots available and not a great deal to look at. After witnessing Ayers Rock, Kings Canyon and The Olga's just days before, the marbles were a bit of a let down. The camping area here has no facilities, everyone parks on top of each other and packs up to hit the road the following day... so that is exactly what we did.

Continuing north we got to Tennant Creek, no overnight stop but we decided to take a underground tour of the old gold mine. Of course, Ben has seen enough underground mining but he humoured me and tagged along anyway. The history in this area is rich and very interesting, we put on our hard hats and ear muffs and headed into the underground shaft. Along the 1 hour tour our guide explained how the miners spent days without coming out of the shaft, and rationed water that much that they'd pee in their gold pans instead of using water... not joking! Our guide started up the old equipment the used in the mine and we had a new found appreciation for the mining pioneers.

It was late in the afternoon when we arrived at the very famous Daly Waters Pub. What a great place... I was so tempted to stop and work here! A quick camp set up and off the the pub for a "Beef & Barra BBQ" listening to "Chilli" their local entertainer, songwriter, balladeer, poet, spinner of tall yarns, a champion bullrider and rodeo clown. My god we laughed and I don't think I have ever felt to Australian and proud of it! A truly smashing pub... the way they're meant to be, the walls are covered in memorabilia, bra's, undies, thongs, hats and all sorts of things people had left behind. You could spend hours looking at the things from years passed. I am so disappointed we forgot to leave our thongs behind..... next time!

Lucky for us we were able to chat to some guys at the pub that had just returned from the Roper River... our next stop. I don't think they had much of a clue really... they caught a few fish and told us the road was shocking but nothing could deter us from heading to the Roper Bar and catching some Barra.

The only photo we took at The Devils Marbles

Ha ha... Miner Ben!

Old Gold Mine Shaft

Ben eyeing off some old equipment.

Walking out of the ine shaft.

Jewellery store across from Daly Waters Pub...Interesting.

Daly Waters Pub!

Finke about it!

Those that know Ben well will know that there was no way we could drive back to Alice Springs the same way we had come and of course “I didn’t come on this trip to stay on the highway!”  Finke hosts the annual desert race from Finke to Alice and back again. Motorbikes and desert vehicles. As we weren’t going to be in Alice for the race Ben at least wanted to drive the track, so we did.

From Ayers Rock we travelled back to the east to Kulgera, only 20kms from the South Australian border, visited the geographical centre point of Australia on the way and soon arrived at Finke.What an eye opener. The locals greeted us with a fire in the middle of the street, about 30 dogs roaming around and needless to say we drove straight through and spent a nervous overnight stay about 50km out of town. The Finke Race follows the old Ghan rail track and while the history and ruins along the way are very interesting they are unkept, damaged and littered.

Closer to Alice Springs, along the Finke track we took the turn off to visit Chambers Pillar. The history here is amazing. Explorers left there initials and date carved into the pillar to show they had made it that far and travelled through. If anything, the Finke track made us realise how tough our ancestors would have done it, travelling through this country in a 4wd could be hard going enough, let alone on a camel!

Finally we made it back to Alice for a brief overnight stay before heading north again. I must make a special mention of another 2 places before we go. “Fresh In The Desert” is a fresh produce shop in Alice where you can get anything from Dragonfruit & Camel Ham (as we did) to potatoes and deli items. Worth a visit. The other is the small Italian pizza restaurant which served possibly the best pizza i have ever bought! Yum.

Camel Ham & Dragonfruit

Geographical centre point of Australia!

Driving the Finke Desert Race Track

Chambers Pillar.

Hello Northern Territory... Alice Springs, Ayers Rock, The Olga’s and the centre of Australia!

It was a little over 1000km from Davenport to Alice Springs. Heading west from Boulia across the unsealed Plenty Highway, an overnight stay on the Marshall River, we finally made it.

People assure us Alice Springs has come along way in the last few years, but let me tell you it has a long way to go! Just to be clear, I am not going to talk too much about how irritated i was by the untidiness of the town, the persons greeting us on the street and in the Todd River on our arrival. I would be on my soapbox for hours. Let it be said that i was disappointed that many international and local tourists  visit this area and take away a very poor view of what Australians and life in the outback is like. In my view, no matter what the colour of a persons skin, the behaviour displayed and the way of living in these communities shouldn’t be tolerated. Our politicians should visit these communities to see where our money is being wasted!

Now that i have that out of my system, the landscape surrounding Alice Springs is amazing. We followed the Harts Ranges on our way towards Alice and had views to the West MacDonnell Ranges once we arrived. Expecting to see “The Red Centre” we were amazed by how green the landscape was. With a much higher than average annual rainfall we were truly lucky to see the country coming to life. In fact the red centre was now green!

On arrival we treated ourselves to lunch at Bojangles in Alice. I would highly recommend a visit here. Not for the food but for the history and  memorabilia. A saloon style bar and bistro, saddles for bar stools, boots walking on the roof, knick knacks and memorabilia from wall to wall, I didn’t know where to look first. Moving with the times, Bo’s has an interactive website where friends can log on 24/7 and see who’s in the pub drinking and even shout you a beer online!

We set up camp at a simple caravan park on the outskirts of town giving us a few days to stock up on food and warm clothes before heading to Ayers Rock. The nights were freezing and we were greatful I had purchased warm coats for Bear & Xena before leaving Davenport.

Excited to see the not so red centre, we travelled through the stunning West MacDonnell Ranges and visited Simpson’s Gap. We decided not to visit Standley Chasm as we had to pay to enter. (Don’t get me started on having to pay to enter our own National Parks.... it’s quite common in the NT) Instead of travelling through the entire West MacDonnell Ranges we decided to turn off and take the road through Hermannsburg to visit the advertised home of Albert Namajira and an early mission. I thought the history would be interesting, and it probably was, but on driving into the small community we soon turned around and drove back out. We first had to gain a permit to drive on the road to Kings Canyon and then we stopped at the home of Albert Namajira just outside of town. It was a disgrace, it appeared the local people didn’t even respect their own history, a real disappointment. Don’t waste your time visiting this small town... see the ranges like we should have.

Things were looking up the further from Alice Springs we travelled. We arrived at Kings Canyon Resort for an overnight stay and the park was amazing and dog friendly. Kings Canyon is beautiful and well worth the visit. With a little encouragement from Ben we took the 6.5km rim walk, a little tough, especially the stairs climbing to the top of the rim, but well worth it. The view from all sides was different and equally spectacular. It is a National Park so the dogs couldn’t join us for the walk, although Xena the little rock hopper would have liked to. The great thing was that the dogs were allowed to stay with the car in the parking area while we did the walk.

Moving along it was on to Ayers Rock Resort today. The drive is spectacular, i didn’t expect all of the hills and ranges but more flat desert plains. We stopped at the look out for Mount Connor on the way... I am not sure why this doesn’t get more of a mention, at first sight i thought it was Ayers Rock! We were able to stay at Ayers Rock Resort with the dogs too which was great. They babysat the camper while we played the tourist.

Day 1 at Ayers Rock the climb to the top was closed so we opted to go to the Olga’s. I found these much more spectacular than Ayers Rock. Again, we chose to do the long 7km walk through the large boulders. The colours of the blue sky against the red rock and green landscape were breathtaking.  Some of the walk was hard and steep but again well worth it. There are 2 main lookouts on the walk, most people travel to the first and then return but they really miss out. The second lookout is spectacular and a great place to catch your breath.

Day 2 was Ayers Rocks turn. Much to Ben’s excitement they opened the climb just as we arrived. A combination of a headache, aching muscles from the previous 2 days walks and freaking out about heights stopped me from making the climb. Ben tackled it head on of course and I joined him for the first small section. Words couldn’t describe the steep climb that just seems to keep going and going. Although i was left disappointed not completing the climb, I wouldn’t have met our new friends Stuart & Ruth if i had. Waiting for Ben at the bottom of the climb I got talking to Stuart waiting for his wife Ruth to return from the walk and we’ve shared a few drinks and alot of stories since then!

Day 3 we were back to the rock in the morning, we missed out on exquisite sunrise and sunsets due to heavy cloud. Instead we took a walk around the rock and viewed some fascinating Aboriginal artwork. All good things must come to an end as they say, so today we pack up and head to Finke!



Nice Hat! The start of our Kings Canyon Climb 



Ben overlooking Kings Canyon. Magnificent!

The Olga's Trail

The Olga's

The Olga's

Ben coming down from his Ayers Rock Climb!

Early Morning, Ayers Rock

No. 3 Recipe - Krystle's No Bake Passionfruit Cheesecake

I real winner for dessert lovers. Decadent and creamy! You can substitute the passionfruit for some mango or berries, or add slightly more lemon juice. Make sure you allow overnight to set properly & note that the lemon acts as a setting agent, the recipe won't work without it.

Krystle's No-bake Passionfruit Cheesecake

Ingredients:


250g crushed sweet biscuits
125g butter, melted
500g cream cheese, softened to room temp
1 tin condensed milk
1/4 cup lemon juice, fresh is best
1 cup cream, whipped
1/3 cup passionfruit pulp

Method:

1. Blend biscuit crumbs and melted butter together. Press firmly with the back of a spoon (or your fingers) into a 20cm springform tin. Chill.
2. Beat cream cheese until smooth, add condensed milk, lemon juice & passionfruit and beat till combined.
3. Carefully fold in whipped cream.
4. Pour over chilled base and allow to set overnight.
5. To serve drizzle left over passionfruit pulp over the top of the cheesecake.

No. 2 Recipe - Garlic & Parmesan Pizza Bread

A favorite with pasta but also great to use as a thin pizza base! Again use whatever you like to flavour the bread. You could add rosemary.... cheddar instead of Parmesan etc.

Krystle's Garlic & Parmesan Pizza Bread

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup warm water
• 2 tsp dried yeast
• 1 tsp caster sugar
• 1 1/2 cups plain flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 1/2 tbs olive oil
• Olive oil spray
• 1 Dessert spoon crushed garlic, fresh is best.
• 1 Dessert spoon of parmesan, i use the packet variety as it's easier to spread and gives a nice texture.

1. Preheat oven to 220°C. Combine the water, yeast and sugar in a jug. Set aside for 5 minutes or until foaming.
2. Sift the flour and salt into a bowl. Make a well in the centre. Add the yeast mixture and 1 tbs of the oil. Use a round-bladed knife, then your hands, to mix until a soft dough forms. Turn onto a lightly floured surface and knead for 5 minutes or until smooth and elastic. Divide dough into 2 equal portions.
3. Spray 2 baking trays with olive oil spray. Roll out 1 dough portion to a disc and place on prepared tray. Repeat with the remaining dough.Drizzle with remaining oil, scatter garlic and parmesan. Bake in oven for 10 minutes or until garlic is golden and base is crunchy.

TIP: Keep the oil you have left over from jars of sun dried tomatoes... it is great to cook with and you can use it to drizzle on this pizza instead of olive oil. Great Flavour!

No. 1 Recipe - Davenport Dinner Rolls

I come across this recipe online in a bid to make some fast and easy dinner rolls. I'd go close to saying this was one of my most used recipes on the station and one i will continue to use regularly when i get home. These are great along side a roast to mop up the gravy, with soup or a casserole. Add anything you like to the base recipe to make them a little bit fancy... cheese & chives, herbs, garlic.

Davenport Dinner Rolls

Ingredients

---

• 2 1/4 cups plain flour
• 2 Tbs. sugar
• 1 tps. salt
• 1 package regular or quick active dry yeast
• 1 cup very warm water 
• 2 Tbs. butter
• 1 egg

How to make it

---

• Mix all dry ingredients in large bowl. Add water, butter and egg; beat with spoon until smooth.
• Grease 12 regular-size muffin cups if you are not using silicone.
• Spoon dessert spoons of the mix into muffin/cupcake tin.
•  Let rise 20 to 30 minutes or until batter rounds over tops of cups.
• Heat oven to 400 F. Bake 15 to 20 minutes or until golden brown.

It's as easy as that, delicious and no kneading. ENJOY!

Davenport Days

It’s hard to know where to begin with all that we experienced in nearly 4 months on Davenport Downs. I apologise in advance for anything i might leave out.

 We unpacked the camper and set up our room in a quarters along with our friend Jo. It was nice to sleep in a normal room for a change, to have a real bathroom, a tv and not to use a coin operated washing machine. The dogs had a great house too. Of course, Ben made them a kennel near the house which was more than big enough. I have no doubt the dogs loved their time on Davenport!

One thing is for sure, I don’t think I have ever been so excited about going back to work! Being a Station Cook has been, without a doubt, one of my most enjoyable jobs in the last 10 years. The passionate foodie in me combined with a lack of cooking options in the camper trailer saw me itching to get into that big kitchen. Let me loose!

Breakfast, Smoko, Lunch, & Dinner. Usually for about 10 pax. No lack of beef! The day was long with breakfast usually served at 6am and dinner at 7.30pm but i loved it just the same. All the ringers favourites come flooding back to me.... it seems you still can’t beat a good crumbed steak. Mealtimes were definitely my favourite time of day... it was a time for me to sit down with the rest of the camp, socialise and feel part of the team.

When I first started work it was still very wet and we were lacking alot of supplies. No eggs and very little fresh produce. You wouldn’t believe how many things use eggs and how many things i learnt to make without them! In the dry season store orders would usually be delivered every week, but with the road impassable for alot of the time we were on Davenport we relied on Slip (Station Manager) flying to Winton to pick them up.

You would certainly be surprised by the food we ate, needless to say, the camp never went hungry. Most people probably think we survive on a boring menu of steak and veg but they couldn’t be more wrong. The station has a large dry store, a large shipping container which resembles more of a general store than a pantry. The typical fridge is replaced by a large cold room and 2 large deep freezers.... no-one was going hungry.

A station cook’s job is never boring! On 2 occasions i headed out to camp to cook for the others while mustering at the outstation “Palparara”. I did alot of prep work before heading out and i really enjoyed my time at camp. I had more time to relax and help with yard work. On another occasion we had an extra 7 company executive staff join us for dinner and breakfast. I had nearly 20 people for dinner that night, served in 2 sittings and of course i didn’t want to do anything in halves....i think i worked 16 hours that day but it was worth it!

On the topic of Palpara, things didn’t always go to plan at camp. On the first occasion we were flooded in and Slip flew the rest of the camp back to the homestead. Ben and I stayed to caretake the animals and gear. We were stuck at camp for another 5 wet days, just us, the dogs, the horses and the Yamaha 230! To pass some time Ben taught me how to ride the 230 and i loved it! Lucky there wasn’t room for it on the trailer.

Ben enjoyed himself too of course. I was worried about creating a monster after he got a taste of station life... and i might well have done. Ben was doing all sorts of work on the station, some electrical, mechanic, maintenance, mustering etc. Obviously though, unlike myself, work wasn’t what excited Ben most about Davenport but more so the pig hunting, bike riding and exploring. So, as most of you would already know, Ben, Bear & Xena did catch a few and big ones too. Ben’s mates from Mackay come for a quick visit before we left and caught a few more and by the end of it Bear & Xena  had earned some time off.

We only made 2 trips away from the station over our stay. One to Mount Isa to visit the doctor, this was a minor disaster as we had to drive through up to 1m of water at numerous crossings to get there, only to get flooded in and not be able to get back to the station for a few more days. The other to Eromanga at Easter. We had a great night at the rodeo for my birthday... Ben showed me he could dance if he was drunk enough and even performed “The Worm”! It was a great send off to spend a fun night with the Davenport crew before leaving.

The show must go on as they say.... and for us this meant packing the camper and getting back on the road. The roads were drying up and it was time for us to say “Goodbye Davenport”  and to our old and new friends on the station. Thanks to Slip and Case for having us. We were very lucky to see this country so alive and green this year. You wouldn't think you would send cattle so close to the desert to fatten them up???

Coming Up.... My 3 favorite recipes i used on the station.

Ben sitting behind his mob.

Flooded in at Palparara

Learning to ride the 230!

Xena with bandaged feet after wearing her pads off. She loved them!

My Kitchen.

Saying Goodbye Davenport.